There’re more Showdown clips!
This one is AMAZING
Liberation finals @ ULHS 2008
Because the music is so freakin’ fast. Check out those tiny little bodies running about at such high speeds! In the air! On the ground! Go!
I’m not entirely sure this is lindy hopping music (it’s a bit early – tuba, etc, not enough four on the floor action), but it’s freakin’ great.
I especially like the angle this clips shot at – it puts us amongst it.
(btw, you can see the ‘Revolution’ finals here).
note to self: write diatribe about high heels, the patriarchy and gross deformities of the foot.
and finally!
I think the music is from a US band called ‘Loose Marbles’ who I think I’ve heard mentioned on ‘Hey Mr Jesse’. It’s sort of late 20s style. The piece they played here is not quite my cup of tea. I think having a live band for any sort of competion or show dancing brings a lot of live energy between the music and dancers (although I’m not convinced this was happening here).
As far as the dancing goes, most of it leaves me cold. About 2-3% of the dancing is genuinely inventive and fun. The rest is mainly learned patterns which don’t seem in keeping with the music at all.
Update:
Just watched the ‘Revolution’ clip, and enjoyed it ;). Same band, some of the same dancers. In this one, the dancers seemed to be having fun, not just throwing moves out. I much prefer the music in this clip to the ‘Liberation’ one. Perhaps the dancers preferred it too – it certainly seemed that way. I was thinking about how the music fits in with the dancing. The music sounds ‘janky’, jerky, tight, small. When the dancing is like this it’s great. When the dancers keep their bodies fairly still and sort of jerk to the music it looks great (like the pecking), but when they move their bodies around a lot it doesn’t.