Riot and Frolic

a mostly ballroom dance, but also a bunch of other stuff, blog

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about

I own and rock people’s faces off teaching ballroom dancing at Dancers Studio in St. Paul, MN. My husband and I compete professionally in American style and wrangle eight children in our spare time. I’ve been teaching and competing in ballroom dancing for over 25 years and have lots of opinions on it. I am an expert by any means, but there are quite a few dancers who are better than me and I have a solid knowledge of basic technique, so suck it.

  • Happy Birthday, Mae Cake.

    Aw, Mae.  You're my favorite.  (Don't tell your sisters.)  

    I know Mae Cake is my child because the majority of her photos can be categorized like mine: mouth wide open or eating. riotandfrolic

     

     

    She is an adorable old man, often falling asleep with her pants upbuttoned, and a bottle nearby. riotandfrolic

    She is the R2-D2 to V's C-3PO.  Emotional, protective, and sassy.riotandfrolic

    She learned how to walk at 10 months, because she had things to do.  Now, she RUNS wherever she goes.  And then runs back to tell you about the butterfly she saw.  And then runs to go find it.  And then runs back to tell you it flew away. And then more running.IMG_0106

    She makes my heart feel like it will burst almost every day with her huge, toothy grin and her hysterical laugh.image from http://s3.amazonaws.com/hires.aviary.com/k/mr6i2hifk4wxt1dp/14041702/9a6ffa4e-3d26-437a-b971-f70541545e77.png

    She is odd.  Just.  So.  Odd.   I have many videos in a series which I like to call "Dinner with George".  After her sisters have long since left the table and she's still [loudly] munching on her entree, she'll share little tidbits from her day with me.  But mostly it's just footage of her overacting the process of getting food into her mouth.riotandfrolic

    She's so excited about life.  Ponytails, going to the studio, seeing friends and family, all ellicit SQUEALS of excitement.riotandfrolic

    And so very goofy.
    riotandfrolic

    riotandfrolic

    Happy 4th, Mae Mae.  You're a total weirdo and I love you.

  • WW…LIW…D

    IMG_8806

    I realized the other day that all my Domesticality projects (the Garbage Challenge, Advent Adventures, home improvement, homeschooling, etc.) are all based on the question "What would Laura Ingalls Wilder do?"

    My latest [accidental] project was having the little ladies sort their toys by type: kitchen play toys, dress up costumes, small doys (doll/toys like My Little Pony), musical instruments, et al.  I wanted to make sure we had all the pieces of toys in sets, and that nothing was broken, and give away toys that they never used.

    I put the separated toys in boxes and put them on the high shelf in their closet with the intent of them playing with one box, putting the contents from that box back, and switching to a new box and not having all the toys everywhere all the time.

    I read about that somewhere.

    "Kid toy organization."

    "How many toys did LIW have?"

    It's been about two weeks.

    They never ask for the boxes.  

    They play with the oddest assortment of household objects, but they do not seem to miss their toys AT ALL.  

    One day, I got down a box and it was like ChristmasbirthdayDisneyworld.  Before bedtime, we packed up the box and put it back.  

    Do I sound mean?  I might.  "She won't let her kids have their toys."  But blah blah blah, something about the evils of materialism and whatnot.  

    Simplicity.

    WWLIWD.

    Boom.

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    Two years ago: LLLL, in which I lose and find my phone.

  • LLLL : Sundays

    – Things I hate on Sundays:

    • waking up
    • showering
    • makeup
    • contact lenses
    • moving
    • pants

    – watched American Hustle and then had to cleanse my Christian Bale palette with some Equilibrium.

    Unknown

    Bale-equilibrium

    Whew.

    – Suit Day at our studio was excellent. I had my boys and I dress up a la [competition] mode and do a mock competition.  We had a few spectators (thanks, you!) and a photographer and practiced floor craft and bowing and awesomeness.  

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    – these were delicious:

    What's shakin' with you?

    Bradley-cooper2

     

  • A Little Explanation of Judges’ Marks – Steps and Choreography

    Remember me?Judging Pyramid

    "Me" being this damn pyramid, of course. 

    If you need a refresher of what's been going down:

    Steps and Choreography

    Here's what should happen:

    1. you dance 5 steps or amalgamations… tops.
    2. you dance down: Bronze in Silver, Silver in Gold, etc.
    3. you keep the first 4 levels of the pyramid in mind… and body 
    4. you use steps from the dance you're dancing
    5. you dance the style you're dancing in 

    Elaboration:

    1.

    While you could have a routine that never repeats itself in the 1:10-1:30 you get to dance, you could have a routine that repeats 2-3 times.  

    Benefits of less steps?  You can pick the steps that you do really well and then work to make them even better.  

    2.

    While you could do most difficult steps from your assigned level, you could dance the easiest steps of that level, or EVEN the level below it.  

    Benefits of easier steps?  First of all,  it is easier to show a lot of technique performing less complicated steps.  Secondly, it takes tremendous balls.  So, super-props to that.  

    3.

    While fancy and more difficult steps are alluring, if you're slipping toward the left on any of these graphs, you are missing the point of dancing.

    ballroom timing graph ballroom footwork graph
    Benefits of keeping timing, posture, footwork, and characteristics of the dance in mind while dancing?  To be blunt, without those things, you are not dancing.

    4.

    While you could do a Cha Cha step in your Tango, it might be better to do a Tango step in your Tango.

    Benefits of sticking to one dance's syllabus?  Many!

    If a judge looks at you while you are doing your Cha Cha step and you haven't perfected it in its Tango form, that judge will think you are very confused and not mark you.  

    If an invigilator looks at you while you are doing your Cha Cha step, you may get called to the podium to be warned (embarrassing, and stressful if you don't know how to fix it) and eventually disqualified.

    If you are social dancing and try your Cha Cha move on a partner, your partner might think you are ridiculous and not care to dance with you in the future.  

    If you are choosing steps from other dances to be creative, there are many variations on syllabus patterns that are fun, underused, and qualify for your dance.  

    5.

    While you could enter American Cha Cha and dance many of the International Cha Cha figures, I could also bonk you over the head with my clipboard.

    Benefits to dancing the correct style?  Not getting under the judges' skin.  One of the biggest irks from judges is watching a style being misrepresented.  While Smooth is based upon Standard, they are not one and the same.  Rhythm is not Latin, no matter how thin the line may be.  While judges understand wanting to have lots of moves, dancing some fancy stuff, forgetting about technique and rocking out, and being creative, dancing the wrong style is annoying.

     

    Next and last up?  The unmentionables.  Which I will mention.  Next time.

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    One year ago: Why I Hate Pinterest, in which I'm a liar.

    Two years ago: Drop and Give Me 10, in which I roll my eyes at myself.

  • LLLL

    – Zoo [the youngest Bratt, coming in at 2.5 years old] corners my dad and starts talking his ear off the other night. Trying to distract her from her mission of Grampa Domination, I request her to sing a song from "Frozen".

    Zoo: No, I do not like the Frozen music.  It is horrible.

    [Mind you, 10 minutes before, we had been having a Broadway rendition of ALL of the soundtrack, complete with singing, dancing, AND overacting.]

    Me: Oh, really?

    Zoo: Yes, but we had Olaf in our front yard and he got knocked over.

    [We had built a snowman in the front yard and obviously named him Olaf, but he had melted.]

    My dad: Who knocked over Olaf?

    Zoo: [straight face] Jesus.

    – There are two ballroom dance magazines in the Twin Cities area.  They have color photos, lots of content, and cover many ballroom events around town.  That is amazing and GREAT.

    The sad part is the groups that oversee them are like the Jets and the the Sharks. Yet instead of fun-to-watch dance-fights, there's uncomfortable-to-read passive-aggressive barbs, mock confusion, and excessive enthusiasm in the majority of the articles.

    West-side-story

    I get that there's animosity on both sides.  I've heard A LOT about it, from both sides.  Fine.  But what happens now?

    Suggestions:

    • Stop trying to get everyone else involved
    • Have a dance-fight
    • Get over it.  

    If you go with the dance-fight option, NO KNIVES, but please film it.  And tag it with #dancefight because HASHTAGS ARE NOT DEAD.

    dancefight definition

    thank you, urbandictionary.com for making this sound just as ridiculous as it should

    And please make it conform to this definition as much as possible.

    – a couple of weeks ago, I made this black bean and quinoa enchilada bake.  I have tossed it with ground beef a few times and made kick-ass burritos.  The G (and all the ladies of the house) have confessed our love for The Burrito and how we would eat them every day.  

    Needless to say (but here I go saying it), I would highly recommend making the vegetarian-friendly recipe.  

    If for convenience alone, it would be worth it.  Mixed with beef or plain, this has fed my family of 5 for at least 5 meals.  

    Holy freezer meals, Batman!

    – after owning, operating, and working at my own business for a little over three months, my biggest question is this:

    Why is the men's bathroom SO MUCH DIRTIER than the ladies'?

    And I'm talking about THE SINK here, people.  The sink.

    RTGq98gTL

    – I like that my auto-generated tags for this post are "dance magazines", "Twin Cities", "Jesus", "Broadway", "Batman", and "ground beef".  It really explains it all.  

    – Check out the new comments section.  I think it works?

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     One year ago: Sunday Special: Free, in which I model things.

     

  • A Little Explanation of Judges’ Marks – Characteristics of the Dance

    Here we are again.Screen Shot 2014-03-02 at 7.52.04 PMLet's say you've conquered the correct timing, posture, and footwork for a dance.  

    WHAT ELSE COULD THERE POSSIBLY BE?! 

    Well, if you ever want to be more than an average dancer (definition: an adequate social dancer; more talented than a beginner, but less talented than some one who wins), there are many, many things.

    Characteristics of the Dance

    If you're in a huge heat of dancers, the first three areas of critique are MUY IMPORTANTE.  They are necessary.  But once you're getting down to quarterfinals and semifinals, I want to see some extras:

    Physical Characteristics

    • body flight in the swing dances (God, no, not like West Coast and Lindy; WALTZ, FOXTROT, AND VIENNESE… because they have swing… and sway)
    • no body flight in Tango
    • Latin motion in Rumba
    • hip swing in (wait for it) Swing
    • blah blah blah [read: I'm not your teacher {maybe?!}; get thee some learnin']

     Performance Characteristics

    • romantic looks/gestures in Rumba, Bolero
    • sass in Foxtrot
    • unadulterated joy in Viennese
    • blah blah blah [see above]

    NOTE: these characteristics have to enhance your already established correct timing, posture, and footwork.  

    Please do not work the pyramid top to bottom.

    Pretty please?

    One year ago: LLLL, in which I predict the ownership of books.  

  • LLLL

    – [Monday of last week] Am I in a time warp?  Is it an hour earlier than I thought?  Or an hour later?  

    Damn you, DLS.

    – What was I just doing?  Where's my coffee?  Oh, I drank it all?  Why does it smell like bread?  I'm making bread?

    I'm not pregnant, I just sound like I am.  I have some serious short-term memory loss going on.  Spring fever?

    – Are people just now realizing the Nazis stole stuff?  Googling my favorite curators, there are 3 full pages of results citing articles containing outrage over "discovering" the Nazis stole art and then HID IT.  I know there's that movie with that premise, but REALLY?  JUST NOW?  

    Note: the Nazis were bad.

    – Unintended consequence of not eating out for Lent: dirty dishes.  OH GOD, THE DISHES.  So many dishes.  Like, ALL THE TIME.

    – Quote of the week:

    It is deeply satisfying to win a prize in front of a lot of people.

    — E.B. White "Charlotte's Web"

    – Recipes of the week:

    • Black Bean and Quinoa Enchilada Bake – if you need an overwhelming amount of food and something vegetarian, this would be it.  It was very tasty and flavorful on its own, but I'm going to throw some ground beef in it and make 73 burritos instead.
    • Chicken Makhani (Butter Chicken) – crock pot-style, yo.  My favorite Indian dish in bulk form.  YES.  It's spicy, easy to make, and almost tastes like the imcomparable India Palace.

    How's your weeK?  Isn't it fun to use the "shift" key at the wrong time?

     

  • A Little Explanation of Judges’ Marks – Footwork

    I'm sure you're all familiar with this:

    Judging Pyramid

    If you are unfamiliar, I suggest you read up about general judging criteria, timing, and posture as it concerns ballroom dancing.

    One oftens hears that there are "frame" judges and there are "feet" judges; judges that look up, judges that look down; top or bottom judges, you might say.  

    Big picture, little picture, I say.

    Your frame and posture is evident before you walk on the floor.  Your footwork shows me how you move on the floor.

    Footwork is a symptom.  It's an indicator of leg swing, rise and fall, control of movement, proper use of your joints, flexibility, and interest in DETAILS.  As I'm looking at your feet, I'm really measuring how much you learned (and retained) from your education.

    As usual, there's a scale on which you can perform footwork:

    Screen Shot 2014-03-11 at 8.56.32 PM

    If you're starting your journey of ballroom dancing, you need to know what part of your foot to use when.  Like, verbatim.  Doing the proper footwork will help you do other techniques correctly.  Once you "get good", footwork just happens.  But until then:

    knowledge + practice = footwork

     

     

    One year ago: LLLL, in which I stand up for respectfulness.

  • LLLL

    – I have always hated the actual post title associated with the LLLL acronym.  It's so vomitously cheesy and trite.  I did like the alliteration because alliteration, onomatopoeia, and euphemisms are awesome.

    – want some CSS code written?  I can do that.  Want to know how thick 1/8" is?  I can't do that.  

    If you've looked at the ye olde blog on yer mobile, you might have noticed how the post title was all up in the categories' grill.  Typepad's customer service got right back to me when I asked about it, instructing me to change my custom CSS to [blah blah blah].  Sadly, I jumped right into my coding pants and wrote that up.

    Later, while making crackers, the recipe instructed me to roll the dough out to 1/8".  I guessed and boy, did I have some puffy, not crunchy crackers.  

    – Zoo made her first real joke.  We often play a game around mealtimes that goes like this:

    Me: I'm Zoo.

    Zoo: I'm Mama.

    Me: I'm Zoo.

    Zoo: No, I'm Zoo.

    [ad nauseum]

    The other girls sometimes get in on it, as does The G.  G often adds impressions.  Zoo was not impressed with his impressions, got mad at him, stopped playing the game, and maybe cried a little.  Yet, the next morning, she's sitting in bed with me, looks over at G, and says, "Zella has a mustache."

    – People have pinned my shit!  And said nice things about it!  WHAT?! Screen Shot 2014-03-05 at 8.21.00 PM

    – Do I really need to take down all the photos that aren't mine?  I regularly imagine nightmare scenarios where people aren't nice about it.  I've heard the horror stories and sadly, I know too well how litigation works.  Copyright infringement.  Lawyers – go.

    – Portishead is bad ass.  If you need more proof, the ad that plays before the might would be it.

     

    – Among other things for Lent, I started doing a project called "40 bags in 40 days", where you give a bag of stuff away each day.  It is cathartic and calming to get rid of all the extra.

    – That project reminded me of how I want to burn my old journals.  The G and some other people expressed disbelief about this, thinking they'd be a memento or piece of posterity to hand down.  Let me tell you: I don't want anyone reading them.  They're not a lovely reminiscing of my childhood; they are melodramatic rantings.  

    BURN THEM.

    If anyone else is interested in a cleansing ceremony, I'll be having one in Spring.  (And by "ceremony", I mean that there will be wine and fire involved.)

    – Going through my crafty corner today, I noticed that I really got my money out of my Crochet Today subscription.  I am giving away most of my issues because I made everything already.

    VALUE.

    crochet projects

    – Recipes I tried this week:

    – Quote of the week:

    Today, perhaps particularly in the West, there is a widespread tendency to regard suffering as an undesirable, and potentially curable, manifestation of life.  [It is] neither undesirable nor avoidable. 

    (excerpt from Beethoven: His Life and Music by Jeremy Siepmann)

    *love*

    How are things?  Have you seen the harbingers of spring?  Are you excited?  Have you whipped out your shorts?

     

  • A Little Explanation of Judges’ Marks – Posture

    Last time, on Riot and Frolic… Judging Pyramid

     

    I gave you an overview of some basic criteria of ballroom dancing judging and how good timing might be the most important factor to show.  I'm still a little surprised that I didn't use posture as the base of the pyramid, but let's face it: if you dance off the music, I'm not marking you.

    Now there's posture.  Posture is SO CRAZY IMPORTANT.  Posture, or carriage, informs basically everything you do.  Your frame, your leg action, your head position: all based on posture.  It's also the most complex.  

    Unfortunately, I can't tell you how to stand up from here.  

    With problems from the common lordosis, to kyphosis and scoliosis (but Joanna Leunis has that, so… what's your excuse?), and muscle underuse or even atrophy, the spine and its surrounding muscles can be quite the puzzle to piece together into a beautiful picture.

    Basically everyone needs to strengthen their core and loosen up their spine to be able to move correctly.  I'm currently obsessed with the Runner's World workout The New Core Curriculum.  It seemed a little weird to find the perfect ballroom dance workout in my fav running mag, but GO DO IT.   Do Pilates, yoga, Gyrokinesis, Egoscue, stand against a wall, do some lat pull-downs, crunch a set of sit-ups, DO IT.  DO IT EVERYDAY.

    Once you've gained some flexibility and muscles, there's always the classic "stand up straight" but what does that mean when you're attached to that nerd across from you?  A mere STFU [Stand The F Up] doesn't cover counterbalancing, connection, forward poise, and an actual vertical spine.  This is where that whole "learning" thing comes in.  Get thee some personalized education, lovelies.

    Happy Friday!

    Explanation of Judges' Marks : Part One – Overview and Timing

    Explanation of Judges' Marks : Part Two – Posture (seen here)

    One year ago: Timing: It's What's For Dinner, in which I repeat myself.

    Two years ago: Don't Dance What You See – Episode V – Body Contact, in which I sense a theme.