“Searching for some company
Feel the rhythm dance with me
Them beat boy blues seem out of place
Now they want to party pace party pace
Dance dance on the floor
Dance dance move some more
Dance dance feel the heat
Hit that perfect beat boy, hit that perfect beat beat boy…”

Lyrics from: Hit That Perfect Beat, you can listen it here.

These lyrics are from a big hit of one of my favorite bands from the pop phase of the 80s, Bronski Beat. These words have been in my mind for days…

I thought: „How many songs and song titles are there with a word Dance in it?“. Ok, there is famous Dance Me to the End of Love by Leonard Cohen, that I want to mention first. You can listen it here.

“Dance Me to the End of Love” is a 1984 song by Leonard Cohen and first recorded by him for his 1984 album “Various Positions”.

Although structured as a love song, “Dance Me to the End Of Love” was in fact inspired by the Holocaust (you can read more from the source: Wikipedia)

The next one on my mind was Dance Little Sister. The one by Terence Trend D’Arby. There is also one, same title, by Rolling Stones.

Dancing in the Moonlight was the next one on my mind.

At that point I said to myself: Lets search internet! The first link was for 120 songs with a word Dance in the title! Here it is, more than 120 titles with a word Dance in it! Of course, so many are there: Dancing Queen (on our blog), Private Dancer (about Tina on our blog (in Serbian)), Let’s Dance, I want to dance with someone (who loves me), Save the last dance for me, …

And here comes lyrics that have word Dance/Dancing in it, not just in the title. I will leave you here to go through the whole list.

Interesting fact for the end, there is also a A Dance Symphony, Symphony No. 8, classical music piece, by Don Gillis. But also, a beautiful Waltz of The Flowers by Tchaikovsky (favorite classical piece of my dog, Kata), that has a word describing dance in the title (like other waltzes, etc).

Well, dance is definitely an inspiration! Our texts are mostly about how dance is good, useful and healthy. With this short text we wanted to show that with writing and singing about dance, we can describe different feelings, emotions, phenomena, … whole life actually!

Now, leave the lyrics and let’s dance!

Lets do it with a song from our region: Mi plesemo (We are dancing) by Prljavo Kazaliste.

SOURCES:

dance on the floor bronski beat lyrics – Search (bing.com)

Bronski Beat- Hit That Perfect Beat (Official Music Video) – YouTube

Bronski Beat – Wikipedia

dance me to the end of love lyrics – Search (bing.com)

Leonard Cohen – Dance Me to the End of Love (Official Video) – YouTube

Leonard Cohen – Wikipedia

Dance Me to the End of Love – Wikipedia

The Holocaust – Wikipedia

Sananda Maitreya – Dance Little Sister (Official Video) – YouTube

Terence Trent D’Arby – Wikipedia

Dancing in the Moonlight (Original Recording) – King Harvest – YouTube

120+ Songs With Dance in the Title – Spinditty

Abba – Dancing Queen (Official Music Video Remastered) – YouTube

Dancing princess – Ples & Grad – Sladjana Milosevic (plesigrad.rs)

Tina Turner – Private Dancer (Official Music Video) – YouTube

Tina – Ples i Grad

David Bowie – Let’s Dance (Official Video) – YouTube

Save the last dance for me – The Drifters – YouTube

Lyrics containing the term: Dancing

Don Gillis (1912-78) : Symphony No. 8 ‘A Dance Symphony’ (1950) – YouTube

Don Gillis (composer) – Wikipedia

George Balanchine´s The Nutcracker – Waltz of the Flowers – YouTube

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Wikipedia

Prljavo Kazalište – Mi plešemo – YouTube

Prljavo kazalište – Wikipedija (wikipedia.org)

Photo: Unsplash.com

Članak Dance in Song Lyrics se pojavljuje prvo na Ples & Grad.

And those who were seen dancing were considered crazy by those who could not hear the music” Friedrich Nietzsche

I recently found again this wisdom on the internet.

Like everything on the Internet, you should first check if Nietzsche really said this. No, there is no evidence for that; it even turned out that this saying has been attributed to the great philosopher only since 2003. Who could in this overload of information, know what is true? They also say that the famous actress Megan Fox tattooed this on her body, again who knows.

In any case, music was very important to Nietzsche and his famous quote (really his) is this one: “Without music, life would be a mistake.”

What is interesting to me here is how we understand this statement, no matter who is an author of it.

How can I explain to someone who doesn’t hear music what it’s about? How beautiful and important it is to dance? And what they are missing if they dont hear music and dance?

What do we do to enable those who do not hear to hear?

Are we aware of what we look like playing until someone else hears?

How come someone hears music and someone doesn’t (if it’s not that a person doesn’t really hear)?

Why do we dance when we hear music? How do we dance?

Does music ever stop playing?

Do we fully enjoy the music we hear?

And many more questions are there…You can see for yourself that questions have more meaning and are metaphorical. Some how they make you think about life.

Interestingly, recently in the Netflix series “Atypical” I saw for the first time something called Silent Disco. It’s about an autistic boy not being able to attend a dance at school, because it’s too much noise for him and he simply can not stand it. His girlfriend decides to do something to enable him to be at the dance after all. She organizes the so-called “Silent Disco”. This means that everyone has headphones and that they are dancing while music is not heard loudly and does not bother the autistic boy. Great idea, isn’t it?

For me, even after this article, the question remains how to help those who do not hear or do not want to hear music to still hear and play.

A big task, for small steps. Everyone has to do as much as s/he can and whenever s/he can. This is also our mission at this blog and thanks again for following us.

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche

https://www.netflix.com/rs/title/80117540

Photo: https://pexels.com by Elviss-Railijs-Bitāns

https://unsplash.com

Članak Does the music ever stop playing? se pojavljuje prvo na Ples & Grad.

Today, we are presenting you Draga Gligorijevic and her mother Natasa, from Vucje, South Serbia.

Our mission is to promote dancing, also through the support to dancers from small towns and cities just as it is in this case.

P&G: PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF BRIEFLY FOR OUR READERS (YOURSELF AND YOUR CHILD, BASIC INFORMATION AND ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD LIKE TO TELL US AND YOU ARE HAPPY TO SHARE)

Natasa: My name is Natasa Gligorijevic. I hold BSc in Agriculture. I live in Vucje, small settlement in the South of Serbia, That is the environment where deviations from conventional norms of behavior are condemned because they are not understood. I love people, I love honesty. Above all, I love music and dancing. There was music in my house all day.

I am now 46 years old and have many beautiful and ugly situations behind me. Through it all, music helped me. I laugh with music, I cry and mourn with the music. It helps me to experience sadness, anger, rage, disappointments, happiness and joy in a way that these emotions do not remain stuck in the body and brain. Throughout my life, I have learned that when emotions are stuck in any part of the body, they certainly lead to illness. I experienced that myself, when I looked death in the eye giving birth to my first child.

I am the mother of two girls, my older daughter is now 13 years old, she draws well, she writes poems and stories. She has been awarded several times in various competitions for elementary school pupils, and she also has a gift for singing. The younger is a born ballerina, like me. She goes to the fourth grade of elementary school and it bothers her a lot, that her friends tell her that it is stupid and pointless to train ballet, but we are working to change that. She likes to draw and watch cartoons, especially dance movies. Se helps me in the garden and around the house.

I live in the countryside, I nurture my semi-organic garden. My husband is a great support to the children and me.

P&G: YOU ALSO DANCED, PLEASE DESCRIBE US SHORTLY HOW?

Natasa:I was delighted with the group Lokice, which performed with famous Yugoslav pop star signer Zdravko Colic and the dance group of Petar Slaj. That enthusiasm still accompanies and inspires me today; I imagine myself playing in one such group. My desire to dance was not immediately accepted. I was very shy and introvert child. In the sixth grade, I get the opportunity to form a group and invite all the girls from 5th to 8th grade to come to the library to audition. The girls were selected, the group was formed and we practiced three times a week. In 1987, at the festival of modern youth ballet of Serbia in Bela Palanka, our group “Mladost” won the third place. Perfect experience, happiness, joy and energy to keep dancing. It was my youthful dream come true. I learned to hold my body properly, I was in good shape and most importantly for me, I gained faith in myself.

P&G: SINCE WHEN YOUR CHILD DANCE AND WHY? WHO IS HER INSPIRATION IN DANCING?

Natasa: My younger daughter Draga has been dancing since she was 6, with breaks during the winter, because we are 15 kilometers away from the city. It is difficult during winter time, there are no buses, or they are late. My husband then worked in the factory in three shifts and could not provide her lift when she needed it. But we have been overcoming all the challenges!

I believe Draga started to love dancing because of me, as sometimes I just dance at home for no particular reason, I hear the song, I stop what I’m doing, I dance a bit and then move on.

I first noticed that he felt the rhythm at the age of two. Standing in front of the TV, there is a song by a cartoonist and she started making movements. That was the trigger for me to pay attention to that talent. When she plays, she has a different look in her eyes, a different body language. She likes the fact that there are children around her, who love to dance. At the dance, the group accepted her, she made friends, whom she doesnot have ins school, because everyone thinks she is weird because she doesn’t talk about games, famous TickToker influencers or YouTube stars. She is happy, proud and smiling at the dance. At first, she liked shiny costumes, skirts and hairstyles. Later, she finds inspiration in the fact that she is getting better, the coaches praise her all the time. She also exercises at home, between trainings, she has a sense of belonging and that fulfills her. When she plays, it is her world of beauty, love, happiness. I think that’s her inspiration. First, she played jazz ballet for two years, and then she switched to show dance, and she likes that very much.

P&G: HOW DO YOU THING DANCE WAS USEFUL FOR YOUR CHILD AND CHILDREN IN GENERAL? WHAT DOES YOUR CHILD ENJOY THE MOST IN DANCE?

Natasa: Dancing helped Draga a lot in a psychological sense. She raised her self-confidence. She stopped crying every hour, either at home or at school. An example at school, a teacher points out a mistake to her, she cries, her friends won’t hang out with her, she cries.

The dance erased it all. She learned to have her own position, to freely express her opinion or suggestion. She realized that everyone is different and that she should respect that. She created a sense of responsibility for herself and others around her. She is mentally stronger and thus better in school. The healthier one is less likely to catch a cold, because dancing also influenced the strengthening of immunity. She is happy, and the smile I see whenever we go to training is indescribably the most beautiful sight for parents. She is no longer ashamed to proudly say that her group won first place in a competition. She likes the fact that she can express her feelings through movement, because dancing is a bit like acting.

P&G: WHY WOULD YOU RECOMMEND PARENTS TO TAKE THEIR CHILDREN TO DANCING SCHOOL?

Natasa: From my experience and my story, dance is the teacher of life. Dancing is a way of life. Children acquire important life skills at the dance. Self-confidence. The importance of teamwork in the direction of success. The importance of independent work, responsibility, towards oneself and the team. Respect for diversity. Boys learn the importance of gender equality. They strengthen the mental structure, develop cerebral convolutions. The body secretes the hormone of happiness in larger quantities, because when they dance, there is only music, movement, happiness, peace and joy. There is no place for anger, stress, anger, anxiety, violence in dance. They are physically healthy. Their bodies develop properly. The most important thing for me is that dancing has a beneficial effect on psychophysical health. Every parent’s health is the most important thing for every parent.

Photo: Private gallery

Članak The dancing heart of a girl from the south of Serbia se pojavljuje prvo na Ples & Grad.

The book contains an article by Viktor E Frankl published for the first time in English and the contribution of 33 authors.

Proceeds of this book are donated to the UN charity for aiding refugees and displaced persons.

The book can be ordered from Amazon.

This book is now listed on the website of the Viktor Frankl Institute, Vienna, Austria.

Text presented here is from my personal blog, and is was edited for the book by dr Maria Marshall and dr Edward Marshall (Ottawa Institute for Logotherapy, Kanada).

—————————————————————————————————————————

Here in Serbia during April and May 2020 due to pandemic we had a total weekend lock down for 4 weekends. Almost 80 hours without possibility to go out of home. Besides the pandemic political situation is also very unstable.

I am passionate about walking. I walk as soon as I got up for 15 minutes early in the morning. And later during the day we walk with Kata and Dragutin, our dogs of tornjak breed, sometimes just for 15 minutes and sometimes for more than hour.

Being locked in unsafe and uncertain times, was a perfect time for me to understand fully the meaning of Dr Frankl’s wisdom. Also, I had enough time for my music.

I adore music, most of all my violin. Starting to play it at the age of 45 I consider on of the greatest achievement in my life.

So, my violin is always with me. And it is very much connected to logotherapy, this is how I figured out during the isolation.

I thought: Don’t forget what you have learnt in logotherapy and violin is supporting it. This is how:

G string – Gratitude and Meaningful Goals

D string – Defiant Power of Human Spirit

A string – Attitudinal Value and Change

E string – Exitance (“Here and Now”)

I thought why not taking all the notes/letters!

And look, there is a message with meaning in the way notes are named!

C – Conscience – The intuitive capacity of the human person to discover the meaning of a Situation

D – Defiant power of the human spirit – Ability of the human person to discovery meaning in the face of tragedy

E – Existential – “here and now” – Frankl uses the term in reference to (1) existence itself, that is, the way of being that is uniquely human; (2) the meaning of existence; (3) the striving to find a concrete meaning in personal existence

F – Freedom of the Will – Ability of the human person to choose “to take a stand on whatever conditions might confront them” Freedom of the will is opposed to determinism, but does not imply freedom from conditions in life. Freedom of the will is one of three axioms upon which logotherapy and existential analysis is based. See also meaning in life and the will to meaning

G – Gratitude and Meaningful Goals – Simple be grateful and define meaningful goals

A – Attitudinal value – One of the categorical values. The value by which one finds meaning through the stand one takes toward a situation, especially an unchangeable fate; that is, the choice of an attitude that allows the human person to rise above an unchangeable predicament and to grow beyond oneself (Frankl, 1969, pp. 69-70). See also creative value, experiential value

B – Be – Just Be U-nique, as You are

And I can summarize it like this.

FACE whatever happens with a stand, take your life in your hands!

And BE U-nique, responsible human BEing!

I would like to add that I thank to dr Frankl every single day for the wisdom he shared as it helped me to understand and live life.

Source: Revised: Lewis, M. H, LOGOTHERAPY AND EXISTENTIAL ANALYSIS: A GLOSSARY OF ENGLISH TERMS, Revised: August 2014

Photo of me with my violin and music sheets: © Bojan Đurić, Sept 2020

Instrument photos from: https://www.gtdb.org/gdae/videos/-JY8UxCjZoY

Članak Logotherapy and Music during the Pandemic in Serbia se pojavljuje prvo na Ples & Grad.

And then the words of the song “We dance” of the famous Croatian Group “Prljavo Kazaliste”, which we all here love and know, imposed themselves as the title.

Let’s see who else loves dance and music. I’m not going to write about actors, because dance and music are part of their job.

I will start with the fact that there is a traditional belief that mathematicians are good musicians and that mathematics and music are connected. As Timothy Gowers says in his book “Mathematics, A Very Short Introduction”: “The consequence is that no one is surprised to learn that a mathematician is a good pianist, that his hobby is composing or that he likes to listen to Bach”. Yet in that book Gowers makes it clear that there is no direct connection between mathematics and music, at least not proven.

But then, for example, Einstein adored the violin. It is known fact that he said that if he were not a physicist, he would be a musician. I know from experience how important the violin is for imagination and thinking out of the box (although it is a “frustrating instrument in terms of mastering”, as Young Sheldon would say). Einstein said that imagination is more important than knowledge; he loved his violin, named Lina and he claimed violin gave him the most joy in his life. He frequently played classical music as a brainstorming technique.

Another, world-famous scientist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, Richard Feynman also played – drums. Douglas Hofstadter, author of “I am a strange Loop” also has a huge interest in music, which helps them understand how we exist, who we are, and where we come from. Lazar Džamić, our and world-renowned marketing expert, author of several fantastic books, also plays drums.

Now, lets see who loves to dance and how they dance. In my search for famous people who love to dance, I came across this article. Here you can also see what it looks like when some of the famous people dancing like nobody’s watching. In these photos, everyone is in a good mood, smiling, except Putin 😉

And on the list are Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, Pablo Picasso, Che Guevara, Jackie Kennedy…

The Queen is passionate for her horses, horse racing, and she loves corgis, but the official royal website has revealed one little known hobby about Her Majesty – she loves Scottish country dancing.

I also found this funny story about the party at Windsor Castle: “She (The Queen) goes on the dance floor at which point people were going, “Ooh look, she’s going to have a dance.”

She was on the floor and everybody said, “My goodness me, there is the Dancing Queen.”

According to the presenter, the queen appreciated the irony of the situation — and even makes a point of dancing when she hears the song.

That is a true story and she said audibly, “I always try to dance when this song comes on because I am the queen and I like to dance”. 😊

Some of the most beautiful sayings about dance were given by Nietzsche, Einstein, Plato, Confucius, Jane Austen, Yates, Shakespeare, Krishnamurti, Rumi… We have given some of them in our blog. These beautiful quotes are a real proof of the importance and healing power of dance.

Personally, I know a lot of IT experts, university professors, translators, doctors, therapists from all over the world who are great dancers. Some of them have been my mentors and tutors over the years; learning with them was fully of joy; we “danced” together beautifully while learning new things.

We will write about them in some of our future blogs.

Till then, dance all day and night like nobody’s watching 😉

Sources:

http://uspesnazena.com/mudre-misli/biseri-seron-stoun-najinteligentnije-osobe-u-holivudu/?fbclid=IwAR1GPkSkbEKMN-rOuDV2fCO35313YMPd-czD7AtdFpKzsR8T1fcuTmayriA

https://www.cmuse.org/interesting-musical-facts-about-albert-einstein/

https://www.messynessychic.com/2018/05/16/famous-people-dancing-like-nobodys-watching/

https://www.hellomagazine.com/royalty/2018083061724/the-queen-country-dance-balmoral/

https://sedulia.blogs.com/sedulias_quotations/2008/07/queen-elizabeth.html

Članak We dance se pojavljuje prvo na Ples & Grad.

I asked myself and I’m asking you now: “Try to imagine life without music?” I mean, just try to imagine?

And then, imagine a life where we can’t / we don’t know that we can dance when we hear music?

Dance is defined the movement of the body in a rhythmic way, usually to music (it can be done without music).

We dance individually, in pairs or as a group.

Humans dance from ancient times; even the drawings in the caves show people dancing. In the movies presenting lives of people in different times in history, there has always been dancing.

In its beginnings, dancing was a motor reaction to certain emotions, to joy, fear, sadness, love, or hate.

Those first motor reactions to excitements were lively, irrational, but very pronounced movements, which took on a certain rhythmic pattern with repeated succession and turned into dance.

Dance is generally performed with the accompaniment of music. Some dance (such as tap dance) may provide its own audible accompaniment in place of (or in addition to) music. Many early forms of music and dance were created for each other and are frequently performed together. Notable examples of traditional dance/music couplings include the jig, waltz, tango, disco, and salsa. Some musical genres have a parallel dance form such as baroque music and baroque dance; other varieties of dance and music may share nomenclature but developed separately, such as classical music and classical ballet.

Rhythm and dance are deeply linked in history and practice. The American dancer Ted Shawn wrote: “The conception of rhythm which underlies all studies of the dance is something about which we could talk forever, and still not finish.”

Dancing is important for both physical and mental health. In addition to burning calories, it has been scientifically proven to reduce the level of bad cholesterol, and increase the level of good cholesterol, makes bones stronger. Dancing simply makes you happy because the level of happiness hormones increases.

Dance is an activity and an experience that can give meaning to our lives. We will write more about that on this blog.

For now, just a message for the end, from the song whose title we mentioned at the beginning:

“If you imagine life in the rhythm of the music for dancing,

there will be a change in your head and you will believe that there is a hope,

if you imagine life in the rhythm of music for dancing”.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance

Članak Imagine a life without music and dance se pojavljuje prvo na Ples & Grad.

Here is the story of one composition, which is much more than that.

Schindler’s List: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the film score of the 1993 film of the same name, composed and conducted by John Williams. The original score and songs were composed by Williams, and features violinist Itzhak Perlman. Williams wrote music for Star Wars, Indiana Jones, E.T., Superman, Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

John Williams, who frequently collaborates with Spielberg, composed the score for Schindler’s List. The composer was amazed by the film and felt it would be too challenging. He said to Spielberg, “You need a better composer than I am for this film.” Spielberg responded, “I know. But they’re all dead!”. Itzhak Perlman performs the theme on the violin. (Source: Wikipedia).

This is how the famous composition was created, which in my opinion is best performed by the famous violinist, Itzhak Perlman. Perlman was delighted with the music that Williams made, as well as the invitation to play it. He thought that he would give his small contribution because he knows the historical background very well and, as he says, he was “indirectly a victim of that history”.

Perlman has played with incredible emotion!

Williams’ composition and Perlman’s interpretation convey our sadness and describe the suffering, primarily of Jews, but also Serbs and Roma in the camps during the Second World War.

You can listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPRkZxlBAqI

There are no right words to describe how beautiful this is.

I am sure that you felt it.

Music that is telling us that we must not forget what has happened and that each of us, as responsible human being has to give a contribution for this not to happen again.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schindler%27s_List#Music

Članak How will music save the world se pojavljuje prvo na Ples & Grad.

She was a hopeless case at school. It was in the 1930’s and the school wrote to parents: “We think Gillian has a learning disability”. She couldn’t concentrate, she was constantly fidgeting. This is called ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) today. But that was in the 1930’s and ADHD was not yet “defined” at the time; it was not an “available” diagnosis. People were not aware that they were allowed to have such a disease.

But Gillian’s mother took her to a specialist. The girl sat for 20 minutes while the doctor talked to her mother about all the problems she had at school. She disturbed others, was late with homework, and so on. Eventually the doctor sat down next to her and said, “Gillian, I’ve heard everything your mother told me and now I have to talk to her alone, wait here, we’ll be back soon”. They went out and left her in the room, alone. As they were leaving, the doctor turned on the radio on his desk. When they came out, he told her mother, “Just wait and see”. The moment they left the room, Gillian got up and started playing to the beat of the music. They watched her for a few minutes, and then the doctor turned to her mother and said: “Mrs. Lynne, Gillian is not sick, she is a dancer. Take her to dance school.”

Her mother took Gillian to dance school. It was wonderful for her there, she remembers: “I can’t describe to you how wonderful it was. We entered a room full of people like me. People who could not sit still, who had to move to think. They danced ballet, jazz, contemporary dance”. Later, Gillain was admitted to the Royal Ballet School, became a soloist and had a great career. When she graduated, she founded her own dance group, met Andrew Lloyd Weber… She is credited with some of the most successful theater productions in history (musicals “Cats” and “Phantom of the Opera”), gave joy and enjoyment to millions of people and became a multi-millionaire. It also received the title of DBE (Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) and today a theater in the West End is named after her; before her, no woman of non-royal descent had a theater named after her, in that prestigious place.

Some other doctor would prescribe Gillian tranquilizers!

This one prescribed her to dance and… the rest is history!

Try dancing as a medicine, it can only be joy and enjoyment.

And it can become something much more than that 😉

Text about Gillian Lynne is taken from: https://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity/transcript#t-898565

Članak Prescribe me The Proper Medicine! se pojavljuje prvo na Ples & Grad.