Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak To Compete In Dancing With The Stars - Season 8

Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak will be competing in the next edition of the popular television reality show "Dancing With The Stars" (DWTS), ABC Television announced recently. The man known as "The Woz", created the original circuit board used for the Apple computer and teamed up with Steve Jobs in 1976 to market it. Wozniak quit working full time at Apple two decades ago and after years of working on various projects, re-emerged last month as chief scientist at Fusion10, a data storage start-up. Fusion10 uses closely-packed clusters of flash memory chips in servers to enable them to find data very quickly.

Wozniak will show off his dance moves alongside 12 other celebrities in season 8 of DWTS which will air on March 9. He will be competing against Jewel and her rodeo star husband Ty Murray, singers Belinda Carlisle, Chuck Wicks, Lil' Kim, and Denise Richards, actors/artistes Gilles Marini, David Alan Grier, Denis Richards and Jackass star Steve-O, gymnast and Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson, football legend Lawrence Taylor, and entertainment reporter Nancy O' Dell. Renowned ballroom judge Len Goodman, and dance choreographers Bruno Tonioli and Carie Ann Inaba return as judges for this season.

Dancing with The Stars (DWTS) is based on the format of the top rated British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) show, Strictly Come Dancing in which celebrities are partnered with professional dancers in various dance routines that are judged by an expert panel and by public votes. Season 1 of DWTS premiered in the USA in 2005 and was an instant hit there. Unlike SCD where only standard ballroom and Latin American dances are performed, other dance styles like American Swing, Smooth, and Rhythm are also showcased in DWTS. The dancing greats who have taken part in DWTS include Karina Smirnoff, Corky Ballas and his son Mark Ballas.

The past winners of DWTS were:

Season 1 - Kelly Monaco & Alec Mazo

Season 2 - Drew Lachey & Cheryl Burke

Season 3 - Emmit Smith & Cheryl Burke

Season 4 - Apolo Anton Ohno & Julianne Hough

Season 5 - Helio Castroneves & Julianne Hough

Season 6 - Kristi Yamaguchi & Mark Ballas

Season 7 - Brooke Burke & Derek Dough


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Swing, American Smooth And American Rhythm Dances

The terms swing dance and swing dance era are very often mentioned in the lexicon of American dance history. The swing dance era refers to the period from the 1920s to the 1940s. When talking about the swing dance era, the song "In The Mood" composed by by Glenn Miller in 1939 comes to mind. "In The Mood" has remained one of the most popular and iconic songs of the swing dance era. The term swing dance can however mean different things depending on whether you are referring to American swing dance or International (ballroom) swing dance.

When you talk of the International swing dances you are referring to the ballroom dances where there is a sway (and therefore swing) action. The 4 ballroom swing dances are the waltz, Viennese waltz, foxtrot and quickstep. Tango is not considered a swing dance as there is no sway in Tango. I have always wondered why the ballroom swing dances are not called the sway dances instead.

The American Swing dances generally refer to dances that are danced to a swing rhythm. They include the lindy hop, jitterbug, east coast swing and west coast swing. These dances are more similar to rock & roll and jive and which are sometimes also broadly categorised as swing dances.

In the United States there is a style of dances known as the American Smooth dances. These are the waltz, Viennese waltz, foxtrot and tango. Unlike the International (ballroom) dances which are danced in closed body positions, the American Smooth dances can be danced in closed hold, open hold and shadow positions. Variations like underarm turns and lifts are also permitted.

There is also another style known as the American Rhythm dances which are the cha cha cha, rumba, mambo, east coast swing and bolero. The bolero is a slow, sensuous and romantic dance combining the rhythms of rumba and the rise and fall techniques of the waltz.

The various classifications of the dances can be confusing sometimes. We should however not be overly concerned with the different genres of dancing. What is most important is for us to get on to the dance floor, enjoy ourselves and have a swinging good time. Happy dancing!

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