All the standard ballroom dances had their origins abroad, but were adapted and modified by English dancers into their modern style. The Waltz came from Germany around 1810. The Tango came from Argentina. The Foxtrot and Quickstep were greatly influenced by American music.
An American dance called the Boston arrived in England about 1903. This had fairly slow, gliding steps. It is a characteristic of the Foxtrot that in the basic steps, unlike the other dances, the feet slide past each other rather than coming together. The Boston seems to have been the first dance to move the feet in this way. The Boston also was the first ballroom dance to be done with feet parallel (rather than turned out, as in ballet).
The Boston, like much else, was finished off by the First World War. Crowded dance floors in wartime left no room for it, and new musical imports arrived from America.
Ragtime and jazz came to Europe, and were great sensations. Both the music, and the many 'craze' dances contributed. After the war the big bands of Paul Whiteman took centre stage. He played 'arranger's jazz', meaning, the band played from charts rather than by ear. Whiteman's bands were hugely successful (there were several).
"The decade between 1910 and 1920", said one writer, "was the period in which America went dance mad". "From 1912 through 1914", said another, "over one hundred new dances found their way in and out of our fashionable ballrooms".
These are a few examples: The Shimmy, The Grind, The Turkey Trot, The Bunny Hug, The Texas Tommy, The Cakewalk... Almost all these dances originated in the black community in the United States, and some moved over into white society.
During the 1920s, English professional dancers and dance teachers set out to find ways of dancing to the new music. In their opinion, what was needed was separate dances for different tempos. So what happened was that the Foxtrot, which had started off as a mid-tempo dance influenced by ragtime, gradually split into two dances, a Slow foxtrot and a quick foxtrot. The difference in tempo allowed the dances to become, in time, different in style as well as music. The Quickstep (as it was soon called) was influenced by the Charleston, and the Slow foxtrot by ideas from the Boston. The syncopation which is still common in the quickstep is an example of ragtime influence on modern dancing.
Where did the name 'foxtrot' come from? It is often said that Foxtrot took its name from its inventor, the vaudeville actor Harry Fox; however the exact origins are not clear. The dance was premiered in 1914, quickly catching the eye of the talented husband and wife duo Vernon and Irene Castle, who lent the dance its signature grace and style.
W.C. Handy's "Memphis Blues" was said to be the inspiration for the Foxtrot. The Castles' music director would play the Memphis Blues during breaks from the fast paced Castle Walk and One-step. The Castles were intrigued by the rhythm. They introduced the 'Bunny Hug' in a magazine article. They went abroad and in mid-ocean sent a wireless to the magazine to change the Bunny Hug to the 'Foxtrot'.
For the International or English style foxtrot
Basic Figures
Standard Figures
United Service Organizations
The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) offers recreational support for members of the U.S. military. The USO provides programs in 140 centers worldwide funded by private and public donations and support from the United States Department of Defense. It is not a government agency.
USO works to boost military . Since 1941, the USO became the soldier's "home away from home" and began a tradition of entertaining the troops with live performances called "Camp Shows" that continues today. These "tours" typically feature big name actors or actresses, comedians, pop musicians, and models.
The USO serves both in time of war and during time of peace. During the 1990s, the USO provided services to 5 million active duty service members and their families, and more support after start of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
Symphony No.8 &quot;Symphony of a Thousand&quot; (Mahler)
Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major by Gustav Mahler (1860–1911) is one of the largest choral works in classical music. It needs a huge orchestra to play it and a huge choir to sing. Because so many performers are needed it is often called "Symphony of a Thousand", but that is not a name that Mahler gave to it.
Mahler worked very hard at it, composing it in quite a short time at Maiernigg in southern Austria in the summer of 1906. It was the last of Mahler's works that was to be given its first performance in his lifetime. The symphony was given its first performance in Munich on 12 September 1910.
Symphonies are usually pieces of music played just by an orchestra, but Beethoven started a tradition of having singing in symphonies: his Ninth Symphony is the famous one with the Ode to Joy in the last movement. Mahler took up this idea of combining singing with symphony. His Symphonies Nos 2, 3, and 4 all have singing in them. The next three are just for orchestra, but in No. 8 he uses singing again.
Symphony No. 8 is very unusual because he does not have the usual three or four movements with traditional forms such as sonata form. The whole symphony is in two parts. Part I is based on the Latin text of a ninth-century Christian hymn for Pentecost, "Veni creator spiritus" ("Come, Creator Spirit"). Part II is in German. The words come from the closing scene of Goethe's "Faust".
The two parts have a common idea: the idea of being saved through the power of love. Musically Mahler does this by sharing tunes throughout the symphony. The symphony expresses the confidence of the eternal human spirit.
For many years after Mahler’s death it was not often performed. It is, of course, a very expensive symphony to perform because of the vast numbers of musicians needed. It also needs to be performed in a very large concert hall. Today it is played more often. The 100th anniversary of its first performance will be celebrated in July 2010in the opening concert of the BBC Proms is the Royal Albert Hall, London.
Opinions about the symphony have been divided. Some people did not think the optimism expressed in the music was really convincing. Other people have said it is one of the greatest musical expressions of humanity.
Simon Boccanegra
Simon Boccanegra is an opera by Giuseppe Verdi. It is divided into a prologue and three acts. The libretto is by Francesco Maria Piave. The story was based on a play "Simón Bocanegra" (1843) by Antonio García Gutiérrez.
"Simon Boccanegra" was first performed at Teatro La Fenice, Venice on 12 March 1857. It was not very successful, and many years later Verdi made a lot of changes to it. He was helped by the writer Arrigo Boito who made changes to the plot. The new version was first performed at La Scala, Milan on 24 March 1881. This is the version that is normally performed today.
The story is supposed to take place in the middle of the 14th century in Genoa. Genoa (in Italian: Genova) is now a town in Italy, but in those days Italy was not yet one country, and Genoa, like Venice, was a small republic, ruled by a Doge (pronounced “Doadz” in English. It is an Italian word meaning “duke”). Until the time of this story the Doge had always been chosen from one of the rich patricians. The ordinary, common people (the plebeians), could not be chosen to be the Doge.