Here is an utterly amazing dance video Gene sent me. The level of control this guy has is unbelievable. I recommend watching it all the way through, his awesomeness increases over time.
This old-time dancing is called flat-footing or buck dancing. I was inspired to learn more about it after laughing at this video on Kottke.org and I love it. Watch this great clip from Talking Feet, a full-length documentary on the subject.
Here’s the whole film. I’m home now and got to I watch it with my mom this morning over coffees. It’s worth seeing for the characters who love this kind of dancing and the very strange style of interviewing a person with their family distracting you from the background. I don’t think filmmakers intend to mock the subjects of the film, but some of them are so enjoyably strange it’s hard not to smirk as you admire their smirk inducing dancing.
Today’s morning dance has a Continental flair to it. Enjoy! Via Boing Boing.
It does not matter.
All you need to know is that you do not want to be like the kid who throws the spoon thing at the beginning or like the lady in camo pants at the end. No, crank up those speakers and dance in your slippers or bop along in your high chair. (Via Reddit front page)
One summer my sister and I visited our family in Chicago all by ourselves. The trouble started in the airport. Big block letters, UM, printed on our boarding passes designated us as unaccompanied minors, which meant we were corralled in a terrible little corner of the airport with a bunch of little kids. Sara and I were 10 and 7, and were sure that there had been a mistake. We were worldly kids after all and didn’t need to be chaperoned through the airport. (I have since changed my tune after spending this past weekend with a 10 and a 7 year old. I now agree with those dusty airport people.)
The point is that we had to entertain each other for that long layover because the other kids were super boring. Pretty much each of us tried to get the other to crack up and we were pretty good at it. This mutual sibling entertainment continued after we arrived in Chicago. We memorized an old Empire Carpet commercial (Can’t find it on-line yet, searching.)
ANYWAY, long build up, ridiculous payoff. My sister and I are in the process of memorizing this dance as an homage to that time. You will be able to catch us performing this in restaurants, grocery store aisles, and at Christmas parties just as soon as we get up to speed.