Ombailamos

technicalities: in the mirrorballroom

Long-time viewers of DWTS may have noticed that Lindy Hop and Argentine Tango are quite different from any of the dance styles previously featured. These dances are taught in the DVIDA Nightclub syllabus, as well as in club and competition circuits. They are both exciting to watch in competition or show formats, because both offer opportunities for very inventive choreography which anyone can enjoy, not just ballroom buffs.

Neither dance features a typical latin or ballroom frame. In the latin frame, the partners are directly in front of each other in closed position. In the ballroom frame, the partners are slightly offset, in a right-side to right-side position, and looking over each others' right shoulders.

The third most familiar frame is the "swing" frame, which you see in East Coast Swing and in Jive, in which the partners have a more relaxed position and are in a slight "V" shape. Lindy Hop takes this position occasionally, but the overall body position and poise of Lindy Hop are not like ECS or Jive, which are more upright - and which, it should be noted, are danced in regular ballroom shoes. If you look at the footage from Lindy Groove in Pasadena, you'll see most of those Lindy swingers are in sneakers. This makes it a lot safer, not to mention more comfortable, when moving at those speeds and when attempting aerials, throws, or other tricks.

Lindy basic is an eight-count swing (rock step - triple step - rock step - triple step) and is a very old style, dating back to the 20s and 30s in Harlem nightclubs. The basic figures include synchronized kicks, turning triples, and traveling walks, and are danced today much as they were then.

Argentine Tango is of a similar vintage and has evolved considerably. A "proto-tango" style, featuring simple walking actions in a very close embrace, is still done today; but many American students who come to Argentine Tango are inspired by the spectacular footwork (hooks, floor sweeps, and interlocking actions) and gymnastic tricks that can be see in tango stage shows.

In real-life ballroom competitions, lifts are only allowed in "show dance," cabaret, or theatre-arts divisions. However, embellishments - particularly foot and leg stylings - are permitted in all divisions, as long as the integrity of the dance remains intact. For example, in International Standard (waltz, tango, foxtrot, quickstep, and Viennese waltz) the partners must remain in closed position. Their stylings must work within that limitation. Argentine Tango embellishments are showing up in ballroom tango, in all the latin dances, in salsa, and even in hustle and West Coast Swing.

It is generally advisable for dance students to master basic technique before adding any adornments, as it is all too possible to do an adornment so habitually that it becomes part of a basic step and ceases to have any meaning. Adornments, embellishments, accents, or styling - whatever you wish to call them, "fancy" actions should always be applied with intention.

DWTS, week 4

And the big question for me is, why is Samantha still there?  With a double elimination tonight, can't we just ... okay, I guess not.

Lindy Hop and Argentine Tango ... it almost seemed that the producers did not tell Len that Tom was going to ask for an explanation of these dances.  I'll talk more about those later.

DAG & Kym, Lindy Hop to "Bandstand."  David turned in a very competent performance, he and Kym matched their movements well and had plenty of classic Lindy in between tricks.  I have no doubt that the field trip to Lindy Groove in Pasadena helped, in terms of getting a feel for the dance.  Unfortunately, as Kym said, "the best cartoon wins," and this wasn't the best of the night.  David is actually turning in better performances than some past contestants who were higher in the rankings; his misfortune is that there are several remarkably good contestants this season.

Kim & Derek, Argentine Tango.  I would love to see a side-by-side encore of Kim and Gilles with their tangos, instead of what we are likely to get, Holly and Steve-O (or Woz).  Kim has always been sharp, controlled, and athletic.  Her tango showed terrific leg action and a lot of core strength.  There was no telegraphing of the tricks - never any cue that oh, here comes a trick!  They just flowed naturally from the context of the dance, which is a tribute to Derek's choreography but also to Kim's ability.  How she floated up into that swept lift?  People, she was four feet off the floor.  A beautiful performance.

Chuck & Julianne, Lindy to "Summertime Blues."  I'm sorry, but meh.  Chuck does every dance the same way, and he is not showing much willingness to play the part.  He has more natural ability than Kim Kardashian, but the same attitude, maybe a fear of not looking cool.  The problem is, if you don't commit to a dance, it shows. 

Lawrence & Edyta, Argentine Tango.  They had really difficult music, and I was not loving Edyta's choreography.  It did not play to Lawrence's strengths.  His posture was good, and he showed good power & movement, but I think using more rotation (Argentine Tango does progress around the floor, but in its original style is danced in close quarters and is very internal to the couple) would have allowed him to show more leading skill and would have made the tricks more integrated.

Ty & Chelsie, Lindy to "You & Me & the Bottle Makes Three."  Some of you may remember Big Bad Voodoo Daddy doing this song in the movie "Swingers."  Ty continues to impress.  I see his rodeo work as a big plus for his upper body, but a little bit of a liability in the lower - he has some bowlegged action at times, which reduces his speed.  However, his ability to remember the routines and his partnering are really good. He looked like he was enjoying this one.

Woz & Karina, allegedly an Argentine Tango.  A nice lift off the stage, but, you know.  Karina had all the power in this routine, led him around throughout, and my natural sympathy for someone who is working outside his element is being eroded by his attitude.  Woz has yet to demonstrate any understanding of what a dance actually is.

Melissa & Tony, Lindy to "Brown Derby Jump."  Very good, crazy tricks, good rhythm, great speed.  Bruno made a point of complimenting Tony's choreography.  Tony is actually one of my favorite DWTS pros, because he always seems to find something to love about his partners, and finds a way to express that with the choreography.  Melissa has lightness and grace, and Tony uses that beautifully.

Holly & Dmitry, Argentine Tango.  Oh dear.  She looked a little fragile, very off balance, very much out of synch with Dmitry, and it occurs to me that Holly seems capable of expressing only one emotion.  There must be more going on under the surface than we are seeing.  I don't think she's going to be around long enough to learn how to show us, though.

Steve-O & Lacey, Lindy to "Dance Little Sister."  Lacey definitely choreographed this one to suit Steve and not herself.  It probably was the best they could do at this point, and as such I think it may have deserved just one more point (it was a lot better than last week's foxtrot).  It was fun, lively, and suited to the harder rock music.   I'm wondering how well Steve actually hears the music.  Rhythm can be learned, he may need to be hooked up to an MP3 player 24/7 if he makes it through tonight.

Gilles & Cheryl, Argentine Tango.  The music here was "Assassin's Tango," from "Mr & Mrs Smith."  Gilles pretty much blew everyone away with this one.  Cheryl used a different vocabulary for this dance, with fewer lifts than some of the other tangos but more of the authentic, leg-entangling style which looks less difficult but is actually more so.  It is the placement of weight and subtle changes in the leader's position which create the potential for those whippy leg actions ... hard to do.  Also, as Len noted, it was an expressive performance, with a full range of dynamics and emotion.  He is just a very potent presence on the floor.  Excellent performance.  And jeesch, his wife is gorgeous too. 

Shawn & Mark, Lindy to "Ready to Rock & Roll."  I was hoping Shawn would do Lindy, but I'm a little disappointed with Mark for not showing the light, skimming quality that Lindy can have (as Melissa showed).  However, given the athletic potential of working with an Olympic gymnastics champion, I have to cut him some slack.  Shawn certainly did everything he asked of her and clearly enjoyed not having to be "romantic and mature."  Hee!

I have to say it: Gilles is my favorite.  I love Li'l Kim too, and Melissa is awfully good, but it is so much harder to put on a great show when doing the leader's part, when the leader's role in dancing is to showcase the lady.  The fact that it is impossible not to watch Gilles (when I usually catch myself watching the pros) tells me he is the best dancer in this cast.

First Book Review

Last night I finished a book I got some time ago and had in my queue ... maybe you know how that goes.  Really glad I read it right now, as it is very much in line with my current thinking on fitness and training.

"The Nia Technique," by Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas, is an explanation and guide to the Nia workout which they developed.  Nia combines movement from nine disciplines: three martial arts (tai chi, tae kwon do, and aikido); three dance styles (jazz, modern, and Duncan); and three healing arts (Feldenkrais, Alexander, and yoga).  The philosophy of Nia is to use the body's natural movement impulses to awaken and liberate the various physical systems, and then amplify, envigorate, and empower them. 

I hope I get a chance to take a Nia class sometime soon, as I would love to work through it with a trained instructor.  I am already thinking of ways to integrate this approach with Ombailamos.

Here are a couple of representative quotes from the book:

"Fitness that lasts is something you build over time."  Yes!  It takes time to learn how to do anything properly.  Once you learn something, you can build on it.

"[A] slow pace will allow you to build proper neural connections and muscular coordination as you master the movements."  Yes!  It's so tempting to rush ahead and cram in new information before you have digested the old.  However, mastering basic technique from the start will reduce the chance of injury and make learning new techniques much easier.

"The body's surface tells a story about what lies within, physically as well as emotionally."  Yes!  You can learn, just by looking at yourself in a mirror, where you are out of alignment, where you are at odds with yourself, where you are tense or congested.

The exercises offered by this book and the Nia technique in general go beyond just placing your body in given positions.  They invite the reader/practitioner to consciously study their own body and to allow it to move in ways that are healing, invigorating, and empowering. Highly recommended for anyone who is seeking better health and fitness.

Teaching & Training

It's been an interesting couple of years. I've now been a certified personal trainer for two years and have just completed a yearlong ballroom teacher-training course (the DVIDA Pro program for American-style Smooth & Rhythm - see link for Dancevision at right). I'll take my DVIDA certification exams this summer.

The preparatory course I've taken was designed by Dancevision and taught by Michael Kuka and Natalia Lind of Ballroom Dance Academy (see link!). They are great teachers and beautiful dancers, and you can meet them at the monthly third-Saturday dance at Hollywood Dance Center, on Highland just north of Melrose.

I organized a fundraiser event a couple of years ago, at the Mayflower Ballroom, which was a lot of fun. A dozen or so dance couples and teams participated in a show. All those brave souls! We raised enough money for Red Carpet DanceSport to give scholarship awards to the top three finalist couples in the Youth Latin Championship at the 2007 Southwest Regional Championships hosted by USA Dance NorCal.

Meanwhile, for the past year+, I've had the priceless experience of assisting Sonny Perry in his ABCs of Rhythm and Spins & Turns classes on Sundays at L.A. Dance Experience (see links!). New sessions start this Sunday!

All of this has been in support of my long-hoped-for transition out of a desk job. As I have become a more accomplished dancer, and while I've been broadening my education in physical fitness, I have become more restless, more energetic, and more full of crazy ideas!

One of the advantages of taking such a slow, cautious, gradual approach to the career change is that I have had time to get used to the idea, and to take steps as I feel ready for them. Launching this blog was a way of raising my little flag.

I like to dance

This is, of course, not news.

Tonight, Mr. P and I plan to hit the party at Ballroom by the Bay (see link!) in Santa Monica. This Saturday night we'll be at L.A. Dance Experience, where it all started, for a studio party.

Oh yes! I have not told that story here yet. Mr. P and I actually met at L.A. Dance Experience (see link!), about 11.75 years ago. I had just seen the Japanese movie "Shall We Dance" three weekends in a row, picked up a studio flyer from the theatre lobby, and signed up for group classes. Mr. P was there because some friends of his from UCLA were getting married and wanted to learn to dance and wanted his company. Lucky for me. That was August/September 1997 ... we started dating with a New Year's Eve dinner dance, and have been dancing along together ever since.

But back to our schedule. Sunday morning we'll be back at the studio for Sonny Perry's classes (see link! - PERPAS). And on April 5 we'll be at the Culver City Memorial Auditorium for a USA Dance chapter party (see link!).

Mr. P and I are founding members of the Los Angeles chapter of USA Dance. After a few years of slow growth, the chapter was able to afford booking the Mayflower Ballroom for chapter dances, and membership really took off. Now that the Mayflower has closed, the chapter has moved to Culver City. Their first dance there was on Oscar night and was a big success.

USA Dance is the governing body of amateur DanceSport in the U.S. and is a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee. The organization has been submitting DanceSport for years, but until recently there were structural barriers to including DanceSport as a medal sport - there are all kinds of rules about how the governing-body organizations have to operate, and USA Dance had to bring its operations into line - plus ballroom dancing was, until Dancing with the Stars hit, a sort of fringe activity. So glad THAT has changed!

DanceSport is a medal sport at the World Games and at the Junior Olympics, which are operated by the Amateur Athletic Union. USA Dance runs local, regional, and national championships; the champions at nationals represent the US at the World Games. This year the nationals will be back in Baltimore and I understand DWTS' Carrie-Ann Inaba will be a guest judge. I'm not sure if any of our local chapter members will be going to nationals - hope so! - I can't compete as an amateur anymore since I'm about to start teaching, but there are lots of great dancers in our area and I sure would like to see L.A. represented.

Anyway, you can learn more about USA Dance via our local chapter's website, linked at right. There should be a downloadable flyer for the April 5 dance, plus the chapter maintains a calendar of regularly-occurring social dance events in the area. A great resource! Check it out!

"maneater"? really?

It was kind of an interesting idea to have Karina dance with the three men, but the singers' performance was so distractingly bad that I think I'm going to have to watch it again with the sound off.  The second song also did nothing for me, and I thought the choreography was a little overwrought.  I love Edyta and Alec together, but would like to see them do something different from their usual foreplay/gymnastics/rumba.

A bit surprised at the elimination, but ... not disappointed.  Woz's entertainment value won't get him too much further.  I think sometimes, when the judges really hammer someone, it just stimulates voters who otherwise mightn't have bothered to pick up the phone.

Next week's dances should utterly confuse the contestants.  (We covered Lindy Hop and Argentine Tango in the last segment of my teacher-training class, so I have some flashbacks happening.)  Everything the contestants have learned so far about frame, dance position, etc. will be completely useless to them!   

I hope we get to see 1) Shawn doing Lindy Hop and 2) Gilles doing Argentine Tango.  I also hope we get to see Steve-O able to walk across the room without looking like he's just been hit by a car.

DWTS follow-up, week 3; part 2

This week's dances were foxtrot and samba.  Foxtrot was born in America and is typically danced to big-band, jazz, and swing music in 4/4 time (four beats to the measure).  American-style Foxtrot, which is what we see on DWTS, allows the partners to open from each other and perform side by side or shadow actions reminiscent of Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, and other Hollywood dance greats.  It is also easy to learn, but it is quite difficult to do well.

One of the tricky things about foxtrot is its timing.  Most of foxtrot is danced in a slow-quick-quick rhythm.  The challenge is that the body does not stop on slow.  The feet should collect beneath the dancer as the moving foot continues forward or back, passing the standing foot, to the end of the step.  "Collect" means that the feet literally come together, with the moving foot merely skimming the floor.  If the feet do not collect, the dancer typically loses the rhythm and you start to see a sort of random timing, and a lack of clarity in the direction of movement.  On the flip side, if the dancer puts his or her foot down instead of skimming, the next step is going to be on the wrong foot. 

In foxtrot, as in waltz, the feet should never visibly leave the floor unless there is a kick, a jump, or some other styling happening.  That's the main thing that was wrong with Chuck's dance last night.

Over the seasons, plenty of people have remarked on how contestants (especially men) look stiff in the foxtrot.  I'd like to point out that there is a big difference between "stiffness" and "stillness." 

The frame, in foxtrot as in quickstep, should not move around.  Once the gentleman sets his position, he should hold it still.  The head is upright, the man is looking down the line of dance over his partner's shoulder, the elbows are in front of the body and only slightly below his shoulder height, with the left hand held at the lady's eye level, and the right hand angled down onto the lady's shoulder blade.  Even when the partners separate into handhold moves or side by side positions, the frame should remain relatively still.  If a hand is extended to create a line, it should return to its starting position.  If the body is turning, the whole frame turns as one unit.

The sides of the body stretch away from the moving foot, creating a slight sway, less pronounced than in the waltz.  In short, from the hips up, dancers in foxtrot should be lifted, light, and still: the topline should appear to float above the action occurring in the legs and feet.  That is what gives the dance its airy, effortless appearance.  Ty mostly achieved this last night, which is why the judges were so complimentary - aside from his good partnering.

Samba was born in Brazil and features a characteristic bouncing action.  Unlike other Latin dances, in samba both knees bend and straighten at the same time.  The hip action is more forward and back, with a contraction of the abs serving to lift the heels; the knees bend to absorb that action; the dancer does not bounce on a straight leg.  The hip action does not come from dropping the front of the pelvis to sway the back and stick out the butt.  I think in hip-hop they call that a booty pop!

Good samba requires a level of leg and foot strength that most people have to work hard to develop.  (We've seen a lot of thin-but-not-fit contestants on DWTS.  None of them did samba well.)  The best samba action on stage last night, I think, came from Karina; her routine had a lot of samba basics in it, which makes it easier to see these actions. If you want to go back to the tape and slow her down you'll see the contraction, the bounce, the reach of the moving leg, and the power she uses to move off the standing leg. 

Plus you get to look at the Beetlejuice dress again.

DWTS follow-up, week 3: part 1

I am a devoted reader of Kim, who recaps DWTS for TelevisionWithoutPity, and this week she gave me something to work with as well as something to giggle at. About David Alan Grier, Kim writes that she thinks DAG needs to work on his hamstring flexibility, and I quote: "He's got great hip flexibility (witness his high kicks), but something is still off."

Aha! Here, my dears, is a common misconception, which prompts a brief anatomy lesson. The hamstrings are the complex of muscles at the back of the thigh. They function as hip extensors: they pull the upper leg back and up. The hamstrings tend to have a limited range of motion - many people cannot touch their toes, and that is often a function of hamstring inflexibility. However, the hamstrings are not at the heart of DAG's problem, or we would not have seen those high kicks.

Where most people, including DAG, demonstrate inflexibility is in the hip flexors. The hip flexors are the complex of muscles in front of the thigh. They pull the upper leg forward and up. The hip flexors are commonly tight because people do not stretch away from the front of their bodies. Tight hip flexors are associated with lower back pain, weak lower abdominals, limited range of motion, gait abnormalities, back inflexibility, knee dysfunction, etc.

When you spend a lot of time sitting down, or performing actions that bend the upper body forward toward the thigh, the hip flexors are permanently flexed. Any time a muscle does not get moved through its entire range of motion - flexed and extended - it is subject to becoming either too tight, too stretched, or too weak. Oftentimes, people who slump their shoulders have upper-back and neck pain, headaches, etc. Their chest and anterior shoulder muscles are never extended, and become tight. Meanwhile, their back and posterior shoulder muscles are permanently extended, and become weak. Likewise, people who do not stretch the hip flexors become tight in the front of the hip, and relatively weak in the back.

Some yoga would indeed be a good idea for DAG and I think he would see enormous benefits in relatively little time. The same goes for anyone with a desk job.

DWTS 8 - week 3

This season's cast is rapidly shaking out into the good, the mediocre, and the please make it stop.  We have a couple of people who clearly have no musicality, and it is just not really possible to dance well if you don't have a sense of the music.  You might say that dancing is singing with the body; we dance, sometimes, instead of singing, but the impulse is often the same.

Denise & Maks in the samba ... hard to shake that image of Maks in samba drag ... so wrong!  Don't know what that awful emo song was.  Denise's performance was draggy, not fun.  Samba body and leg action was completely lacking.  Maks tried his best, but as he said in rehearsal, "she needs to get out of her head."

Chuck & Julianne with a foxtrot to a country song ... I understand why the producers do it, but when you assign a song that does not convey the character of the dance, it makes it really hard for a novice dancer to fake their way through it.  This performance, I thought, was over-scored by a couple of points; Chuck's frame was not bad, his head just a little bit forward, but his footwork was just about 100% wrong.  I could watch Julianne all night (nice flying jetee!) but that was one hippity-hoppity dance.

Holly & Dmitry with a samba, to a samba song at least, but as with Denise there was no actual samba rhythm.  In addition, Holly's footwork seemed completely random.  She did not seem to be having any fun at all and I think has realized that this is a lot harder than doing the step & shimmy at a party.

Steve-O & Lacey were assigned foxtrot, and had a decent foxtrot song to work with, but the dance was a complete train wreck.  Steve obviously couldn't raise his arms or move his legs without pain.  What he could remember of the choreography, he couldn't execute.  And then at the end, another fall!  I feel for the guy, he seems sincerely to want to do this and if it weren't for the injury I'm sure he'd be doing so much better.

Lawrence & Edyta were next with their samba, a funk song and a funky rendition of the dance.  Not a lot of bounce there, but adequate performance.  LT is looking slimmer!  Did you love Edyta's cartwheel??  Plenty of good basics there, and like past football stars on the show, LT demonstrates good rhythm and rather more agility than we expect from someone that size.

Shawn & Mark had the next foxtrot, and now the music is starting to annoy me: that song is a rumba!  Just because both dances have slow-quick-quick doesn't mean they are interchangeable, dang it!  And Shawn's dress did her no favors.  As to the performance, it was balanced, controlled, graceful, and elegant.  Good movement around the floor, nice lift in the topline.  Carrie-Ann was clearly deliriously happy to finally have a dance she could praise sincerely.  Shawn should take a look at the video, though; in this dance and in her waltz, she took a position when side-by-side to Mark that looks not very nice; when lunging to the side, the hip should stay in the same plane as the leg, and not protrude farther to the side.  It really took away from the potential beauty of those positions.

Gilles & Cheryl's samba didn't really hit many of the basics, but it sure gave new meaning to bachacatas.  The guy is a fox, I'm sorry.  Good sinuous hip action, a good level of performance overall.  One of the things I like about Gilles' actions the flexibility he has.  Could be a martial arts student?  He gets so much space in his body.  I don't know that I really would have given that a 27, but he is so much better than the other men, I guess they pretty much have to.  (Especially after the score they gave Chuck.)

David & Kym had another nice foxtrot song, "Come Rain or Come Shine," which the first time I heard it was on Barbra Streisand's "Wet" album.  Hmmm.  David clearly felt he had something to prove this week, and he also is showing greater understanding of how to convey the dance.  His closed position is still a little open - it is strange to dance so close, I know! - but it was a lively, composed, and consistent performance.

Woz & Karina ... can I just talk about her?  I don't know if the producers told her to work the Beetlejuice connection, or if that was her idea, but I loved the dress.  Great Harry Belafonte samba song, notably well performed by the band & singers.  The dance, however ... Karina was great.

Melissa & Tony also got a proper foxtrot song, "Recipe for Making Love," and Tony pulled out some more tricky, inventive, and crowd-pleasing choreography.  Melissa was looking just a little bit strained this week.  Her dancing is lovely, the only things to work on are to remember heel leads and to lift a little more into the topline; her neck had a tendency to hyperextend, and there's a bit too much sway in the lower back. 

Ty & Chelsie had the final foxtrot of the evening, to one of the all-time great foxtrot songs, "Come Dance with Me."  I am really impressed with this guy.  His quickstep was good, and this foxtrot was better.  He made only one obvious mistake, tipping out of the pivot sequence near the end before their final approach to the stage.  His assistance to Chelsie when she slipped on her dress was pretty remarkable; not just that he helped her up, but that he stayed "in character" and picked right up with the choreography as soon as she recovered.  The performance was smooth, controlled, and elegant.

Li'l Kim and Derek had the final samba.  Like Gilles, Kim is able to get a nice openness to her body.  Her legs sometimes get overly straight and I think she is working hard to keep up with Derek; there's quite a height difference.  Her action overall was by far the best of the women doing samba.  She has a good connection with Derek, also - by which I mean, she uses compression & leverage to generate action.  Kim lost the choreography briefly when they went into their side-by-side piece, but was able to pick it up again quickly.  She is a lot of fun to watch.

I know who I expect to see in the dance-off, but it all depends on the votes!  Such suspense!!

Fred Astaire retrospective

I am a bit of a collector (my mom would say this is an understatement) and I have kind of a ridiculous collection of DVDs.  One of the great things about this is, if we ever can't afford our satellite TV service we will still have something to watch.  Another great thing is, when our satellite TV service fails to offer something we want to watch ... we still have something to watch.

Last night Mr. P was working on our computer and I was reading in the den, and as usual had the TV on, but there is only so much Food Network and HGTV I can watch, y'all.  So after the documentary "A Man Named Pearl" on HGTV (which was great, by the way) I put in a couple of old Fred Astaire movies.

The first was one of the films he made with Rita Hayworth, "You Were Never Lovelier."  Set in Argentina, this one features Fred as a professional dancer and amateur gambler who gets stranded in Buenos Aires when he bets too much on a slow horse.  Rita plays the daughter of a hotel owner ... the hotel in question being where Fred is staying and where he hopes to get a job dancing.  There is a silly plot combining elements of "Taming of the Shrew" and of "Cyrano de Bergerac," a couple of nice song and dance numbers, some truly stunning couture on Rita (who manages to make everything she wears look like lingerie), and of course a happy ending.  The signature song from this film is "Dearly Beloved," but the notable dance number is "Shorty George."  Rita is certainly no Ginger Rogers on the dance floor, but my position is that any Fred Astaire movie is worth watching if you're a dancer.

The second was Fred's first movie with Ginger, "Flying Down to Rio."  They weren't the stars of this one, but it's easy to see why it was their big break - they are the freshest and funniest members of the cast.  "Rio" contains only one major dance number, "The Carioca."  It goes on and on!  Fred & Ginger dance part of it, a Busby-Berkley-style chorus dances part of it, a group of "native" dancers does part of it.  That was nice to see - I can't remember seeing a person of color in any other Fred & Ginger pictures who wasn't in a servant role.  These people were really shakin' it.  The Carioca is a sort of samba, and some of the moves were pretty cute.  There is a tango number later in the film, but it's a goofy kind of Groucho Marx tango, and Dolores del Rio (while beautiful) doesn't contribute much ... Fred is only featured very briefly in this number, so boo.  This movie had an even sillier plot, but hey.  It whetted my appetite for more, so the next night there's "nothing on," I'll probably haul out the rest of the boxed set!