may
2000
mail me home
may2000
mail me home
Accusation of Pupil Pirating; Tanz Café, Not Guilty
For the attention of James Sullivan,
Sylvia McCallum
The Arthur Murray Dance Studio,
Rivonia
Dance Info (The South African Dance Magazine)
3rd May 2000
It has come to our attention that attempts have been made to influence a student or students of the Arthur Murray Dance Studio to participate in dance classes at Tanz Café.
Tanz Café, home of Argentinean Tango, is a Dance Café - a restaurant and bar centered around the dance. A meeting place for lovers of dance. Our customers, therefore, include Dance Studios - teachers, students, competitors, performers. Ethics and pure business sense dictates that soliciting students is unacceptable and quite stupid and we strongly reject this practise.
"At Tanz Café we aim to
create an atmosphere of sheer enjoyment of the dance. Share the floor without
barriers or a sense of competition and simply dance for the joy of it."
Yours faithfully
Mareli Schroter
for and on behalf of Tanz Café
Makes some of the best dresses
When you next update your website we will be most grateful if you will include our details in the relevant places.
Jon also designs and makes Ballroom and Latin American dresses - I think he makes some of the best dresses I've seen and thats not because he is my husband!
Many thanks
Ed
Cheryl, yes, I do know you and
Jon through Ryno and your wins as Professional Ballroom dancers. When I
first started my mag years ago, Jon placed one or two ads for his dress
designs. Your studio “Dance by Design” is also listed on my studio WebPage
but can’t be accessed. Maybe you and Jon should consider subscribing, I
have a very convenient scheme for studio owners. Particularly with Jon
having the dress design section as well. I've attached the details.
It would be great to have you listed
Matthew & Nicole Cutler's Dance Profile in brief
Dear Jay
As requested,
here's our Dance Profile in brief - if you need a more in-depth profile,
let me know!
I was
also SA Amateur Latin Champion in 1990 with my previous partner Warren
Smith (Graham & Italia Smith's son). Now that's a bit of history! If
you want anything else, just ask!
We would love to do an interview for you, that would be no problem! Just send me a list of the questions and we will try to answer them as best we can.
There are a number of SA dancers here in London and, I'm sure they'd love to be kept up to date with what's going on back home. I will try and get their contact details for you.
Thanks for your email, I'm glad I could help make your day!
Regards
Matthew & Nicole Cutler
Ed
Nicole,
if only more SA dance experts (and we have many) would be as willing as
you are to give info to the dancer, then much of the mud slinging we have
in our land of DanceSport would disappear. I truly appreciate your effort,
particularly because I know you are so busy.
What you have achieved will remain a dream to most dancers, but to read how you started and how you got to the top will, I'm sure, serve to inspire our dancers with hope and aspiration. I think SA dancers will love an interview with you and Matthew, and be proud to have your profile added to our list of SA dancing Greats.
Re the interview,
thanks for obliging. Since all interviews go into our historic library,
there is no great rush, we'll do it carefully and meticulously. For the
interest of the SA dancer, here follows the main points I'd like to cover:
The above
is just a preview for our dancers. Nicole, you can naturally add to or
subtract from the list. I'll email you my questionnaire shortly.
Very Disappointed At Your Decision To Stop Dance Info
Jay, I have still to date, not received the FEDANSA rules from the Amateur body in Zimbabwe. Could you please try and get these for me. I am prepared to pay for them plus postage. Our postal address in Zimbabwe is P.O. Box 1342, Bulawayo.
Ken has written to you and is subscribing for a page on your website. I do not quite understand what I must do in future when sending letters. Thank you so much for including all my letters in your last Info magazine. I was thrilled and wonder if anyone i.e. Les Covaar will reply on the website. We shall have to wait and see!
Will keep in touch.
Best wishes.
CHERIE
ZIMBABWE
P.S A point of interest on the Pre-Bronze section introduced last year. Our assumption was that it was for the benefit of one couple only. The only status comp we have had so far this year was in February. This winning couple had to dance Bronze junior and they dropped to Fifth place in the Ballroom and were not placed in the Latin section. Just to prove a point!
Ed
The day
I was given the names of those who launched the new magazine, that's when
I realised, their main motive was merely to oppose DanceInfo SA, and Cherie,
petty opposition I can definitely do without. With the new glossy mag coming
in, it gave me the opportunity to gracefully recede and concentrate on
the web mag which has limitless scope and possibilities. My big purpose
is to serve the sport through communication; to make it convenient for
both the dancer and the official by printing info; supplying contact numbers,
names, dates, partners, venues, and creating inter-dance action by allowing
dancers to share and debate their thoughts. Pettiness is definitely not
part of my modus operandi.
I think I oversold these guys, or my readers must have told them what a great idea a dancer's magazine is. There is no market for a dancer's mag, at least not financially, unless it's supported by a wealthy individual or sponsors and the mags are handed out to every registered dancer free of charge. Someone would have to subsidise it, the way they do it in Germany, because the masses in our land do want to read it, but they don't want to pay for it.
I created a need through my personal interaction with my readers. When DISA became too large for me to handle, I almost pleaded to those I thought could relieve the burden, but my efforts were all in vain. The truth is, they don't like hearing cold turkey talk - the truth. In a nutshell, they fear the letters to the editor. That's the part of the dance scene that really bothers me. The letters make it a very special mag; the heart and soul that sets DISA apart from all the other dance magazines in the world - it's unique. There is no way I can stop dancers from saying their say. The letters gave that drab looking mag the smooch of life.
The mild in-fighting we print is nothing compared to what we read in our daily newspapers. Take the Hansie Cronje scandal… betrayal of national honour, bribery, match-fixing… that's real meaty. Or the news clipping of the late 50s, which a dancer gave me; headlines, "Prominent Competitive Dance Teacher Runs Brothel After Hours". The wife of a well-known competitive teacher in Pretoria (he later became the chairman of the SADTA) caused a scandalous sensation with her brothel after teaching hours. Now that's what I call tabloid stuff, not "why is one dancer allowed to do this and another not?" The letters serve to clean up the joint and keep it that way. I really don't know what the fuss is about… somebody PLEEEEAZZZE give me some saucy, sizzling stuff, you know, that real HOT stuff that happens under the carpet in the fraternity .
Cherie, I've made a list of all the officials who avoid answering the questions asked by those in the sport. They are the double agents of the trade, who have lost the courage of their convictions and their way. They have given our letter section and what we print a bad name. It's not those who ask fair and innocent questions in the interest of the sport, or Jay and his tabloid. Cherie, we are the good guys, we just want honest answers. Hello! Hello! Any Waltzing Matildas out there listening… what's wrong with honest answers?
As far as your future letters go, nothing has changed, you email them to me as always. In fact, many, many more dancers will be reading the letters now that they know that the net is the only way they'll get to read them. When I launched my site in July 1999 I said I'd be happy with 300 visits at the end of December 1999 - I received 3852, the SA dance record. It's now the 4th month of the year 2000 and my visits stand at 9573. Not even a year, and DISA has almost whacked the triple jackpot of 10,000, and Cherie, the main attraction being the "letters to the Ed" page. Since I've pushed for all-out action on the net, I've discovered just how popular the letters are.
We all hate change. They are still trying to convince me to carry my cell phone around with me, so that when I'm in the john and the phone rings I wouldn't have a problem. Or take a computer, you don't need to move an inch to get from one part of the world to another, or from one file to another. I still catch myself doing the old habitual thing of getting up to search for info in a file or book… now where did I put it? And when I find it, another search begins. On computer it's, click, click and you're there.
The thought of our homely DanceInfo magazine not being around anymore, is extremely depressing for me as well. Ironically, as the readership of DISA grew I subconsciously tried to restrict its growth for fear of all the work it posed, and there was no-one who wanted to adopt my pretty, cuddly little puppy.
On the other hand, I'm very excited about how many dancers will (2 years from now) see all the dance information and interaction I'll eventually have available. Even at this moment, I doubt whether there is any other dance site on the web that offers as much technical data as DISA does. I've only scratched the surface, and this time I have many more enthusiasts assisting me in my web-research for info and contacts. Believe it or not, my biggest following comes from the social dance fraternity, they love reading all this competitive aggie. I've now got thousands of social dancers on my support-list raring to visit DISA on the web. They check it out regularly, because I update my site daily - without fail.
Cherie, I appreciate Ken's subscription for a free page on my site and I'll do everything possible to support you in your drive to keep our sport alive in Zim. You and Ken have played a pivotal role in my efforts to dispense info. I told them to write, when a few dancers phoned me to say how much they had learnt from your letters explaining the points. And I really welcome and value your courage to stand up and speak out. That's what makes the USA and Japan the wealthiest countries in the world, not their natural resources, many countries have that, but live in poverty. The bottom line for the Americans and the Japanese is, they both don't accept slovenly work or being fleeced by their fellow mortals. Try smoking in a lift in America, try ripping off a dance pupil in America - you'd have a Federal case on your hands. Their citizens know it's their right to fight for their rights and they fight. It can be a pain, but they fight for their rights. Their motto is, if a dance teacher can rip you off and get away with it, the next customer is in for a rip-off too. It's called the Jay Cocklen's law.
For Ken's WebPage he must just e me all the details. Coloured photos look great on the web, and comp results always go down well. What I would really appreciate is the email addresses of all the dancers in Zim, whether they are on the net or not. I'll e them regular updates.
I spoke to Felix a moment ago, who was just on his way to a FEDANSA meeting in Kimberley, I think he said Kimberley. Felix has the rules, but they will be making a few amendments at this meeting. I'll send you the rules the moment I get them from him and I'll also put them on the net for all the registered dancers' convenience.
Total Trash
Being a DanceSport enthusiast and competitive dancer for many years (now retired), getting a chance to read Dance Info for the first time in some two years. I was looking forward to reading your paper (March 2000 edition) to see how it has evolved and how it is contributing toward the progress of DanceSport in South Africa. Well, to my surprise your paper has lost most of its constructive content, and now mostly consists of what I would consider to be total trash!
I fail to see the logic in the continuous bickering about he did this and she did that. A forum that allows one disgruntled party to sling mud at another serves only one purpose, to disorganize and destroy
My question to you is, why do you as the editor of the paper condone and even encourage such content?
(Unless of course it is your desire to make Dance Info a tabloid newspaper). I shudder to think what an outsider must think of DanceSport if the March edition of Dance Info is his or her first introduction to the sport. When are you and rest of the South African dance fraternity going to realize that you should concentrate your efforts on working together toward a common goal, i.e. improving dancing in South Africa (and Zimbabwe)? Is it not time that everyone stops calling each other names and pointing fingers at one another?
Here are my suggestions on how you can improve your paper. Get hold of copies of the rules that apply in the various forms of dance and invite experts in each of these fields to describe in plain English how the rules are applied and interpreted. Get dancers to comment on how they train and prepare for competitions, get teachers to explain their various forms of dance, get judges to explain how they judge get scrutineers to explain how the marks are calculated, get Chairmen or Adjudicators to explain their role and responsibilities at competitions, get organizers to highlight the tasks and challenges they face when arranging competitions, but most of all print material that can bring benefit to and increase the knowledge of the reader.
Who knows, maybe you will be the one who starts bringing about the much-needed change of attitude that is required if this wonderful sport of dancing is to progress and thrive in our country.
Regards,
An Innocent
By-stander
(I have
purposely not given my name, because just maybe if you don't know who I
am, you might be tempted to apply what I have suggested and you won't point
a finger for a change!)
Ed
Innocent
By-stander, I'm not too sure how innocent you are because you're the type
who, at a comp, waits for an underprivileged dancer of the development
programme to go and change for her section, but then, she makes the big
mistake of leaving her copy of DanceInfo SA on her seat. You furtively
glance around, see no-one looking and STEAL it… let me guess, you must
be one of my un-supporting officials, who is guilty of coercion and manipulation,
but hasn't the guts, the pride or the conviction to defend what you truly
believe in?
You say, "getting a chance to read Dance Info for the first time in some two years". Where were you during these 2 years, in the DENSE Amazon? You might not know this, but in those 2 years the cell phone was invented and a few other major changes occurred on planet earth, and you have the gall to tell me what to do and what not to do - the proverbial has-been, armchair critic.
I'm sorry your letter arrived 2 days after I sent my final edition of DanceInfo to the printers. For the record, this one would have been the cherry on the top at DI's hardcopy funeral. Your kind of letter, on the one hand, is the worst type narrow-minded outsiders like yourself or innocent dancers from abroad should read. You now compel me to spell out the real rot of our sport, and Innocent, may I call you Innocent? Innocent, I hear the sordid details direct from the top, not from the maid at the airport, but all you naive by-standers prefer to do all the time is sweep the dung that hits the fan under the carpet, pretending it's not there. Innocent, this is the real dance world, and because dancers dare to speak, it has become rather messy in the main mall over the years; hence the corruption, manipulation, unfairness, politics, and as one adjudicator said recently, intimidation.
On the positive side, it gives me the grand opportunity to enunciate the fruitful things that have evolved as a result of me allowing dancers to release the escape valve of their pressure cooker.
During your wilderness years, DI managed to effect many positive changes:
1. for the first time ever, more and more dancers spoke out freely and un-anonymously. Yes, they even bravely attached their legit names to their letters. Unlike you who hails from the "oppressed generation", who, for security reasons, you know? that fear-of-being- lynched feeling, prefers to go incognito.
2. by spectators and parents speaking out, many things have improved. Here's what one of our broadminded spectators Caroline wrote, "Reviews and letters give an outside opinion. Someone sees something they like or don't like, and voice it. Others take note. Some like it, and others don't. But somewhere along the line, change happens. Look at the DanceSport competitions. The changes I have witnessed last year are phenomenal thanks mainly to DanceInfo. No-one, and particularly the authorities, wanted to read the reviews about the chaos and filth at the comps, and there were many dancers who complained. Now we have dancers arriving on time, competitions running to schedule - and more often than not - ahead of schedule! Dress codes being adhered to, and care taken for the outfits worn in the dress sections. DanceInfo is the watchdog for both the dancer and the authority - the stabiliser of the sport. It keeps the officials and dancers on their toes.
Here's what Nicole Culter (world Latin champ) wrote, "Keep up the great work on the website… Dance-Sport really needs it! " and she means the talk side.
Cherie Scott from Zimbabwe emphasises, "I repeat, your magazine Info is what we all need. We are all now getting what we want - Answers and Opinions."
José Montoya (chief persona of SA Spanish dancing) anguished, "these other dance magazines are rubbish. All they have is a lot of advertising. Yours tells the truth and most importantly gives the dancer a voice. Many of your letters I've stuck up in my studio as valuable advice for the dancer. No magazine will do what your DanceInfo has done for dancing."
Pat Murfin, a staunch social dancer. "We love reading all the interesting letters and learn a lot from them. You have a very special gift for answering the reader's letters. Although we didn't always agree with what you or others said, you allow everybody to talk - the end of DI as a magazine is like a death in the family for me"
Innocent, I'll spare you the agony… and stop here.
On average I received 13 letters a month of which 3, at the most, were argumentative, so what? We learn by talking. Many dancers have phoned me to say how much they had learnt about the operational side of the sport because of these arguments, and even one or two of those who argued realised theirs was just a misunderstanding and made up.
Naturally, the officials who are guilty of unfairness, or any other DanceSport atrocity, or don't supply valuable info, or refuse to reply to questions asked by dancers, won't like these letters. If I was guilty and too chickenhearted to admit it or apologise, I too would dislike the letters. Now I ask myself, "is Innocent one of them?" Innocent, you do know that the antonym for innocent is guilty?
3. your suggestion of the rules, the adjudicator, etc. proves and amplifies just how naive and ignorant you are of DanceInfo's desperate efforts to enhance the sport. The sport needs an aggressive approach because hatred, petty jealousies, politics and the undercurrents that exist among the top officials and dancers run thick and deep and they are very real.
When I listen to officials (I'd love to mention names) but I'm a nice guy, then believe me Innocent, you would feel guilty having written your letter. This one doesn't want to give his lecture immediately before that one because he can't stand her guts. An important, knowledgeable, official's name does not appear on the workshop list because someone she loathes will be there. One adjudicator asks another, "how did you score that couple? because I train them" Is that intimidation, unfairness, prejudice or what?". These are the people who are supposed to be spear-heading our dancers to the next Olympic.
I ask myself, "where are the mature, professional grownup officials with all their knowledge to share?" What we seem to have here is a kiddies' menagerie for childish adults. Innocent, you've been swinging in the Amazon trees for far too long in that loincloth of yours, or are you a Jane?.
If the officials answer all the questions asked by dancers and help distribute knowledge and info regularly through me or whoever, then all the dung I spoke about, that has splashed against the fan wouldn't be there. Don't blame me, I'm only trying to squeeze orange juice out of an old dried lemon.
You mentioned the word tabloid. If that means giving every commoner the opportunity to say what he/she feels and thinks, then tabloid I support wholeheartedly.
Officials would come to my office, and think I must be some sort-of-a-3/4 wit. They would quote almost verbatim from just about every issue of DI then, to my face, tell me they don't read what you call the total trash written in the DanceInfo SA. To crown it, as they leave my office, say, "could I have one of those", pointing to the latest DI. Even in their meetings they say they haven't seen one for months, then quote from just about any edition.
4. DanceInfo SA has regularly provided the dancer with much info and many contact numbers, for - partners, dresses, officials' names, places to go dancing, calendar of events, queries, dance instruction video tapes, comp results, technique talk, news from abroad, etc. It has tried everything in its power to inform, entertain and improve the sport and with little support from the experts. My Q to you is, what have you done for the betterment of dancing?
My advice to you is, go to the authorities and tell them to supply me with as much positive DanceSport material as they can, and as often as possible so that I can pass it on to the dancer. Tell them to answer queries by dancers. Tell them to help me to promote and enrich the sport by showing the dance community they really care. Prove you are a true DanceSport enthusiast and competitive dancer of many years… do something, even if it's total trash, but do it… don't tell us, show us, and sign it with your birthday name, we won't reprimand you or hold it against you. We believe in honesty and democracy. Real trash normally only comes from those who have little knowledge of what's actually happening but lots of advice to offer.
The ‘demise’ of the DanceInfo - Pat Murfin
I have found much pleasure in reading each issue from cover to cover over the last 5 years. The editor, Jay, has revealed a fantastic perception of human nature, and a real understanding of people’s behaviour. Apart from all the information and hard-earned knowledge he has imparted to all and sundry, I am convinced his writing has also brought delight to many – here I include the unsupportive officials.
Not having seen a copy of the new magazine on the market, I nevertheless venture to guess that it could not have the intimate approach we enjoyed in the Dance Info, and will take the form of more of an official roster of fixtures and events. Indisputable fact, however, is that it is much too expensive for the development dancers to afford. Not friendly, and price unfriendly, about sums it up.
The dancers companion, Dance Info, will be sorely missed by the majority (if not all) of the dancing fraternity, and the discontinuation should be reconsidered. I appeal to DI fans to speak up and voice their opinions – let’s do something.
Ed
So you see
Pat, it's not only the maid at the airport who reads DI! Many readers have
phoned to complain bitterly, and I grieve for them. What inspired me to
keep doing the typesetting, printing and posting of the mag for as long
as I did, are readers like you and Amy who couldn't wait for their next
edition of DI. You always nagged, "when's the next DanceInfo coming out?"
Then, when it arrived you would, straight after your lesson whip off to
the nearest Wimpy, gobble a burger, and as special dessert devour DI from
cover to cover.
DanceInfo SA has not died, it has merely transported itself in to cyberspace; in to the upper e-strata, a higher atmosphere … internet a la everything. Some feel I have left a hole because the new magazine SADance will never give the dancer and the official opportunity to "stand up and be counted." True, SADance will definitely not allow that. To use an ancient aristocratic English term, "it's bloody pathetic". Jay, with his morals of a monkey, must be the only village idiot I know who lets dancers openly say their say and cares hooters what the guilty think or feel. Why, in the name of creation, did the makers of the universe give humans a tongue to wag as an extension of the brain and limit the lower animal's tongue to chewing and licking? Where's my wife, my club and her bush of hair? let me get back to my cave… I need to vegetate for a year or 3... Hoo! Ooh! Hah!"
You know what Pat, the way some officials talk about these contra letters, you would swear Jay is the modern "André Brink of the Apartheid era." Isn't that ridiculous? The "letters to the Ed" are the life and soul of the DanceInfo SA party. The letters distinguish DI from the mundane, boring rest… when the letters stop that's when DI's soul peacefully and permanently passes on to another life. The letters give dancers a chance to exercise their tongue, their democratic right, even if some think it wrong. My advice to the intransigent few, "go back to your cave and bolt the door, but this time use real stones"
Putting DanceInfo SA on net is the future. In South Africa at present, not many individuals own a PC or have access to the internet, but that will change very soon. Like it or not, a year from now, we will barely be able to exist without being connected. The internet is fast become as indispensable as a fridge, a car, a phone, electricity, etc. is to the average citizen. The cell phone, the mobile internet, the universal connection is what's going to revolutionize things for us completely. With your cell phone you won't need a PC to stay connected. Today there are more people walking around holding a cell to their ear than there are car owners, already it's a menace. Next development; point your cell in the direction of your TV, click on index, find "learn to dance advanced international cha cha cha" and WALLA! you're an instant champ.
The distribution of DI (the mag) was very small, yet most dancers got to read it. The same will happen to DI on the net. Presently, more dancers visit my site than I had reading the mag, and in April my SA visits quadrupled, jumping from an average 98 a week, to 400 a week. My goal is 500 - 1000 a day.
DISA (DanceInfo SA) is the most visited dance website in South Africa. My aim is to develop it into a "Yellow Pages" Dancer's Directory - the main South African Dancer's Directory. Eventually, this directory will comprehensively cover every dance form, every dancer's need, every dance studio, every event, item or concern that has anything to do with the dancer in South Africa.
Unlike most Dance e-Magazines on the net where visitors may only access the information after they have paid a subscription, DISA is free to all visitors. Only studios and businesses will have to Subscribe, and that too I've made a convenience for them. I provide each subscriber with a WebPage free of charge, then develop it, tailored to suit their personal likes and needs. They supply a profile of their business. The profile could include; their qualifications, their successes or track record, i.e. what success rate do the owners personally have; how many champions have they produced, their specialities, service record (how long they have been in business), new, exciting developments, or anything that will favourably promote their efforts. Plus a section for regular flash updates. Their free DISA webpage will be an on-going success story; new function dates, new winners, birthday wishes - a personalised dance page... a glorified Advertisement with lots of colour and animation.
Subscriber pay R50 (13 cents a day) for a year's regular, update maintenance. Should a studio or business receive only one customer a year through this method, then financially, that studio/business would have paid their subscription many times over. In the meantime every subscriber receives global coverage 365 days a year, i.e. exposure to potential visits every minute, all year round.
There are
many advantages to DISA being on the net:
Pat,
you are gonna have to get e-minded, e-orientated, it's the age of Aquarius
Teleurstelling
dat "Dance Info" nie meer beskikbaar sal wees nie
Ellie
Bothma
Hallo Jay
Dit is vir
ons 'n groot teleurstelling dat "Dance Info" nie meer beskikbaar sal wees
nie. Dit is egter fantasties dat jy so uitstekende "website" het.
Baie dankie vir al die inligting en raad wat jy oor die afgelope jare gepubliseer het.
My twee dogters is betrokke by "social ballroom en Latin" by Greg se dansskool, "Prodance" in Benoni, maar hulle al baie gebaat het by jou artikels, veral jou eerste uitgawes van "Dance Info".
Ek sal gereeld jou webblad besoek. Ek sal ook vir jou inligting stuur oor wat tans gebeur by "Prodance", daar is seker baie dansers wat belangstel in "social" dans en Greg en sy span is baie besig om baie moeite te doen met voorbereiding vir hulle "extravaganza" en ook vir die "social" kompetisie in Sept/Okt. Ek het reeds gevoel ons moes verlede jaar se extravaganza meer bekend gestel het want dit was fantasties.
Die "waltz formation" was definitief die beste wat ek al ooit gesien het.
Baie mense weet nie van hiedie "extravaganza" nie en dit is beslis iets om te sien. Wat ek wel weet is dat daar mense soos Greg en Ms Joffe is wat ongelooflike talent het, maar dit word onder benut. Ek laat weer van my hoor.
Groete
Ed
Ellie, as
I said to Pat in his letter ahead of yours, many readers have phoned to
express their concern about the discontinuation of DISA, and I fully understand
and appreciate their sentiments.
For DanceInfo SA, this is the beginning of a modern phase in the development of a complete South African Dancer's Directory. One that will eventually be freely available to almost every dancer.
Since Greg is not on the net yet, I would like you to liaison with me on his studio's behalf regarding info and events. I briefly spoke to Greg about my webpage special, but here's what it includes:
For Greg
My website
is an improvement on the DanceInfo SA magazine. There will be much more
info, it will be immediate and will reach many more dancers.
My site caters for all dance forms and is already the main Dancers' Directory of South Africa. Everything and anything to do with dancing I'll include and I'm very busy gathering info from all corners. At present, I am generating email addresses and lots of visitors from all over. Ellie if you know of dancers with email, and would like me to send them regular updates, please send me their e-addresses
Unlike many magazines on the net where visitors have to subscribe to access info, mine is free to visitors.
Those who do Subscribe get a free page on my site and pay R50 for a year's maintenance and I keep it regularly and freshly updated. I add animated dance images, colour, etc. to the page and design it to your specifications. Plus you may update your page as often as you like, with results, photos, events, student achievements, etc. Subscribers are also entitled to other page facilities without extra cost, i.e. if you sell shoes, design dresses and so on, I'll link you with those pages as well.
With every regular update, I insert a flashing update image to the subscriber's name and send it to the hundreds of names I have in my address book. Visitors will be able to access a studio subscriber's page for all the glorified details of that studio. Studios that don't subscribe won't be seen. The idea is to update your info regularly and to make it more attractive than the rest. My aim is to promote all forms of dance and to generate as many visitors as possible. This, in turn, will give you constant coverage.
Here's my webpage address: http://geocities.datacellar.net/danceinfosa/ check it out.
It would be nice to have Greg's studio registered on South Africa's main Dance Directory (e-magazine in cyberspace).
Thanks for your letter.
Cheers Jay
Very Despondent And Demoralised
At a FEDANSA meeting (could have been the AGM) the fact that some or most dancers were unfit and in most cases looked as if they were ready to drop during competitions was brought up. It was suggested that these people should try and improve their fitness.
If you were to question dancers of yesteryear, and I am speaking of the 50's, 60's and early 70's, they would agree with me that no actual fitness programmes were followed in those days. If fact I can remember that I used to practice at the studio with my partner every night (Monday to Friday) and Saturday mornings for at least 2 - 3 hours. If you have lived or visited Durban at any time of the year you will know that the humidity is dreadful, so litres of perspiration was exuded during these lessons. (I currently weigh +/- 70 kg or 154 lbs, but in those days my weight was +/- 48 kg or 108 lbs).
We were fit through this strenuous practice.
Whilst speaking of those days I lived about 10 km from the centre of Durban, and most of the competitions were held in the Durban City Hall, the Red Cross Hall and the RDLI Hall at the Durban Race Course. These competitions often finished late and, unlike today, the prize giving in most cases was held at the end of the evening, so if you had been lucky enough to reach a final, you had to stay to the bitter end to hear the results. After this it was a mad dash to catch the last tram - yes that is right a "Tram" ! (Or bus!) This would be at about 11.30 p.m. Often we were too late and were obliged to walk home.
There were quite a few of us guys doing this as our partners' parents, in most cases, took them home by car. We men would then walk down West Street to the beach and then walk either on the beach itself or on the promenade.
We must have looked a sight all these guys walking in our penguin suits (Waiters!)
If we smelt a braai along the way (on the beach), we would go down and join in the fun, often getting home in the early hours of the morning.
I was lucky enough in 1955 to buy a small Fiat (1949) for the grand sum of 50 Pounds, I was then able to pick up and take my partner to and from the competition venue.
If I may, I would like to say something about today's dancing. I have noticed that in many cases when a couple makes a mistake they stop, and then start again. The teacher I had (Betty Martin) taught her pupils that, if you were impeded in anyway - not to stop, but to keep moving, even if you improvised. You could be stationary but moved your feet in time to the music long enough to gather your thoughts and then were able to move on.
Maybe this tip could help someone out in a tight spot.
Another thing that was stressed in our day was that, if possible, you did not dance with the love of your life, because if you had a disagreement on the floor you were inclined to carry it over to your personal lives and vice versa. Yvonne and I do disagree at times but we try to separate the one from the other.
By the way, are we allowed to attack the system without reprimand? Why I ask is that I am not in agreement with some of the ways in which the judging is being done.
At the Wits competition we danced "with" the Adult Gold dancers and were judged as "Masters" but on Saturday, 8th April 2000, we were also put with the Adult dancers but were marked as if we were Adults. My grouch is that, although Yvonne and I are "Gold Medallists" we are in our 60's whereas these other couples are in their 20's. We feel that we have the ability and the proficiency to dance Gold but we do not have the fluency or agility of these youngsters.
This is like asking some of our Studio Heads (and no disrespect meant), i.e. Fred McCann, Hennie Nortje, Bev Hammond and others to dance against some of the up and coming young professionals. They would also, I am sure, find the same problems as previously mentioned. The Adjudicators should in fact be proficient enough to separate and judge the dancers accordingly when a section is mixed.
As you know, to be able to move up into another section, you have to accumulate points and at this rate Yvonne and I will be in our 90's and in wheelchairs before this happens, so come on FEDANSA, RDTA etc. mark us separately, so we can earn our points.
Ask around and you will find that other couples have the same complaint.
We don't mind dancing "with" youngsters but we do mind dancing "against" them!
Thanks again for the opportunity to express my views through the magazine.
Letter 2 (15.4.2000)
It is Saturday night (20h30) and Yvonne and I have just arrived home from the SADTA Easter Ballroom Festival held in Benoni City Hall. We are both feeling very despondent and demoralised.
Once again we were put into the section with the Adult Gold couples and as I have said before Yvonne and I are long past their age group.
We realise that at the moment we are the only Masters Gold couple competing in Gauteng and it is logical for the organisers to place us with the Adult Gold but why not with the Senior Gold section?
Please – we do not mind dancing with these youngsters but we do object to being judged as dancing against them.
In the past when two sections were put together they were judged separately and, as I have said before, our adjudicators should be competent and capable of separating the “old” from the “new”! As previously mentioned, we agree that we are dancing Gold Standard, as are the young folk, but, to repeat myself, we are at not as agile or fluent as these young people, whose fluency and agility would catch ones eye! They are extremely fit!!!!
A good example is one where two athletes enter for a 100 metre hurdles race, one for boys U19 and the other for Masters, not enough entries received, so they are placed to run against each other. Who will win? Logical isn’t it, if you think about it! Also we realised how we must have looked when the Adult / Masters Novice section was danced and we saw another couple in the same position!
So once again we hope the organisers and adjudicators will hear our appeal and revert to marking the combined sections separately and awarding prizes accordingly. If on the night however the adjudicators feel our dancing is not up to the standard of “MASTERS GOLD” we will accept their decision!
Please be fair – we need the points to move out of the section!
We actually have thoughts of giving up – sad isn’t it but we shall get nowhere at this rate! Also we are worried in case we are making fools of ourselves!!
Jay sorry for the moans but just had to put pen to paper to let you know our feelings on the matter and to get it off our chests.
Kind regards
Milton Demmer
P.S. We have had major problems with our PC’s at work and only now are they running smoothly (or seem to be!!)
CC Allan Hammond - ahfin@mweb.co.za
Ed
In your
last letter you mentioned that the standard of dancing in the your day
was much higher, I can well believe that. It sounds like your training
programme bordered a do-or-die exercise - a dogged bundu bash. Just reading…
practised every night (Monday to Friday) and Saturday mornings for at least
2 - 3 hours; Durban's humidity, litres of perspiration… I'm sweating.
You see Milton, in those days, your preparation revolved around murdering Caesar at the comp, not marrying Caesar at a comp. And I'd say our top dancers still do it the old-fashioned way. When a couple practise with resolute determination and total grit, then gyming is mainly for the narcissist. When you dance, dance, dance there is no need to pump fibre in front of a mirror, except for aesthetic reasons.
To become "dance" fit and stay that way, couples need total focus and absolute application during rehearsals. There is a marked difference between being dance-fit and being fit from gyming. For instance, I reckon I am reasonably dance-fit but that doesn't mean I'm fit to play Squash, Tennis or run a marathon. I play squash regularly and often during league matches I see chaps who claim to be fit for the Comrades, or the Two-oceans get creamed because they can't take the place. Dance, dance, dance is the key to keeping dance-fit. For more on fitness click here: Dance Fitness
"are we allowed to attack the system without reprimand?" DISA is the dancers' tabloid. You never need to apologize for saying your say. When you keep quiet, no-one hears a thing. I'm here to help dancers express their feelings, whether the authorities or others like it or not. If you don't say it, someone else will, and the sooner you say how you feel, the sooner someone might hear you out. The dancer who criticised this magazine of publishing letters of complaints, and called it "South Africa's very own tabloid" didn't have the guts to add a name. Milton, you show a sincere interest in the sport by pointing out what you feel is unfair, and I think it outrageously unfair. Let's hope something sensible is soon done about "We don't mind dancing 'with' youngsters but we do mind dancing 'against' them!".
Raymond Ackerman,
one of the all-time greats of SA big business, said, "we continually strive
for excellence by listening to the complaints of our customers and then
doing something about it". And when his customers complain they swear big-time.
Milton, yours is a tender love story. Why do dance officials always seem
to get neurotically uptight when dancers complain or voice their opinion?
Most complaints are mostly made in the interest of the sport. And why must
dancers have to defend themselves when pointing out what they feel to be
unfair, by saying, "are we allowed to attack the system without reprimand?"…
it's a sorrowful state of things. All you are attempting to do is balance
a gross imbalance. You're not attacking or complaining. The authorities
are there to see that fairness prevails, that the rules are justly applied,
that chaos doesn't rule the roost, and that when dancers grumble, it's
a signal to the world that something isn't kosher and that listening to
them is a priority.
Threatened to ban pupils
For my committee and I the most gratifying thing was to see how all the youngsters thoroughly enjoyed themselves – this is what we are aiming for and long may it continue. Our youngest dancer was a little four year old girl who won a lot of hearts.
We now look forward to our next event scheduled for later this year.
Regards
Ken Scott
Ed
Ken,
I am going to whisper this softly and very slowly and hope that nobody
of this age hears or understands it, "Rumour has it that one teacher threatened
to ban any pupil that did support us due, seemingly, to certain letters
that have appeared in Dance Info."
Now I have heard everything, and I'm taking a hike on my bike to the very dark age. The age of slavery. The age when innocent girls wore chastity belts, and hands where cut off of those who pinched apples, and liars were thrown into dark, rat infested dungeons to be nibbled on. Ken, I know I will be happier there, because the more I hear about the puerile behaviour of dancers in authority, the more I realise the dance arena IS the camp of the philistines.
This is for
the kiddie dancers, because the adults won't understand it:
I'm glad
the pettiness had no affect on the sell-out of the tickets, and that fun
still prevailed.
Do you perhaps have any results of that fun comp for publication?
Ken, I have only one thing more to offer re that petty incident, something a friend sent me recently:
A PRAYER FOR THE STRESSED
Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I cannot accept, and the wisdom to hide the bodies of those people I had to kill today because they cheesed me off.
And also, help me to be careful of the toes I step on today as they might be connected to the butt I may have to kiss tomorrow.
Help me to
always give my 100% at work ...
12% on Monday
23% on Tuesday
40% on Wednesday
20% on Thursday
5% on Friday
And help
me to remember ...
When I'm
having a really bad day, and it seems that people are trying to gall me,
that it takes 42 muscles to frown and only 4 to extend my middle finger
and tell them to bite me!
Ken, I am totally flabbergasted. I just can't understand why, with all the immense passion and interest for the sport, dancers allow these little things to sour their big enjoyment together... DANCING, it's beyond me.
Thanks for the updates on your site
Her Mother
had the same op years ago(it's in their genes) and she is still very active
today, so hopefully all will be okay after all the post-op discomfort (which
I feel for her right now).
Not being
able to dance for a while is going to be hell in itself, but as Rienie
assures me, the will to dance is the will to get better - quickly!
Regards
Wez
Ed
Wez, I always
thought that Rock 'n Roll and the Jitterbug were the cure-all for
oesteo-arthritus, but as Rienie assures, "the will to dance is the will
to get better - quickly!" and I fully go along with that.
You will be receiving regular updates from me, and should you know of dancers with email who would also appreciate the latest dance news on the net, then send me their e-address, I'll e them updates happily and very gladly.