So I went to go check my Gmail account the other day, and what should I see but an entry in the Gmail blog featuring one of their dedicated staffers. I took a look and it turned out that in her spare time, this person was involved in the Decadance dance troupe based out of Stanford, CA. They've been active for most of the past decade and specialize in combining different forms of social dance to various recorded tunes (some contemporary, some traditional). So I took a look at their YouTube channel and the videos on their web site. They seem to be more focused on other forms of social dance, but they do seem to have a healthy dose of folk and set dancing in there as well. (I think I've actually seen a couple of balance-and-swing variants like these from individual and pairs of dancers in contras at Glen Echo -- also, the twirly skirts in this first one are awesome.)
Is it just me, or does the first dance in this next video look like someone took a polka and a square dance and possibly a Kerry set and threw them in a blender? (Speaking of, I wonder how hard it would be to adapt something like that first one into a called square dance variant....)
I also liked some of the simple-but-elegant transitions between partners found in this video on Decadance's actual site (link opens in new window and uses Quicktime -- sorry, I couldn't find it on YouTube.)
Have you seen more interesting fusions between traditional and contemporary styles in your Internet wanderings? Let me know, either by using the Contact Me form or in the comments!
Have you seen more interesting fusions between traditional and contemporary styles in your Internet wanderings? Let me know, either by using the Contact Me form or in the comments!
