Re: Points system for dancers

Date: 22 Jul 2003 04:38:06 GMT
Newsgroups: rec.arts.dance
Size: 3,665 bytes

>From: Ed Jay email-address-deleted
>Date: 7/21/2003
>email-address-deleted (MEMIKI) wrote:
>
>>>From: email-address-deleted (Icono Clast)
>>>Date: 7/20/2003
>>
>><snip>
>>>The present caliber of Master competitors is extremely high
>>
>>As compared to what? or to whom? (Seriously)
>
>As compared to what Masters 'used to be' Have you ever watched Heavy and
>Snowflake or Richard and Roxanne? Compare their current performances with
>any of yesterday's fine winning performances. The top third or half of
>Masters is populated with excellent dancers who take their competition very
>seriously. Today's top three male and female Masters would fare well in
>upper category competitions. Yesterday's Masters champs dancing wouldn't.
>
Ed -- Thanks for the feedback. I love Heavy, Snowflake, Richard and Roxanne. I
personally have not seen Heavy and Snowflake dance since their last appearance
at the US Open. I get to many out-of-town events, but not to where they dance.
I love both couples' dancing and otherwise. When you say the "top third or half
of Masters is populated with excellent dancers," I cannot agree or disagree
with you. There are no statistics to go by are there?
>Take any category today and compare it against ten years ago. Understanding
>and attention to music, theories and understanding of dance and body
>motion, and the current high level of dance instruction have all
>contributed to an across the board significant advancement in dance level.
>This include Masters.
All of that --I agree -- Methinks that is only natural, because the WCS dance
is getting "on in years" -- and also is constantly evolving and presented with
new challenges as younger generations enter into the community, bringing with
them their own dance styles. We are all influenced by this. We have a much
larger field on which to dance than the early dancers, and we have the
creativity brought about by a wider assortment of music. It seems that WCS has
changed more since it began than any other dance I can think of at the moment.
Shag is also changing for the same reasons, but I think this is more recent
than WCS. However.......If there was a graph that showed the level of
"significant advancement in dance level" across the board, I dunno (I really
don't know :) if that would indicate the same growth figures for Masters (in
general) percentage wise. Maybe so.....
>>
>>< and promises to quickly rise.
>>
>>How do you come to this conclusion? (Seriously)
>><snip>
>>
>Alan correctly observed that because of today's dance population aging, the
>high level dancers of today will soon be eligible to compete in Masters.
>Baby Boomers aging past 50 yada yada. I don't know, but it's going to be
>interesting to see who, if anyone of Champion level and higher dancers move
>into Masters because they made 50. I don't see that happening.
>
>Ed Jay (No M to reply)
>
>
Well.........I don't see this happening with many of the upper-level dancers
yet. In a perfect world, I would like to see the Masters division have
different levels as do other divisions. I would like to see one division where
the dancing lives up to its title of "Masters" as in sports -- the brightest
and the best, experts in their dance and with a lot to teach us by their
example, talent, experience and training. It will be interesting to see what
the future will bring for the current champions when they are over fifty and
still want to compete. The Masters right now is almost like
"the-end-of-the-line" for folks because there is no place to go from there. It
is a problem faced by today's society -- we live longer and we dance
longer......no one has solved it yet!
Just my thoughts.
Miki