to move up and down
Artists of the circus show ‘Cirque du Soleil’ perform during their show “Varekai” on March 20, 2013 in Bogota, Colombia. EITAN ABRAMOVICH/AFP/Getty Images
Catherine Zeta-Jones performs onstage during the Oscars. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Channing Tatum and Charlize Theron onstage during the Oscars Sunday. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
More: http://natpo.st/XzvSrs
Cramping their style: Canada’s two-time world ice dance champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir lost to American rivals Meryl Davis and Charlie White for the second consecutive competition at the Four Continents championships on Sunday.
Virtue and Moir had a strong start to their sizzling “Carmen” program, but had to stop about three minutes in when Virtue felt a cramp in her leg. The Canadians were able to resume a couple of minutes later.
“I just had some cramp in my legs to deal with. I’m glad we collected ourselves and kept pushing through the program,” Virtue said. (Photo by Atsushi Tomura/Getty Images)
Year in Ideas: What a Korean rapper taught us about pop culture today
The video for Gangnam Style, the unlikely hit from South Korean rapper/fancy dresser Psy, has been viewed on YouTube more than one billion times since June. Of these, half a billion involved people watching it so they could memorize the moves for their own Gangnam Style parody and a quarter billion that involved curious watchers who, at the end of four minutes and 13 seconds, were left baffled as to how that song became the most-watched internet video of all time. (These are estimates only.)
But aside from the fact that people still seem to get a kick out of bow ties, the Gangnam phenomenon says something about how we experience culture in an internet world. Just don’t expect Psy to be a big deal in 2013, too.
Psy is not particularly handsome, nor does he approach adorable. Fans of Justin Bieber, whom Psy surpassed to break the YouTube record, generally consider their man to be one or the other. Gangnam Style has an undeniable earworm quality to it, but it’s hardly the first catchy song to be released in the YouTube era. And, the lyrics? Who knows? There’s the part where he says “Gangnam Style” and the part when he says “sexy lady”, then all the other stuff in Korean. He could be reciting the dictionary for all most of us know.
Olympic and world champions Tessa Virtue of London, Ont., and Scott Moir of Ilderton, Ont., were the ice dance victors at the Rostelecom Cup on Saturday.
Virtue and Moir also dominated with a season-best 173.99 points. It is the third time in four seasons that the Canadians have won the maximum two Grand Prix in a season.
“It was great, a really solid performance for us,” said Virtue. “From beginning until the end there was a little bit more intensity in every movement. Our goal this year was not to repeat any element we’ve done in the past; every lift, footwork and spin is new. That’s risky in ice dancing and at this point in the year we have to stay focused on the big goal and continue building to the worlds.”
Oh Canada! Rosannagh MacLennan won the country’s first gold medal of the London 2012 Olympics, after finishing first in the trampoline.
Don’t get bent out of shape about the Olympics: Join our new National Post Olympics Facebook page where you can find more photos like this, the latest news from the Games, and commentary from our best writers in London.
If you like what you see on our Tumblr - why not try us on Facebook? Really. We’re fun: http://on.fb.me/P9XfY5
Taking the lead: So you think you can challenge gender roles in dance?
A Toronto woman says she was kicked out of a modern jive class after trying to lead her male partner, in the latest sign of a push against the traditional gender roles that still dominate the ballroom dancefloor.
Andrea Seto, 25, tried to switch to a lead role during a recent class at Jive Nation Toronto, but said her instructor objected. After repeatedly pushing for an explanation, Ms. Seto says she was asked to leave. She had taken classes with the dance school since January.
“It just seemed like it was kind of sexist…. As a patron paying for a service, it seems I should be the one deciding what I’m learning,” Ms. Seto said. (Photo: Darren Calabrese/National Post)
Our favourite cinematic dance steps, inspired by Damsels in Distress
In Whit Stillman’s new film Damsels in Distress, Violet (Greta Gerwig) has her heart set on starting a dance craze called The Sambola. Her creation involves a clockwise spin for a count of 8, a tango for 6, face-to-face for 2 and then cha-cha for 8. “If you can count to 8 you can do the Sambola!” says the on-screen title as the dance begins. In that spirit, Nathalie Atkinson surveys her favourite cinematic hot steps.
Dancing with the crossing guards
Kathleen Byers started working as a school crossing guard eight years ago. She brought a chair with her to her post on Dufferin Street, just south of Dundas, in the beginning, but she found that sitting and standing — and sitting and standing all over again— was hard on the knees.
So she ditched the chair and things got better. Though they weren’t perfect. Prolonged standing induced an intense drowsiness and, for a crossing guard, falling asleep on the job is a firing offence.
“Have you ever stood in line before?” Ms. Byers asks. “Standing is so boring.”
And dancing is not. (Photo: Tyler Anderson/National Post)
No LeBron? No problem for Heat
Miami Heat’s LeBron James (R) does a dance with guard Mario Chalmers (L) during a time-out in overtime after they tied their NBA basketball game against the Atlanta Hawks in Atlanta, Georgia. The Heat defeated the Hawks after three overtimes. REUTERS/Tami Chappell
Gayza Pereira and Giovanna Basso of the Association of Ballet and Arts for the Blind prepare for a performance of Don Quixote in São Paulo last month. The association was founded by Brazilian ballerina and physiotherapist Fernanda Bianchini in 1995, when she decided to teach ballet to the blind for free. Since then her classes have been opened to children with other disabilities. Photo by Nacho Doce / Reuters
Photos of the day
Prince Charles takes part in a chapauringe dance in Stone Town Old Fort, Nov. 8, 2011 in Zanzibar, Tanzania. The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall are on a four day tour of Tanzania. (Chris Jackson/Getty Images)
The Man in the Mirror: Cirque du Soleil’s Michael Jackson show a labour of love
Michael Jackson would have loved this, says Greg Phillinganes, the late singer’s long-time music director.
Phillinganes is sitting on the stage at Montreal’s Bell Centre where Cirque du Soleil’s Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour debuted to 15,000 spectators this past weekend, including Jackson’s mother, his three children and three of his brothers. Around Phillinganes, the crew is setting up for another show. On the floor, a contortionist practices handstands on a gigantic book.
“He loved Cirque,” Phillinganes says about Jackson, who died in Los Angeles in June 2009. “He has seen all of their shows, at least twice, brought the kids, met the Cirque brass, visited headquarters — and when he did, they couldn’t pull him out of the costume wing.” (Photo: Cirque du Soleil)
Related:
Inside Cirque du Soleil’s Montreal headquarters
