Senior OD

[csparkles]

Does anyone have any idea what the idea is with Asher Hill's costume with the a striped tie as a belt and a pink undershirt?

It certainly doesn't come from the 30's, 40's or either of the 2 Astaire / Rogers musical films that featured "They Can't Take That Away From Me" where Astaire danced or performed in a business suit or white tie & tails. (Shall We Dance (1937) and The Barkleys of Broadway (1949) )

Obviously there is a concept there, but I'm totally missing where it comes from. Also the part about "the way you wear your hat" was about Ginger's hat I sort wish Kharis had a hat. (In "shall we dance", both Fred and Ginger had hats)

I've watched R&H, Chong & Gfeller and Karam and O'Keefe now, as well as W&P, HM/C, V&M and C&P.

I didn't like Chong / Gfeller or Karam O'Keefe at all. Very, very generic, I thought. Ralph and Hill I really like, plus they skated much better than they did at the JGPF. Only negative for me was his costume.

There isn't a lot of base mark difference in the couples. V&M, R&H, C&G, and K&O have a base of 26.8. The other 3 have a base of 26.1 (one less level 4 skill than the others). C/P had the lower base mark and blew the tqizzle. W&P blew the spin. C&G blew both the twizzle & the spin. H M / C had a slight problem with the last lift and K&O had troubles with the diagonal step and the twizzle.

I'd probably have had Crone&Poirier lower. Plus I don't like that ragtime is not 20's 30's or 40's.

Probably V&M, long distance, then Asher/Hill, C&P and HM/C all in a bunch in that order, then a space and W&P, and a space to C/G and O/K.

I can fill you in on that one. Fred Astaire was quite the style icon in those days, and one of the "looks" he made very popular was wearing a neck tie as a belt. He also frequently wore an ascot (neck wear) and a hat. K/A are not portraying "movie" Astaire/Rogers, but style. At the beginning of the song, Ella Fitzgerald sings "the way you wear your hat" which is why Asher is wearing it, nothing to do with any movie.

Crone/Poirier"s choice of ragtime music was to portray the spirit of the silent movie. Although, as you quite rightly point out, ragtime did not originate in that era but earlier, the music is, in many peoples minds, associated with that period. It remained very popular throughout the 20's and 30's. As I'm sure you have noticed, there are many other peices of music being used, such as selctions from Cabaret, which also did not originate in those era's but generally give one the feeling of the period. Vanessa and Paul's coaching team took a great deal of care to make sure that the music would be accepted before starting choreography.
Hope this info is helpful!

 

[dorispulaski]

csparkles, Thanks for the great first post! Post long, post often.

Thanks for the info about Asher's costume. I'm sure your explanation is the correct one. I didn't know Fred ever wore his tie as a belt in real life. The ascot I knew about. Asher's ascot doesn't look like an ascot-more like a pink undershirt to me, but I wondered if that wasn't it, and then thought, nah, his tie's around his waist, what would he be doing with an ascot? 2 ties??? Must be an undershirt.

The Crone Poirier thing though still doesn't wash for me--people didn't dance to ragtime in the 20's. They were far too busy doing the Charleston and the dances that were the base later of swing, and related dances. If C&P are doing silent movies, they should be sitting, not dancing

http://socialdance.stanford.edu/syllabi/ragtime_dance.htm

World War I brought an end to the ragtime era dance craze in 1914-15. The twenties saw a revival of social dancing with Classic Jazz music, the Charleston, Collegiate, Black Bottom and the original Lindy Hop, which had evolved in Harlem from the 1910 Texas Tommy. The Tango adopted a more "gaucho" style under the influence of Rudolph Valentino, and the bouncy ragtime Fox-Trot became smoother walking. Although the twenties saw a return of tremendous enthusiasm for dancing, it never quite reached the heights of originality, diversity and mass popularity seen in the ragtime era.

It's in the same category for me as DomShabs' waltz-the outfits are right, but the choice of music is on the lame side. You have to write a dissertation to explain why it's OK to use it.

Neither team has been penalized for its music, but if it were me making the decision, I would penalize both. Given a range of 30 years (1920 to 1949), you ought to be able to pick a dance that originated and was danced to in those years. I hope that the ISU writes a clearer description of what dances are allowed in another year rather than assigning a history of dance research paper to all the choreographers and coaches by being lazy and giving a range of dates.

The Cabaret show (and its music) is a portrayal of the correct era, which is why I have no problem with it. Likewise Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and the Puppini Sisters (much used this year) & similar recording artists have the same sound as the eras' music they are playing/singing. The rules say that you can use later music in the style of the era, provided it's not ballroom. So again, no problem, nor should there be.