3505  Mad Hot Ballroom

Date: Thu, 9 Jun 2005 20:19:38 -0400
From: Michael <tangomaniac@CAVTEL.NET>
Subject: Mad Hot Ballroom

Last week, I saw the movie "Mad Hot Ballroom." It DOESN'T deal with Argentine Tango. It deals with learning how to dance. New York City has =
a program where 5th and 6th graders are taught ballroom for 10 weeks. Schools can enter a competition that leads to the finals where the team =
with the most points wins the Challenge Cup. The competition dances are foxtrot, swing, rumba, American tango, and cha cha. Each school sends =
six couples; one per dance plus an alternate couple on stand by to fill in for any couple that can't dance.

The children go through exactly the same frustrations adults go through learning how to dance. That's what makes the movie so endearing. =
Teachers talk about their students maturing. One principal says that one student who regularly visits her office because of disciplinary =
problems, hasn't come once since she started taking classes.

Three schools are examined. Forgetting the high school numbers (PS xx), the schools are Washington Heights (Manhattan, near 181st Street) =
Bensonhurst (somewhere in Brooklyn), and Tribeca (Manhattan lower west side).

The boys talk about the girls and the girls talk about the boys; their preferences who they like to dance.

I encourage you to see the movie. You just might see future tango dancers.

Michael Ditkoff
Washington, DC
About 6 weeks to NY Tango Festival (www.celebratetango.com)

Date: Thu, 9 Jun 2005 22:59:23 -0500
From: el turco <shusheta@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Mad Hot Ballroom

I saw watched this movie last night, and I agree that MUST SEE for any
dancer, or parents. Most of Argentine Tango dancers are in US are
parents, and unfortunately this made teenagers stay away from
Argentine Tango, even in BsAs most of teenagers stay away from Tango
or Chacarera. I was talking to my Spanish teacher, a portena who
lives in Minneapolis, she says young people mostly stay away from
tango or chacarera since those dances are for old people.

How can we attract young people's interest into Argentine Tango?
there many ways to achieve this goal.

- bring Argentine Tango to their daily life (on campus, NON-Tango
music which they listen to every day)

(when i moved to Minneapolis 3 years ago, i was the youngest leader,
and instructor in the community. However, I started Argentine Tango
Club at the Univ. of Minnesota last year, now you can see even high
school students, college students started dancing in milongas.They
started learning the milonga etiquette, and meeting more experienced
and older Tango dancers. check this interview
https://www.mndaily.com/Multimedia/2005/06/09/v1tangohi.mov

- University towns in MidWest such as Ann Arbor,MI , Purdue(West
Lafayette) IN, Madison,WI, Urbana-Champaign(Il) etc. are doing very
well in terms of getting young people into Tango, since there are not
so many activities happening in the city limits. However this is
really difficult in bigger cities like in Chicago, Twin Cities, St.
Louis, Denver, Philadelphia, DC etc. Because the interest, leisure
time activities are scattered, and there are many options to have fun.
West Coast is exceptionally great in terms of the percentage of young
Tango dancers.

- recognition of Tango by young people:
open mindedness regarding how to approach young people. For instance,
if you have a "demo" with Comme il fault by Carlos Di Sarli, this demo
won't stay in their memory since they never heard that kind music
before, and most probably they will NEVER hear it again in their life.
However if you perform to Gotan Project song, they most probably would
recognize the music. Hence, mixture of traditional and modern sounds
of Tango would be more efficient to catch their interest.

-making TANGO affordable for students:
most of Tango dancers are well educated, from mid level to upper level
financially. However, this does not count for students, so that
admission to milongas, workshops, lessons should be discounted.

- Big Brother role for Tango Societies (a sad story):
Unfortunately most of Tango Societies in US have so rigid structure
that they are scared of losing their outdated constitution (A.K.A
power). There are few examples of hard working societies who can
attract young people-fresh blood into their Tango communities.


It doesn't matter how hard some of us trying to keep tango as was
40-50 years ago, the new generation will decide and give it updated
shape, whether we like it or not.
Bests,

Burak "El Turco"
Minneapolis
www.tangoshusheta.com







On 6/9/05, Michael <tangomaniac@cavtel.net> wrote:

> Last week, I saw the movie "Mad Hot Ballroom." It DOESN'T deal with Argentine Tango. It deals with learning how to dance. New York City has a progra=

m where 5th and 6th graders are taught ballroom for 10 weeks. Schools can enter a competition that leads to the finals where the team with the most po=
ints wins the Challenge Cup. The competition dances are foxtrot, swing, rumba, American tango, and cha cha. Each school sends six couples; one per dan=
ce plus an alternate couple on stand by to fill in for any couple that can't dance.

>
> The children go through exactly the same frustrations adults go through learning how to dance. That's what makes the movie so endearing. Teachers ta=

lk about their students maturing. One principal says that one student who regularly visits her office because of disciplinary problems, hasn't come on=
ce since she started taking classes.

>
> Three schools are examined. Forgetting the high school numbers (PS xx), the schools are Washington Heights (Manhattan, near 181st Street) Bensonhurs=

t (somewhere in Brooklyn), and Tribeca (Manhattan lower west side).

>
> The boys talk about the girls and the girls talk about the boys; their preferences who they like to dance.
>
> I encourage you to see the movie. You just might see future tango dancers.
>
> Michael Ditkoff
> Washington, DC
> About 6 weeks to NY Tango Festival (www.celebratetango.com)
>
>

Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2005 00:53:16 -0500
From: info@DANCESCAPE.COM
Subject: Mad Hot Ballroom Features Tango - Shake It All Night Long Contest ($200 American Express Gift Card)

Told from the candid and sometimes hilarious perspectives of 11-year-old New
York City public school kids. "Mad Hot Ballroom" is a journey into the world
of ballroom dancing, as students trying to master such Ballroom Dances as
the TANGO are transformed from reluctant participants to determined
competitors on their way to the final citywide competition. One of the
classic scenes from this movie was when the group of kids were being taught
the TANGO and asked to make their "Tango Faces" (see www.dancescape.TV for
the movie preview).

DanceScape in conjunction with Paramount's "Mad Hot Ballroom" and
American Express is pleased to present the "SHAKE IT ALL NIGHT LONG" CONTEST

You can enter to win a US $200 AMEX CASH GIFT CARD which you can use for a
night on the town to "Shake It All Night Long". Also, 9 Draws for The Mad
Hot Ballroom Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.

ENTER TODAY at https://www.dancescape.com
Contest Closes: December 16, 2005

Mad Hot Ballroom is available On Demand and Pay Per View December 2nd!

PICK a movie.
PUSH a button.
PLAY it whenever.

Mad Hot Ballroom is available On Demand today! With On Demand, you
don't have to leave the house, stand in line, or check your mailbox.
Just grab your remote and tune to your ON Demand channel or menu screen
to rent Mad Hot Ballroom now.

dance is ... PASSION
www.dancescape.com
www.dancescape.TV

Please forward this news to your Dance Friends ...