Melinda

Thank you :)

Thank you.

Oh, sorry, I wasn’t clear; by “artists” I meant the dancers.

I haven’t run across WCS set to classical!  I look forward to seeing that!

Posted

08 Oct 12:13

How does everyone feel about acting out the lyrics in WCS or other dances?  I think it’s called “miming.”  It can certainly be entertaining.

4

07 Oct 11:53

Thank you for your input.  Yes, it’s strange how various dances and music can match up—I guess because there is a lot of universality to music structure.  I have even listened to classical music while watching WCS videos, and am often amazed at the alignment!   But I do find these same few pop song substitutes tiring, so yes, I mute. ;)

And I still can only guess how the artists* must feel about this, plus I don’t think it’s helpful in attracting new folks to WCS.

*Edit:  Sorry, by “artists” I meant dancers.

Posted

05 Oct 18:56

Does anyone else have this pet peeve?

The music from dancers’ videos on TikTok sometimes gets removed for copyright reasons, and sometimes the music is later restored.  But the worst part is when the song is replaced by another one, generally one of a small handful of songs (such as “Shivers,” “Ice Ice Baby” or “Cheap Thrills”).  I assume they are used because of their more open licensing agreement, if not public domain.  Sometimes you’ll even find both the original and altered video versions, posted by different sources.

I don’t know who is doing the song substitutions, but isn’t this disrespectful to the dancers and their videos?  Unless they have somehow given permission.  Non-dancer viewers who don’t know about this process must notice the dance doesn't necessarily match the song.  (Not to mention what they must think of how limited the WCS song playlist is.)  Seems it would be more honest to just leave the dances silent with the “This music isn’t available” note, as awful as that is.

5

Interesting.  Thanks for your perspective!

Thank you for your input, as always, Brian!

Happy to hear fusions are acceptable and that a real WCS-tap fusion is a possibility. :)

Posted

19 Sep 10:42

Sorry to hog the conversation lately â˜ș, but . . .

I’m curious what would happen if you put tap shoes on a WCS dancer.  WCS dancers don’t take many percussive steps, as tappers do, and I don’t know how well you could spin or slide in tap shoes.  But I think a fusion of the styles in a routine (would it even be allowed in competition?) would be a lot of fun, the way Astaire & Rogers fused tap with ballroom/Latin, and Kelly fused tap with jazz.  We already see many dancers, even in competition, fuse WCS with ballet, shuffle moves, and other styles.

And I do see some WCS routines that include some tap-like patterns, just without the taps—a good example is this one:
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8dkbtgq/

I have heard purists say they don’t want other forms mixed in with WCS.  Others say modern swing was meant to continue to evolve.

2

Thank you again, Brian!  Really appreciate your perspective.  As I said in the other thread, I’m only a beginner, though an avid watcher of videos and comps.  (Sorry if I led you to think I was a competitor.)  But just speaking as a spectator, I love to see the limb extensions and so on (especially in those with ballet backgrounds).  

So I meant that when the clothing (men’s or women’s) is not form-fitting, I cannot fully see what the limbs (especially legs) are doing.

And that’s why I thought a sheer outer layer might be a solution to definition + movement. Another option is when a dancer ties a long-sleeved shirt or sweater around his/her waist, giving flow to the dance without obstructing the view of the limbs.