it’s never cool to see your blog is just a big white space surrounded by (entirely accurate) self-portraits.

but i have a belated breakfast to eat.

ok, so it’s not so easy getting back into work.

i’m still fussing over my notes, trying to figure out exactly what i’m going to write about in this chapter. it all seems a fair bit more bullshitty now than it did when i was writing the notes.
but i’ve managed to put together a decent sort of chapter layout. it might be a big chapter, but i know where i can cut stuff out.
sigh.
story of my life.

tomorrow might be a better working day. though i think i’ll get some stuff done tonight. the hardest part is always starting the chapter, though i think i’ve pretty much gotten onto that with my plan. i do need to do some serious research on afro-american vernacular dance. see what sort of theoretical work is kicking around… so i can substantiate some of the stuff i’m writing about.
sigh again.
i am SO in the wrong country for this type of research. i’m SURE i need another research trip.

afro-americn vernacular dance and the dance act: historicising lindy hop

OK, so it seems this chapter on the dance act has two parts or key points.

1. Presenting an argument for contemporary swing culture as an Afro-American vernacular dance. Or a dance drawing on this heritage.
2. Presenting a discussion of contemporary social and face to face dance practice and culture.

I am interested in the role of the media in these two areas.
In the first part, I’m interested in the extent to which history is present in contemporary swing discourse – how is swing culture historicised or, conversely, ahistorical?
With that in mind, I’m examining the ways in which a sense of historical context or history is communicated within and between swing communities. I discuss sites like Savoy Style whose emphasis is on the history of the dance and swing websites which provide briefer, potted versions of history like mine on
Free Swing Press
. Interestingly, the Melbourne schools aren’t too keen on providing any history of the dance on their websites, though it’s a fairly common feature on sites like the Perth Swing Society’s website, and on similar sites overseas. IÂ’m wondering if limiting the dissemination of this knowledge – or deprioritising it in favour of group/school identities – is a useful way of fixing the groupÂ’s identity on certain terms which emphasise the closed, school-identity, rather than a wider, more decentralised sense of ‘swing community identity’. Obviously, it’s harder to control the interpretation and meaning of history in the latter state, which might lead to a re-construction of power dynamics and systems of privelege in swing communities.
On the other hand, Jive Junction, an American site, provides a fairly authoritative history of lindy hop styles in Peter Loggins’ article on this page. The key point of issue here, lies in Loggins’ engagement with the way histories of the dance have been employed by various groups to cement their own authority. ‘History’, here is not so much distinctly Afro-American or reaching into the pre-history of lindy hop, but concerned more with the geneology of lindy hop itself.

In this discussion of the uses of different media forms in historical swing discourse, IÂ’ll also mention of the role of archival footage from the ‘original swing era’ and discussions of musical geneaology in swing culture, though IÂ’ll leave more complex discussions for later chapters.

All of this is relevant to a discussion of face to face dance acts – actual, real-life dancing. The first section argues that swing dancing today is a contemporary incarnation of Afro-American vernacular dance. And that Afro-American vernacular dance embodies various discursive themes and ideological approaches not only to dance but also to communication and community which are fairly exciting for a feminist project like mine.
This attention to Afro-American history also allows me to manage some of the issues surrounding positioning swing culture as a diaspora. Diaspora is almost always a racialised or ethnicised concept in cultural studies. While I don’t have a strong history in race or ethnicity studies, I don’t think these matters can be overlooked in swing: this was a black dance developing from the slave history of an oppressed American people. And it’s been adopted by white, middle class kids in urban Australia. I want to know how this history is present or managed or re-presented or negated or whatever by the contemporary cultural context. Is this another example of cultural imperialism or appropriation, or perhaps an interesting example of a more dynamic cultural process? I see media forms – mass media communication – as playing a part in this use of Afro-American vernacular dance culture by contemporary Melbourne swingers.

So in the first part of this chapter I outline lindy hop and swing dances in terms of their history as an Afro-American vernacular dance. I make an argument for this history or context or identity as potentially subversive, dynamic, transgressive, etc – really, a dance-form which does ‘textual poaching’ in a very satisfying way.
In the second part I discuss the extent to which this potential is actually realised in contemporary Australian swing communities, by discussing f2f swing dancing in Melbourne on these terms.
I look for instances of poaching, tactical resistance, feminist-friendly stuff and – conversely – structural strategies of discursive control in contemporary, f2f swing dance.
I do all this through an analysis of f2f dance interaction with pays particular attention to the themes raised by the first section. How are elements like derision, challenge, imitation and mocking present in contemporary swing dance? how are these tools for subversion (or disempowerment) taken up by different dancers?
My analysis in this section centres on gender and sexuality, primarily in response to the limitations of space and time, but also as part of my own project as a feminist swing dancer to find a tenable position on the dance floor for myself. But attention to gender and sexuality is also useful in a more general sense, as the employment of various strategies and tactics in the negotiation of gender and sexuality in swing discourse indicates the more general ideologies at work, and their notion of identity and what it is to be a swinger. Swing dance culture, around the world, is heavily informed by gender and gendered identity. It simply makes sense to hang a discussion of identity and shared, communal identity on this issue.

writing about my work on this blog is actually conducive to good thesising

ok, so i’m back ‘at work’. i’m sitting in front of the computer, notes open in front of me, most pressing of procrastination activities completed (blogs read, discussion boards perused, laundry flapping on the line), stomach full and kettle on.

do you think i have even any clue as to what my thesis is actually about? it’s been so long, i can’t even remember what i was writing about.

right now i’m looking at these notes on the dance act itself, ready to hoe into an argument about afro-american vernacular dance and what that actually means to a bunch of middle class white kids in melbourne, and i just can’t seem to remember what it was that made all this so important.

i think i need to re-read past chapters.
surprisingly, though, i’ve found writing about my work on this blog is actually conducive to good thesising. don’t have a postgrad community to discuss readings with? why not crap on to an imaginary audience on the internet. kewl.

pirates

i know it’s been a long time since i last posted, but things have been busy. i was in tasmania for around 6 weeks – 2 months, christmas happened, then new years and now. well. there was mlx in the middle, which was far funner than expected, probably owing to the fact that i was thrilled just to be in melbourne and having a break, as well as being gleefully responsibility-free, as a non-volunteer and non-hoster. ah, me-first. what bliss.

then i did some workshops in tasmania with bill and julee and the tasmanian dancers. the tasmanians do truly rock. i am also enjoying something of an extended dance epiphany. the secret? dancing is simpler than you’d think. phew.

now i’m back in melbourne, and will start work on the thesis again on monday. or perhaps tuesday, as i’m slotted in for an appointment at the gym. max has left the wick baths, but i’m settling for disco-moustache man. hopefully he’ll be as good as max. hopefully.

this year sees me thinking about taking up tap (still), african dance (possibly), hiphop (again, possibly), yoga more intensively (as it rawks), more swimming, and most interesting of all, sword fighting for the stage. i’m facinated. but not sure where to begin.

but in celebration of the new year, i’ve added an ordinary-quality photo of crin and i being pirates at the mlx ball. there were other pirates in our gang, but they were either taking the photo or in the hall already doing performances.

mother update

for all those who’ve asked, here’s an update on my mum’s progress…

oh, if you haven’t heard, my mother went into hospital last sunday night, with suspected chicken pox. by the following evening, when i arrived in hobart on the first plane i could get, she was unconcsious, incubated (that means they had her sedated, with a tubey thing breathign for her), in severe respiratory distress, had a weirdo rash, was on dialisis and had scary low blood pressure. they knew she had an infection, but no idea where it started or what it was. they still don’t know.
but unlike that monday, this monday, a week later, she’s out of danger and doing much better.
she’s now doing some breathing for herself, has some good colour, her blood pressure is returning to normal, so her temperature is much better. she is being taken off sedatives, so beginning to make involuntary movement on her own. we are vastly relieved, and no longer nuts with worry. the doctor expects her to be in hospital for a few weeks more, then home for months of recuperation.

so thank you so much for all the kind thoughts and phone calls from all the jillions of people who’ve gotten in contact. our friends have given us invaluable, hell WONDERFUL support, hosting my brother in melbourne at short notice, holding me while i bawled like a baby in the hospital while i waited for the other family to arrive, sleeping cuddled up with me like puppies every nap time and every bed time this week, calling me with kind words, bringing round cakes, strudel, biscuits cherries and so on, giving me information about hobart’s yoga (rock on the hobart yoga room – go there for ACE iyengar yoga), offering generous favours, and generally being kind. we really couldn’t have managed without you all.

i bet strong centers are important to him. or to his horse

on tuesday i was watching the melbourne cup with The Squeeze (not my telly choice – i have no interest) while killing some time on the couch.
the one thing i remember about this ‘race that stops a nation’, after the rain and the way they put their arms around the horses’ bums to get them into the gate, was the winning jockey’s triumphant lap of honour in front of the crowd.

and you know what i remember about that ride? saying out loud “MAN that guy has a strong center – look at THAT!”. i am obsessed. it’s just facinating. if your core is stable – your belly/torso, etc – you waste less energy and your movement is better.
seeing as how that jockey won, i bet strong centers are important to him. or to his horse.

stuart hall raaaawks

i’m doing a lecture on my work in the researching media audiences subject the supervisor takes. next week. i have done nothing except think about some clips i’d like to show.
i have only 20 minutes. which is nothing when you add in clips.
sheesh.
but i’m getting paid. and this is the first time i’ve been asked to lecture on my own research (rather than to speak about other people’s stuff). excellent.
time for me to do another paper, though…

otherwise, i’m rocking through the media/diaspora stuff. it’s really interesting and wonderfully complementary to the fan studies stuff. i have a couple of articles by stuart hall to follow up, which will no doubt raaaawk, because he raaaawks.
NB: my first supervisor, frances, was supervised by stuart hall for her phd at the birmingham open university. that’s very exciting.

i love researching. i love this stuff i’m working on. i just wish i was more disciplined.

this’ll be a piece of cake

it’s time to get into the chapter writing hardcore. no more stuffing around. no more reading exciting things. there are a couple of references i’d like to chase down (mostly stuart hall stuff, but heck. there you go), but it’s time to say Stop. Get On With It.

so i am. yesterday i wrote a chapter outline. today i’ve looked at the chapter outline. i know it’ll be a good chapter. i know it. now i just need to get into it.
this is the hard bit. starting to write. i know i can pull 13000 words out of my bum hoo-pah! no worries. but getting started… and i need to get it done because editing will take ages. it always does.

i’m also thinking about getting involved in this. the deal is that you write a 50 000 word novel in a month. not that hard for me, actually. that’s about 1600 words a day. piece of piss for me.
so of course, to procastinate over writing the thesis (55000 words or so left), i decide to write 50 000 words worth of a novel.
nice one, sistah. very clever.
maybe i should take the challenge and write my thesis’s 50 000 words in this one month? over november.
hmmm. now that’s likely. the mlx is on at the end of november, so i can write a week off there, what with visitors and dancing and all. my birthday is on the 11th, so there’ll be some days there where i’ll be 100% distracted. my mother is coming up to stay on the 14th or so. my dad is up on the 9th or thereabouts.
sure, this’ll be a piece of cake.

he’s my man

today has been a slack day. i’ve only got two books left to work through from my latest library trawl. i’m pretty sure i want to take on stuart hall’s work on globalisation and diaspora. now i need to find more of his stuff and of stuff by people who also dig his work.
so of course i’ve procrastinated all day.
a late start, a little time over breakfast. some internet play.
the of course, i had to go to the gym to go for my first ever swim in my new togs, in melbourne, at the gym.
i was brave about what is, essentially, semi nudity in a public place. if i was a gay man i’d have some anxiety issues. but seeing as how i’m not, no one was looking at me, so i’m cool… not that the baths are anywhere near as popular with the gay blokes as the valley pool in brisbane was. but still. a pear-shaped chick in modest black togs (even if they do have a particularly spiffy zip up the back. note to self: attach string to zip for easier escapes) is really not even a blip on most people’s radar.

at any rate, it was quite lovely. the water was a little warm for my liking. this was outside, so i’m a bit concerned about the summer temperatures. and i did 30 laps of the 50m pool. so i’m now, officially, an athlete.
ok, so i’m still not hugely speedy. but i’m fitter than i was last time i was doing laps (in brisbane). and i still have a decent stroke, so i’m not shaming myself.
the whole strong-in-your-center thing is very useful in swimming (is there any physical activity for which it’s not useful?): a more stable center makes for less wasted energy in the pool. hence the 30 laps, rather than, say 20 or 25.
i am also interested in the kick boards, as they make we work my legs a whole lot more. and it’s harder to stay centered. i do so much upper body work in the gym i figure it’s time to pound my lower body.
between that and dancing i figure it’ll all be good.

other than that, i’ve not done much. i did wash my light quilt. hoorah. and i ate a nice sandwhich for lunch. home made. and i watched 2 episodes of angel, from season 4 or 5 or whatever it was.

yes, it has been a busy day, hasn’t it.
i will try to do better tomorrow.

meanwhile, i would like to get through this second last book. there’s stuart hall in there. and he’s my man.