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  • 1:19 PM - WWI/Roaring 20’s/Progressives

    The connection between society and the Arts is the strongest here for me. This seems to be the period where musical diversification really took off. Depending on your connection to society, musical interests really became a person’s own here. The dichotomy in social attitude and musical styles/taste is certainly apparent here. Cultural, patriotic, financial, social, and technological interests all contributed to a personalization of music. I wish we’d had more time for movement here however, the amount of information shared made it a logistical difficulty.

  • Lots of neat family connections - memories of grandparents dancing and learning similar dances in childhood!  Thanks for dancing with Nellee and Bob!  As with our other sections, I wish that we could have had more time to delve into the fashions and many other elements of this time period.

    Thank you also for thinking critically in terms of white culture borrowing from black culture (nice South Park illustration, Mike!), and also the idea of history/fashion/trends repeating.

  • Bob and Nellie sure knew there dance moves and history; very interesting to listen to and watch.  I see how the dance moves fit into the saying of "History Repeats It's Self".  We see it in small ways in fashion, cooking (as Elizabeth said), technology, politics, dance, music and so many other areas, where similiar ideas and concepts are taken and "morphed" into yet another form.  I enjoyed learning the Charleston as an idividual and I think students would enjoy it too.  (Less intimidating)  The "slow drag" was reflection of the time, but not to be taught by a teacher to children.  The "cake walk" and "Animal Dances" were fun facts to learn. It would be nice to have a handout with the dance steps and a list of a few songs we could dance that dance to.  Actually, it would be nice to receive a CD with the songs already on it from each era.  If you all do write your book, maybe sell it with a CD. :) 

  • Seeing how we're busting through history in 2 days its fun to see how dramaticlly dancing has changed from the waltz attitude of "no touching" to the Charlston and other dances of the 20s where bodies are pressed together and "that really isn't that close." This dance almost begs a compare and contrast with fads and fashions - including dance and music - before and after the Roaring 20s.

  • What a treat it was to watch Nellie and Bob dance.  It seems so rare that you get to see this historical dance in person.  I kept envisioning my grandparents dancing and how fancy the dances would have been with more risk than the past dancing eras.

     

  • I replied to the WWII folder by mistake when trying to fill out the WWI reflection.  So,  I will respond to the WWII folder on this reflection site.

    Of course this is my peer group(50's, 60"s etc.)  and I find teaching this time period a bit depressing when kids attribute some of their music to groups that took the song from bands I grew up with and modernized the piece. Ah well, this is exactly what has been happening throughout history in both dance and music. Each morphs and becomes just a bit different but as it evolves one can recognize its origins in history. Sharing the original source of the music with the kids will be fun.

  • Wow great to see the dance steps from the Lindy Hop that I used in the late 50's with "The Lindy".  Enjoyed watching the couple adjust plan and execute their steps as a unit.  Dance class sounds like fun.   

  • I found it very interesting to realize the correlation between music from the 1920's and current popular dance moves.  Our guests were a wealth of knowledge and clearly are passionate about their craft.  It was fascinating to learn how simple moves changed through the decades from soft to violent using the same dance.

  • Culturally, I find this time period to be so fascinating.  The driving force of the “under” class and the fact that the upper classes pirated their innovations seems to foreshadow the struggle for equality that we’ll see in the next half century.  However, our conversation over lunch also reminded me that throughout world history, cultures were subjugated and enslaved and their cultural traditions adopted and modified by the dominating culture.  It speaks so strongly to the power of art—“If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”—and underlies the importance of maintaining roots and traditions.  We’ve passed the time period that I teach, but the themes pop up in a lot of our literature, so I could capitalize on those connections. 

    The modified Charleston was tons of fun.  I could totally see my kiddos pulling that one off.  I wonder if they still do line dancing in PE; I could team up with Coach for that. 

  • Once again I can totally see how dancing and listening to the music can enhance and perhaps even drive teaching about an historical era. It was very interesting to be made aware about the fact that black dancers often started a trend only to later be taken over by the white folk. I also wasn't aware that modern hip-hop had roots in the Charleston. Connections abound!

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