Post by bravotwozero on Nov 7, 2009 2:59:04 GMT 8
(From the perspective of a Filipino currently living in Los Angeles)
Music and dancing are very much a part of life. Not surprisingly, World War II has its share. In fact, it will be more surprising, if you meet a person who has not heard of Glenn Miller's "In The Mood". I figured, since this is what I do now more than anything else relating to the World War II realm, I’d post a little something about it. I do not claim to be an expert, what I write here is just the general knowledge I’ve accumulated over the past three years that I’ve been dancing. I hope you find it interesting.
When you think World War II, especially from the Allied point of view, the music that would come to mind is big band. I highly recommend that you watch Ken Burn’s documentary Jazz. Here's the link www.pbs.org/jazz/ The series touches on the origins of jazz from its roots in New Orleans to its evolution to Swing dancing and then to the jazz music that we know of today. One thing unmistakable about big band music is that even if you don’t dance, when you hear it, you just want to tap your feet to the rhythm. Why? Well, when you think about it, World War II came after the 1929 Wall Street Crash. In the period leading into World War II, people didn’t want to hear sad music to accompany their economic hardships or financial misfortunes, they want to feel good. This music does just that. If you can’t play an instrument or can’t sing, what’s the alternative to feeling the music? That would be dancing, of course. Besides the aerobic exercise you’ll get from the physical activity of dancing, you get the added benefit of holding a beautiful woman for a brief period. Take that, gym nuts! Dancing is sometimes referred to as a three minute love affair.
More often when the term big band music is mentioned, Swing dancing is correlated to it. What you see on vintage videos of couples doing aerials or fast feet movements are actually sub-dances under the general category of swing dancing. Swing dancing is in fact the generic term for some of the following dances: Lindy Hop, Collegiate Shag, Balboa to name a few. Where did it originated from? To give you an idea, here is a footage of Foxtrot.
What did you think about it? It’s prim and proper and elegant and….boring… I don’t know about you but holding the girl in your arms like that for the whole song may have its pluses but trust me, if you do the same thing over and over, guess what? You’re going to get bored.
Prohibition came into the picture. When alcohol was outlawed, everybody went underground. And when inside Speakeasies, you don’t have the space to dance Foxtrot or Waltzes. Plus the music is more lively now thanks to the wider acceptance of Jazz. People started dancing the Charleston.
I'll stop here for now. Let me know what your thoughts are about this topic. I'll try to add more to it later.
Music and dancing are very much a part of life. Not surprisingly, World War II has its share. In fact, it will be more surprising, if you meet a person who has not heard of Glenn Miller's "In The Mood". I figured, since this is what I do now more than anything else relating to the World War II realm, I’d post a little something about it. I do not claim to be an expert, what I write here is just the general knowledge I’ve accumulated over the past three years that I’ve been dancing. I hope you find it interesting.
When you think World War II, especially from the Allied point of view, the music that would come to mind is big band. I highly recommend that you watch Ken Burn’s documentary Jazz. Here's the link www.pbs.org/jazz/ The series touches on the origins of jazz from its roots in New Orleans to its evolution to Swing dancing and then to the jazz music that we know of today. One thing unmistakable about big band music is that even if you don’t dance, when you hear it, you just want to tap your feet to the rhythm. Why? Well, when you think about it, World War II came after the 1929 Wall Street Crash. In the period leading into World War II, people didn’t want to hear sad music to accompany their economic hardships or financial misfortunes, they want to feel good. This music does just that. If you can’t play an instrument or can’t sing, what’s the alternative to feeling the music? That would be dancing, of course. Besides the aerobic exercise you’ll get from the physical activity of dancing, you get the added benefit of holding a beautiful woman for a brief period. Take that, gym nuts! Dancing is sometimes referred to as a three minute love affair.
More often when the term big band music is mentioned, Swing dancing is correlated to it. What you see on vintage videos of couples doing aerials or fast feet movements are actually sub-dances under the general category of swing dancing. Swing dancing is in fact the generic term for some of the following dances: Lindy Hop, Collegiate Shag, Balboa to name a few. Where did it originated from? To give you an idea, here is a footage of Foxtrot.
What did you think about it? It’s prim and proper and elegant and….boring… I don’t know about you but holding the girl in your arms like that for the whole song may have its pluses but trust me, if you do the same thing over and over, guess what? You’re going to get bored.
Prohibition came into the picture. When alcohol was outlawed, everybody went underground. And when inside Speakeasies, you don’t have the space to dance Foxtrot or Waltzes. Plus the music is more lively now thanks to the wider acceptance of Jazz. People started dancing the Charleston.
I'll stop here for now. Let me know what your thoughts are about this topic. I'll try to add more to it later.