October 4th, 2011 by soul4dance

Best Dance Act and Best Dance Choreographer Announced

The shortlist for the best dance act and best dance choreographers for the BEFFTA awards were announced earlier this week.

The annual Black Entertainment Film Fashion Television and Arts (BEFFTA) awards are to celebrate the achievements of the black and ethnic personalities in the entertainment, film, fashion, television and arts.

Flawless were the voted winners for 2009.

Boy Blue Entertainment bagged the awards in 2010.

The founder of BEFFTA “Pauline Long” said: ‘the nomination process is usually a lengthy and involves intense research but it’s all worth it. You only have to look at the individuals nominated to see that we are a community of very talented and creative people. a lot of the people that have been nominated work very hard behind the scenes and are very talented, these people need recognition for their contribution in the industry and that what BEFFTA is all about.’

The BEFFTA Awards 2011 will happen on the 22^nd of October at the Light House.

Best Dance Act Nominations:

Akai, Boy Blue Entertainment, Dan-Kira, Diversity, Definitives, Flawless, Rhimes Lecointe.

Best Dance Choreographer Nominations:

Anthony Kaye, Glenn Hudson, Johnson (Kid Royal), Kenrick ‘H2O’ Sandy, Douggie Dan-Kira, Kwame Kight, Tony Adigun.

October 3rd, 2011 by soul4dance

For people of a certain generation there are few movie moments where once scene stands out the most like Kevin Bacon in a white tank top and jeans working out his angst against a warehouse backdrop. His white sneakers popping while moving pictures – Never blares. But now more than 30 years have passed since Footloose came out and now youngsters of new era are more likely to ask – Kevin who?

Footloose was about a small town which bans public dancing and a bad-boy outsider who brings it to its senses while romancing the reverend’s daughter, this movie has remained in place among all the beloved dance films of the ‘80’s.

Now they want to honor the 1984 original movie, the creators of “Footloose” remake, has been considered to introduce the hit movie to the next generation, so that its memory is carried on!

The surprise was most of the moves were similar to the original, the angry warehouse dance and the fake prom at the end, but they still added their whole new set of choreography by many of the professional dancers in the cast.

Cast of Footloose 2011 - Kenny Wormald, Julianne Hough, Dennis Quaid, Ziah Colon.

Director - Craig Brewe

October 1st, 2011 by soul4dance

LUX Dance India Dance is a reality dance show which airs on the Indian Satellite television channel Zee TV. This show has become one of India's largest dance based show. The teams of the show are choreographed by some of the most popular Indian choreographers like Terence Lewis, Remo D'Souza and Geeta Kapoor.

This show airs every Friday and Saturday.

The concept of the show is that, gathers raw dance talent from the age of 15 to 25 from all over India be it men or women or kids. Once they are chosen, the contestants are trained by professional Bollywood choreographers. After this the participants compete against each other. And a winner is chosen by the public and judges.

This is a learning curve for the dancers as they are developed into to professional dancers and they learn many styles of dance like ballet, contemporary, latin, bollywood, ballroom and hip hop.

Now the latest season of DID3 has arrived. Stay tuned if you wanna enter, and when you get there stay calm and breathe. Do your best and give it your all! There are 18 people who will make it and you may be one of them.

Audition dates and venues:

September 30th, 2011 by soul4dance

Dance Central is a music video game for the Xbox 360. This game utilizes the Kinect motion peripheral. The game was developed by Harmonix, who are the creators of Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises. The game disc has about 32 songs already installed and have created about 240 songs which can be bought online.

Game Play:

Here the GamePlay involves the performing player re-creating the dance moves which are tracked by Kinect and represented on the screen by one of the eight in-game avatars. The game has more than 650 dance moves which span across 90 dance routines. There are five modes available:

Perform It: the regular single player game play mode, where the main objective is to complete the dance routines to get the highest score.

Workout Mode: this is an extension to the regular mode in which the number of calories burned is also tracked, along with the workout time.

Dance Battle: here two players compete in a head to head dance routine battle. The person with the highest score is the winner.

Challenge Mode: once all the songs in each difficulty category have four starts on each one, a challenge based on the difficulty is unlocked. This mode increases as the difficulty increases.

Break It Down: this is a practice mode which allows the beginners to learn more advanced dance moves in a step by step process.

September 29th, 2011 by soul4dance

1 on 1 All Styles Dance Competition, New York

The New York Throw Down 2011 - All Styles Dance Competition was held in Mark’s Church in the Bowery, New York, NY. The competition is based on type of dance which is danced 1 on 1 for the title best Throw Down 2011.

The preliminaries, quarter finals and semi finals were all one round each where each troupe or person was eliminated based on the judges’ choice. The final was an exhausting 5 rounds for the dance troupes.

The competition’s tagline is “ALL STYLES DANCE COMPETITION” and that’s what it was in the end. There were styles which included competitions for LOCKERS, JERK WAACKERS, PUNKERS, FLEXING, BRUCK UP, HIP HOP, DOUGIE, HOUSE, MODERN, BALLET, TAP, TURFERS, KRUMPERS, POPPERS, BBOYS AND FREESTYLERS.

The competition was wild and crazy!  The only prerequisite was keeping the beat!

Entry cost - $10 with a flyer; $12 without a flyer, camera premium price was $15.

September 28th, 2011 by soul4dance

Salsa Dance

Salsa dancing has its own twists. Many dancers put their own twist and create routines for the dance programs and competitions. The main criteria is the timing and the beats for a salsa dancer, this has to fall in line with the music and is called ’step timing’ or just ‘timing’.

The timing is the most important archive to achieve the fluid motion in the dance. Since there are many dancers, people opt for showcasing their talents in many ways. These dancers want to be different from each other and so they show their creativity in the clothes their wear or the merging of various styles into their dance.

Salsa can be danced in various styles according to the various beats in the music, as there are numerous timings popular nowadays. Check out this couple dancing!

September 27th, 2011 by soul4dance

MISCONCEPTION 1: Only Latinos and talented dancers can learn salsa

Salsa has become hugely popular internationally in countries like India, China, UK, and Australia. Many of the salsa dancers have normal jobs, you don’t need to be gifted with dance genes or born in a Latino family to learn salsa. The learning process is part of the fun. Joining a dance school is a great way to meet people and you become a part of a close community of friends who share a common interest.

MISCONCEPTION 2: I just feel the music. The music tells me what to do.

This excuse is used by people who are insecure about their lack of technique. They accuse professional dancers for being too technical and not feeling the music. The problem with this kind of thinking is that expressing yourself to the music is only one part of the salsa equation. Salsa is a partner dance not a freestyle solo dance. It’s not just about personal individual expression; it is also an act of connecting with your partner so that you express the music together. This cannot happen when one does not know how to lead/follow.

MISCONCEPTION 3: I don’t need classes; the partner should be able to lead me

Dancing is a partnership work and it should be 50/50. When one person does not know the dance and is untrained then it becomes very hard for one person to do all the work. A good follower is easy to lead and this is where everyone can benefit from classes.

MISCONCEPTION 4: He/She is an amazing dancer therefore they must also be a great instructor

Being a good dancer requires a completely different mindset than being a good instructor. The focus has to go from your own performance and technique to developing the skills of students. A good instructor also needs to be able to think like a beginner and this is very hard as they are unable to understand with students who require more time. When picking a good instructor, don’t look at their ability to dance.

MISCONCEPTION 5: I have to be really good before I can go social dancing

In 2 or 3 lessons with a good instructor is all you need for your first salsa party. It’s okay if you don’t have everything together yet. There are always beginners at every salsa party so there will be no problem to find people on the same level to dance with. The best way to improve is to take what you are learning in salsa classes and apply it on the dance floor. Relax and don’t worry so much about what other people think. Remember salsa above all is about having fun!

September 20th, 2011 by soul4dance

Originally titled ‘Just Dance’ the show “Got to Dance” is a dance competition and a reality show which is broadcasted in the United Kingdom, Ireland, United States and India. The auditions of the show take place in specially built Dance Domes and any dance, act, style are welcome. All the contestants will be judged on the talent level, skill and performance. The judges for the show are Ashley Banjo, Kimberly Wyatt and Adam Garcia, the show is hosted by Davina McCall. The show has been hosted for two seasons and the winners are below.

Season 1 winner is Akai Milan Osei, a ten year old British street dancer who is from Lambeth. He was inspired by Michael Jackson, Diversity, Flawless and Chris brown. Now he has appeared in many movies and videos for many British programs and movies, he was featured in many dance shows and he was also a judge on a talent show for Disney Channel called “Shake it up and Dance”

Season 2 winners were Chris and Wes is a dynamic duo who is the unstoppable dance force who has been known to dance on the M40 motorway and choreograph in their sleep. They have been influenced by Michael Jackson and Justin Timberlake. These guys have become well-known dancers and they want to do as much as they can for the dance industry.

September 16th, 2011 by soul4dance

Move It! UK’s biggest dance competition for all, reveals the new dance trends shaking up the nation in 2011! Be sure you how to groove it on the dance floor this year, with the hottest and coolest dancers in the world. What’s more better you can log on to the website www.moveitdance.co.uk trends and check out the awesome trends and learn it too so you can show off too in front of your friends and be the envy of all. Step by step guidelines are available and anyone can learn themjust by watching it! Be sure to check them out soon!

These are the dance trends for 2011 –

INDIE BALLET – This is all about the music and it shocks the rules of traditional ballet. The classic ballet pirouettes, pique and twirls which are danced and blended with rock indie tunes create a totally new and unique style of dance, movement and entertainment.

WAACKING – This style originated in the US, it’s called ‘The Waacking Phenomenon’ and it is sweeping the nation with its cool new funk style. This is inspired from Madonna’s ‘Vogueing. This is an underground street dance movement which is much faster and packs more attitude, passion and style.

ICONIC 1980’s – Flash Dance era is back with a vengeance – Big hair, loud clothes and leg warmers with dramatic movements are the basics for this 1980’s dance movement.

HEYDAY DANCE – The end of war celebrations is called ‘heydays’, as the name suggests lets rewind the clock to the 1920’s , 1930’s, 1940’s and 1950’s with this retro inspired dance style. This is heavily influenced by vintage fashion, old school dance hall and flappers. This is a new age twist for 2011!

CHEERLEADING – Give me a D A N C E! What’d you get DANCE! Cheerleading, Come-on! With the recent influences with the sitcoms of high school, cheerleading is all popular among the dance world. So let’s get the cheer outfits ready!

Nowadays people wanna have fun with dancing and working out, they want a new twist. Add new music where it is required, add old school music and voila we have a new trend happening in our midst!

September 16th, 2011 by soul4dance

The DanceSport Association of Maharashtra has announced its Third Maharashtra Open DanceSport Championship, 2011 for the Latina and Ballroom dancing. Where many dancers can participate in the Latin American Dance forms with different grades of expertise. They can showcase their talents in the competition which will be appraised by a panel of experts from all around the country.

There are many categories of competitions for the Latin American dance forms like the Cha-Cha, Rumba, Salsa, Paso Doble, Jive, and Samba. Also there are competitions for the different forms of Ballroom dance forms like the Waltz, Quickstep, Fox Trot, Viennese Waltz and Social Dancing.

During this competition there will be over 50 couples which will be invited to compete for the Championship. All these dances and dancers will be conducted at the venue where the audience also gets a chance to watch the sensual and beautiful Latin Dances as well as the lively and joyous Ballroom Dances.

This is happening on 17th September at 6:00 pm at the Experimental Theatre, Mumbai. Hope to see you there! Book your tickets now!