Robot Dance Partner

A Japanese company has developed a robot that can interpret your lead and follow you on the dance floor. She’s modeled after Marilyn Monroe and has a huge gown that covers her complex mechanisms. For some reason not explained, she also seems to be sporting Mickey Mouse ears. Not for sale as yet, as far as I can tell from their website, www.irs.mech.tohoku.ac.jp/top.html. My best friend in Sweden, a flight simulator engineer, once told me it would be fairly easy to design a virtual dance partner. Like the robot, however, she could follow but not lead. The technology to create a practice partner for followers is still a ways off. I’ll bet somebody, somewhere, is working on it. Meanwhile, we’re stuck with our fellow human beings.

Blogs
Dancing with the Stars

I went in for a Mammogram last week and while I was checking in, the receptionist was glued to the lobby TV as she processed my Kaiser card. I turned to see what had her so engrossed. “Is that ‘Dancing With the Stars?’” I asked. “I’ve never seen it, but my students talk about it all the time.”
“You know,” she said, “This office has the most varied staff you could imagine. Different ethnic backgrounds, married, single, young, old, kids, no kids, but the one thing we all have in common is everyone is hooked on this show.”
Good news for dance teachers.

The Great Equalizer
Dancing really is the great equalizer. Attractive guys get a lot of perks in life, but if he can’t dance, the homely guy will get the girl every time. Dancing is sexy, and if you do it well, it will transform you. The Savoy Ballroom in the 30s and 40s was the only integrated ballroom in the country. According to Frankie Manning, who practically lived in it at the time, movie stars used to watch the dancers. Nobody cared how famous you were, what color you were, or what you looked like. The only thing anyone cared about was “Can you dance?” That tradition holds true in dance communities today. Dance well, treat people kindly, and you have instant popularity.

The Old Dancer Phenomenon

One of my favorite oddities of the human condition is the phenomenon of elderly dancers who can barely walk as they approach the dance floor. When the music starts, they straighten up and glide across the floor, 30 years dropping off their bodies in an instant. The music stops and they hobble off the floor, the years returning as quickly as they left. Go to a senior dance to observe this fascinating occurrence. If you want to stay young, learn to dance!