Wednesday, April 27, 2011

DC Tap Festival


      DC Tap Fest has just ended and what a performance is was! The amount of raw talent in the room was palpable, truly a fantastic event that all Tap dancers love and support. We recommend you keep an eye out on their site for future events, they are definitely worth checking out.
     So Danca was proud to be able to help in the event (even in a small way), by donating one of our Pro Tap shoes for their "give away" raffle.
      The lucky winner is from Louisburg, NC, Jessica you'll be getting your shoes soon, we'll be sending them out today! We hope you continue to dance and thank you for showing some support at the DC Tap Fest.
      
       We at So Danca are always looking for ways to help the dance community, let us know if you're doing an event or a competition and would like for us to be involved in some way. Leave a comment, or find us on facebook and drop me a message.

        Hope you have a great middle of the week, Happy Wednesday to all! ^_^

                  Love from your humble blogger,

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

An Evening with Anne Polajenko: "What's in a name?"

            Pointe shoes are traditionally named after a ballet, a famous dancer of the past or sometimes manufacturers will use a ballet term, such as "relevé" or "équilibre" to describe their shoe.
Recently, So'Dança named some of their  Pointe shoes in honor of current teachers and ballerinas. Such is the case with Toshie ( the new SD40 with a no pleat platform). So who is Toshie?
            Toshie Kobayashi is a Brazilian teacher of Japanese descent. She is one of the most recognized and popular teachers and coaches in her country. Toshie teaches at her own school and at the Municipal school in Sao Paulo. A great deal of her time is spent traveling to companies and dance festivals across the country. She is also a member of the Royal Academy of Dance in London, England.
              Toshie is a great favorite among dancers because of the enthusiasm she brings to her craft as well as the loving and supportive attitude she has toward all who work with her.
       ----------  Anne Polajenko


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          Hello Dance World, hope you guys are having a good beginning of the week. So some things to catch up on. Thank you for all the feedback on the latest segment "So Danca Reviews", glad a lot of you liked it, and we'll keep making those as time progresses. Also our Blog Quiz results are in and the sequels you guys are looking forward to the most were:
                   1. The last "Harry Potter" movie (I'm also looking forward to this one)
                   2. The Hangover Part2 (this one I'm skeptical about, can't help but be)
                   3. A tie between "Fast Five" and "Xmen: Origins" (both of which I also am looking forward to)


        Be sure to place your votes for this weeks' poll, and keep giving us feedback, we do love hearing from you guys :)


                 Love from your humble blogger,

Thursday, April 21, 2011

"So Danca Reviews: Foo Fighters, Scream 4, The Name of the Wind, Portal 2"

New Music Review:  "Foo Fighters - Wasting light"

                                          

         Foo Fighters' new release has delivered in every way possible to their whole fan base. The old hardcore fans love that they went back to their older roots, and the newest fans enjoy the fact that they managed to produced something different then what is out there right now.
          I've been listening to the cd all week and already know almost all the songs by heart, it's that kind of cd, it's the type that every time your relisten to a song you get something else out of it and love it more and more. It's incredible how they manage to place not one hit song but five to six hit songs within the cd.
          My top five favorite songs are: "Better Off", "Walk", "These Days", "I Should Have Known", and "Rope". Walk has me screaming at the top of my lungs, while These days has me contemplating life, and Better Off makes me raise my car system to the max. It's an ever changing amazing experience. I give it a 5/5. Loved it from beginning to end.
           For Foo Fighters news and info go to:     http://www.foofighters.com/us/home


New Movie Review:  "Scream 4"

                                        
           While sequels are dominating the market, one sequel stands atop the others pointing a finger and making fun of all the other, with much needed slasher film goodness. The newest addition the Scream series does not disappoint. It is tightly packed with fun story lines, clever witty twists and good horror movie drama.
            Though the movie in itself was not much of a scary movie, it did have those "hang of your seat" moments we all love. It's got a full dose funny and the directors have filmed the movie in such a way that finding out who the murderer is this time was nearly impossible, though cleverly done. With a good mix of technology references, and poking fun at our current horror culture, I give "Scream 4" 4.2/5 in the genre of "horror" movies, which recently has not been able to deliver a decent movie in a long time. For a second look here is a fan review:
            "I tried to so hard to figure out who the killer was but i failed to do so. Wes Craven did a phenomenal job at fooling the entire audience. Courtney Cox (Gayle Weathers) played her role perfectly, once again she made everyone laugh with her witty remarks and comic facial expressions. Another actress who was entertaining to watch was Hayden Panetierre. She was absolutely hysterical, every scene she was in made me laugh. Another big factor which added to Scream 4 was having the original cast in the movie. It made it so much better and they were the main reason as to why I (along with many many others) wanted to go see it in the first place. I was very happy with the way the movie ended, it was definitely a surprise." - Lucy (22 years old)
          One of my favorite sites recently did a review on it, worth a read, check out the video review as well, worth it.   http://movies.ign.com/articles/116/1161389p1.html
       Let's just hope the coming sequels retain this level of commitment to good quality.

Book Review: "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss

                        
           I truly do not know how a book this good passed me by unnoticed for a year. The sequel to "Name of the Wind", "A Wise Man's Fear", has been getting a lot of press coverage for it's brilliance and splendor lately. Thus I decided to give the first book a read to see if it was truly as good as everyone was saying. Honestly "The Name Of The Wind" is not only as good as everyone was saying, it is better. I know I'm about to commit a carnal sin here, but I personally loved reading this book so much that I have to admit to placing it within my top five best books I've ever read, next to "LOTR", "Ender's Game", "The Brother's Karamazov", "Picture of Dorian Gray" and "American Gods". Yes, it is that good.
          Never have I gone to buy a book and cared about picking one up that had no bent pages, but that was my reaction when picking up the sequel "A Wise Man's Fear". As a clutched that book to my chest I felt giddy like a school girl and could not wait to go home and get lost within it's pages. Truly I say to you, I would be lying if I told you that I've had more then 3 hours of sleep each day this week due to this book, I am not done yet, but I have loved every page I've read so far.
            Patrick Rothfuss is brilliant. His story is not only a great work of fantasy, it is a college book, it is a poetry book, it is a song, it is an inspirational novel, it is a romance novel, it is a true mix of all genres and more within an intrinsic brilliant manner that leaves you thirsting for more.
           It is a rare feat for a book to capture my attention so entirely, thus I felt that it deserved a feature within this blog. I love to spread joy and sharing a good read is one of my favorite joys to share. Give this book a read, I promise you you'll love it. I give this book a 5/5, I would go higher but cannot, in my mind's eye it is a 10/5, so be sure to give it the attention it deserves, trust, it's fantastic.
           Learn more about Patrick Rothfuss and his masterpieces at:
http://www.patrickrothfuss.com/content/index.asp

New Game Review: "Portal 2"

                                                                    
          Oh video games, how I love them and wish I had more time to play them. Portal 2 has just come out yesterday and already has risen among the ranks and gotten tons of good rating in every site and magazine it's been reviewed in and for good reason to, this game is brilliant.
          Portal 2 is a puzzle-adventure-platform game released for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. The game is as fun as we wished it to be and as quirky if not more so then the original. I have not beat it yet thus I will not be writing a full review on it, but it is definitely a good game worth looking into. It has been fun so far, and I've enjoyed the new additions to the game. The graphics aren't brilliant, but it's not that type of game where graphics are the main concern, the fun factor is the "hook" to this particular title.
          For a full review complete with video follow this link, again it's one of my favorite sites and I trust their word above all others.    http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/116/1162433p1.html

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        Dancer's are people to. That's the idea behind this new monthly series. I think people within the dance world forget sometimes that dancers like to read and watch movies and play games, just like everyone else does. Thus every month I'll pick various things that stood out to me that are worth looking into and write a review on them for you. Why? Because we care. Because we are a community, and a real community shares the things we love.
        The question of the week is:
               What is something that has got your attention recently that you would like reviewed here? From movies to books, post a comment bellow or send me a message on facebook, twitter and even email.

              Hope you all have a great Easter, make sure to eat a ton and enjoy time with family,

                             Love from your humble blogger,

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

So Danca is Proud to Sponsor! "Riverdance"

  
        So Danca is proud to provide shoes for the American tap dancers of Riverdance! Be sure to follow the link to their website and catch their tour dates, photos, videos, and get to see for yourself this fantastic performance. www.riverdance.com
        They have toured all over the world and are known as one of the most renown troupes in the whole world. I personally was in awe when I saw them, the performance from beginning to end is breath taking. 
         It is an honor and a privilege to be able to provide shoes for such a show. Do check them out, it will surely blow your mind, and fill your heart with love. 

All pictures taken from www.riverdance.com, be sure to look at their site and find a show near you!!
Love from your humble blogger,

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

An Evening With Anne Polajenko: "Crazy Pointe Shoe Stories"

Crazy things people do with their Pointe shoes: True stories   

A dancer once decided to dry her sweaty shoes faster by putting them in a low temperature oven. Problem was she forgot them and went shopping. Upon her return she found the fire department at her door. Neighbors had noticed smoke coming from the apartment and called 911.

Another fire story has it that a young student tried to copy a professional dancer who regularly stopped the fraying of the ribbon ends by burning them with a flame. Borrowing a lighter, the student held the end of the ribbon and lit the lighter only to burn both the ribbon and her fingertips.

Another dancer had serious bunion problems. No shoe worked. The pain was so bad she was at her wits end until she had the idea to cut a large hole in her  shoe above the bunion. Instant relief. However, she now had the strangest looking foot ever!

Some dancers think they can break in new shoes by putting the Box of the shoe in a door jamb and then crushing it by closing the door. This usually works.... too well. The Box is indeed crushed, not to mention what might happen to the door!

A teacher once recommended a student put some water on her very hard Pointe shoes to soften them. A week later the shoes had not dried and the teacher was perplexed. It turned out the child had turned on the faucet and placed the shoes underneath a stream of water, drenching them thoroughly. Needless to say, the shoes were ruined.

                                 ----- Anne Polajenko

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     For my readers that celebrate passover, I hope you have  a good time with your families, and may it be a blessed evening.

              Love from your humble blogger,

Friday, April 15, 2011

Highlight a Store Day! "Elite Dance Outfitters"

  Elite Dance Outfitters, located in Clive, Iowa.


          "Owned and operated by Angie who is very involved with the local community.  One of the best looking stores I have visited, designed to look like a stage production set with beautiful wood floors and stage prop lighting.  Dressing rooms with a "stage curtain" appearance.  The whole store is very inviting and makes you feel like you are about to go perform on stage"
                   ---Tim Hines (one of our many amazing Road Warriors)
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                Thank you for all the feedback on the previous post, and for all your submissions for the question of the day, I'll feature the best answers in next Thursday's blog. We hope you all have a great friday and have a safe weekend. Make sure to check this blog out next week for more So Danca news,  world dance news and fun K.Y.B.U. articles.

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Update:
          Hey everyone! If you live anywhere near Boca Raton, FL you should go to the Boca Ballet Theater production of "La Bayadere" this week end, April 16-17. In addition to seeing an all-time classic, it's one of your last opportunities to watch ballet superstar Jose Manuel Carreño. To the disappointment of his many fans, Carreño is retiring after an amazing career with American Ballet Theater. Go to bocaballet.org for ticket information.
                  -------Anne Polajenko
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            Love from your humble blogger,

           

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Know Your Blogger Unplugged: "Old movies that would fail due to technology"

        I was thinking about old movies a few days ago and about what the effects of today's technology would have upon them. I quickly realized that various old movies could never work within the frame of today's society. Technology has really changed the way by which we perceive the world, thus I put a list together of four ways in which technology has clearly saved us a ton of hassle but posed problems to cinema classics if they had occurred in our generation.


                                                                                  Titanic


        Inflatable life rafts. Though I don't think today's technology would allow for a ship to hit an iceberg, if in fact it did occur everyone would have a life raft. So no epic scene with Kate and Jack in the freezing water. So though in life a tragedy would have been avoided, in the big screen the movie would lose it's major plot line. So Kate would have left with Jack and lived a poor life in the suburbs, struggling everyday for a bit of bread. Now that's just a movie no one wants to watch. Moving on..

                                                                             Grease



      Social networks. Yeah this could really hurt a ton of movies. Could you just imagine his facebook status "Summer loving, if you know what I mean" and all the friend's comments under it? No escape from that. Sandy would be out of there so quick, good for her too, let's be honest, she's in a good place in the beginning of the movie and in the end she's smoking, drinking and hanging with a bad crowd. Over all she's better off. Thank you technology!




            Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory


             There's just no way you would be able to get five kids today into a chocolate factory without getting half your secrets spilled on youtube, and wikipedia. The wikileaks guys would be all over that. There would have to be a "smart phone confiscation room" prior to entering into the factory. And even then somehow everything would still end up online. It's one of the aftermaths of today's technology, no secret is kept secret for too long. So no epic elevator ride for Charlie.....unless in the end instead of giving the gum back he gave his smartphone away. Maybe that would work....who knows. And yes, in my mind Willy Wonka has a green hat and purple scarf, deal with it.


  Almost every old horror movie, or old robbery movie
                



           Do you even remember old wired phones? Ancient of things. The only way to make this work in a movie would be to add a scene where the thief has a "thank god this thingamaginga that prevents cell phones from working exists". In the old days you could just cut a wire and bang, no phone line. Another scenario saved/ruined thanks to technology. Though this is an easy fix, I still always can't help but smile when I see this happen in an old flick. Go go cell phones.

          Here's your question of the week,

     What movie do you think would be ruined with today's technology?

   Post a comment bellow or shoot me an email, or find us on facebook and leave a comment there.

    Love from your humble blogger,