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January 20, 2006

casualties from the lindy battle

Posted by dogpossum on January 20, 2006 3:32 PM in the category lindy hop and other dances

Today is Friday, and I'm in some pain. Last night was a big dancing night for me, and also a big out-the-house-day, all in quite hot weather. If you're interested in the illustrated version, follow this link to the set on flickr.
Yes, I know I'm writing like it's my second language, but I'm also lying on the bed on my tummy with the laptop and it's hard to write.

Ok, so back to me (don't you love the way blogging is all about me? Don't you love the way we can talk about the Genre like we're not already self-reflexive enough?).

Yesterday about 2pm I decided I needed to leave the house. I'm waiting for a meeting with the Supes as I've forgotten where I'd gotten to in my chapter editing and need her to read (reread? who can say) some chapter before I continue. Actually, I have 6 chapters she can read, but I'm letting her off lightly: 2 in 2 weeks, then 3 more in a couple more weeks. Hey, she's the one who chose to take Christmas off when she had obsessively-complulsively productive phd girl in the final editing stages.

So anyway, I've gone through some chapters, starting on the intro again and decided I need to reread some key books so I can remember what they're about. One problem with a phd: who can remember what they read 3 years ago in adequate detail?
Thankfully it's dance stuff, which is interesting to read, even when it's not really terribly excellent. I'm interested in the way dance studies and cultural studies do/don't really get along and the way dance studies is all resentful of this. Hey, I blame sociology.

At any rate, that prompted the previous post and a trip to Melbourne uni library (which, owing to the dance degree at their Vic College of Arts campus and a dance elective in their education degree (I think), has a damn fine collection of dance stuff).

After that I went to see Underworld Evolution because I loved the first one. It was terribly great: gorey, soft core porn for the teen boy/middle aged female SF fan audience. Then we went for a lie in the park (Exhibition Gardens actually), right near the fountain. We lay on our backs and read, one of us wandered off to take photos, and the other stared and stared at a couple further down the avenue who snogged and snogged for the hour and a bit we were there. It was very Paris. Or very Paris-as-depicted-by-Hollywood. Check the photos to see why.

After that we rode down to have dumplings (15 pan-fried pork/veggie; 8 steamed chicken/prawn = $13.50) at Shanghai village in china town, where the walls are bright pink and they have one solitary goldfish in a tank.

Then it was off to disgusting CBD for dancing.

A practice version of the team battles bit of this was planned and I went in it. Not sure what battle is? Check this out, think about You Got Served, but with less choreography*. Or the film Drumline with more dancing and fewer musicians. Or, of course, Rize.
Battling is an Afro-American vernacular dance/music tradition with its roots in Africa, where dance or music function as a forum for the resolution of rivalries or grudges in a socially sanctioned public space. Ralph Ellison discusses 'cutting contests' in his stories of jazz in Harlem in the 30s and 40s, Hazzard Gordon discusses street parties and competitions in her book Jookin', etc etc etc.

Things that'll make a battle work:
passion and 'bringing it' on the dance floor
an ability to improvise and respond to your opponents, partner and team
creativity in dance
being able to 'relax' and give in to your emotions
not being afraid to look stupid
girls not standing back and waiting for the guys to bring it

Most of these things are incredibly difficult for most of Melbourne's dancers. The emphasis in their classes is on repetition, immitation, routines, choreography and 'looking good' rather than bringing it - risking looking crap for the sake of creative or emotional authenticity. It's also difficult for these white, middle class teenagers to relax and express themselves in dance.
So the whole thing was a bit crap and contrived - as are most of the examples I've seen in footage.
It wasn't as good as the battle we had in Herrang with Peter and Sugar. But ....

It was fun, and I'd do it again, in a casual context. It was like a fun game. I don't know how cool it'd be in the formal competition context, though.

I have some issues with the selection of team captains (who really should be able to tell the end of a phrase), but now have a better idea of how these things may work in future.

I've seen clips of American Battles and wasn't terribly impressed - things can go wrong too easily. Wrong, of course, equates to Dull or Boring.

Major problems:
choreograph or plan something too fiercely in such a spontaneous format and you will fuck up: leave it looser and you're actually able to respond to your opponents with creativity rather than pre-planned schlock.
a lack of lindy hop will make for a lack of dynamic energy.
a lack of swing dances and excess of silly made-up dancing will make for dull viewing.
most lindy hoppers don't have any experience with battling in their general social context, so they have to learn how - so our battles are really kind of lame.

So, anyway, hopefully the whole thing will get more interesting and creative in future efforts. It was nice to see a mix of dancers from different backgrounds and experience: the important part is having dancers who are prepared to bring it. I wish I could explain that phrase more accurately. But it really is something which defies words - it's about dancing with passion, with attitude, with aggression (but not being aggressive...). It's about challenge and really feeling what you're doing. It's also about being so in your body, and so aware of how your body works, and so able to transfer emotion to rhythmic movement that 'bringing it' is instinctive and natural.
And of course, truly 'bringing it' is a bit too much for most Melbourne dancers - there are too many social and institutional limitations, founded on the heirarchal structures of a school, and on the way these institutionalised assessments/performances/definitions of 'ability' discourage less experienced or lower status dancers from having faith in their own ability.

Bringing it reminds me of discussions of 'cool' in Tommy deFrantz' work and in the literature on Afro-American vernacular dance (including Jacqui Malone's). It's about having 'attitude' but being 'cool' - ie staying in control in your face, but having a furiously hot body. So it's about attitude, not being out of control, but staying cool and making it all look effortless while your body is going crazy. While at the same time being all about bringing it. It's a difficult juxtaposition. But think of rap or rnb video clips: the swaggering rapper with hardcore lyrics, the hardcore dancing, the extreme clothing. But a cool, sneering or impassive face. The contrast between 'breaks' - static poses - and full-on dancing. The importance of tableau as a challenge in the midst of a frenetically moving dance sequence.

But anyway.
So we did that last night. I don't feel that I really brought it - I felt like I didn't really know what was expected of me, having a captain who was quite controlling discouraged me from improvising and taking the inititiave - it made me feel like I had to wait til the moves were 'called' - and following rather than leading made me feel like I should wait for my partner to take the initiative. It was the first time, though, so things could go differently in the future...

So now, today, I'm totally buggered and wrecked. It was so hot and sweaty I was totally stuffed by the end of the thing, especially considering that I'd been social dancing like a fool in the hour or so before hand. I was so tired I feel like I failed to put in a good showing for my partners in the following Jack and Jill. Oh well. Nor did I drink enough water (as per usual - I hate the way I feel guilty about drinking my own water at that place. Sure, I'll buy a drink, but I'm also going to drink at least 2-3 litres while I'm out dancing. And I can't afford to buy that much water!

Then I rode home (which was nice with the cool breeze, esp as it was still so hot) at 12:30am, but had to stop at the 7-11 for a drink.

At the 7-11 it made me smile to see some Italian kids in their 20s posing with their cars, boys with shirts off. It made me think about the battle and how the battle should have had the same type of posing but didn't.

*this was a truly crap film, but the dancing was good

Posted by dogpossum on January 20, 2006 3:32 PM in the category lindy hop and other dances