BB pal Lissa Soep of YR Media (formerly Youth Radio) writes:
Our Interactive team delved into Spotify's algorithm to discover how songs on the platform are scored for their "danceability." We were intrigued by this use of Artificial Intelligence to quantify something as personal and cultural as what makes us want to move our bodies. So we built a tool that invites users to rate a curated playlist for each song’s “danceability” and compare that rating against the one Spotify produced algorithmically. Our writer Deborah Raji uses the project to raise fascinating questions about what it means for AI to be making its way into so many corners of our lives.
"Can You Teach AI to Dance?" (YR Media)
(Image: detail of illustration by Symone Woodruff-Hardy) Read the rest
On the set of The Good Place, Ted Danson (or is that "Ted Dancing"?) got a lesson from his co-stars on how to floss. Not "floss" as in dental care, but as in the dance craze that's sweeping the nation™.
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Al Jourgensen may prefer to forget that he once cultivated an English accent and created this underground club hit, but on this day, we happily remember Ministry's "(Everyday Is) Halloween" from 1984. Above, a fan video cut up from horror films.
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In 1922, the devil appeared at several teen dances in Hutchinson, Minnessota. Apparently he'd manifest "in the middle of the dance floor with fire streaming from eyes, mouth and tail" and attempt to break up the sinful festivities. A reward of $5,000 was offered to anyone who would shoot the devil next time he turned up. At the next party, a boy, 14, took his best shot and hit Lucifer right in the abdomen. Turned out that the devil was a local Methodist minister.
(Weird Universe) Read the rest
The principal of Xinshahui kindergarten in Shenzhen, China was fired after bringing pole dancers to perform for the students during back-to-school celebrations. From CNN:
"The district education bureau believes performing pole dancing for kindergarten children is not appropriate," the statement (from the local education board) said, adding the school had been asked to apologize to students and parents.
Principal Lai (Rong) told state tabloid Global Times that while "a few parents" had requested a refund (for tuition), others wanted to "learn a new type of dance."
She said she arranged the dance because of the dancer's "excellent skills."
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Dance battles have come a long way from a bunch of kids breaking on a piece of cardboard. Watch as The Lab shows how it's done these days, replete with gymnastics, tight choreography, and the slick production values of a major network show. Read the rest
For Dancing in Movies, Casper Langbak took dancing scenes from over 300 movies and set them to some great retro hits.
YouTube gave it an instablock because of the music used, but he does have a channel over there with cool stuff like this tribute to cinematic evil:
• Dancing in Movies (Vimeo / CLS Videos) Read the rest
Someone made this 7-minute video that consists of snippets of dances scenes from almost 300 movies. The full list is here. Almost every one is joyful. The only exceptions I noticed were Clockwork Orange and Black Swan.
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YouTuber Ryan Higa admits that he can't dance. When one of his viewers asked if he could dance without moving, he put together this amazing stop-motion video with his friends.
This is how it was made:
(Neatorama) Read the rest
Česko Slovensko Má Talent is the Czech-Slovak version of the popular talent show franchise, and they had a family of mirror-clad dancers compete. Note: their dancing is really more like gingerly swaying about, for understandable reasons. Read the rest
YouTuber nigahiga took a fan request and made this impressive clip of dancing without moving over the course of a week. Read the rest
A team from Italy recently broke the Guinness World Record for the "most robots dancing simultaneously." At an event in Rome, 1,372 Alpha 1S robots danced and dabbed in unison earning Team TIM S.p.A. the title.
Video: Watch more than 1,300 robots dance simultaneously to break a world record Read the rest
Note the early tastes of breakdancing, here and there. The exaggerated fraternity of nations is nice, too!
The event took place at the Empire Ballroom in London; the winner was Julie Brown [citation needed]. This appears to be the UK TV broadcast of the same highlights, with the original audio:
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The Beryozka dance is a dance developed in the Soviet Union in the 20th century. It's now reached the status of beloved tradition because of the way the women's costumes and small dance steps make them appear to glide across the stage. Read the rest
Wonkette writer Robyn Pennacchia went on a brilliant Twitter rant about the strange history of square dancing, which is not an old American tradition, but rather a 20th century hoax that Henry Ford and Dr Pappy Shaw created to get white people to stop dancing to music made by black people.
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Mahshid Mazooji missed her connecting flight and was stuck at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport overnight. Instead of being angry about it, she made of a fun, impromptu video of herself dancing in the airport to Lionel Richie's 1983 hit song, "All Night Long."
She even pulled in some new friends, airport workers and other late-night passengers, to join her.
She writes, "I made some really great friends along the way! Thank you for dancing your troubles away with me!!! :)"
There was even some moonwalking.
(reddit) Read the rest
