1. Event: Tanzimpro/Balfolk Workshop in Múltí Kúltí

    When: Saturday the 26th of March 15:00 until 18:00

    Where: Múltí Kúltí, Barónsstígur 3, Reykjavík

    What:

    Tanzimpro (“Traditional European Dance-improvisation, also known as “balfolk” or “eurodance”) is a form of music and dance which has evolved all over Europe for centuries, and continues to do so today. Casting aside the nationalism, gender roles and silly costumes so commonly associated with “folk dance”, tanzimpro focuses on the intense, flowing connection between dancers, music and musicians as everyone involved improvises and reacts to each other.

    If that sounds like fun, come along and learn the basic grooves for a variety of common dances (wickler/slängpolska, schottisch, polka, waltz, mazurka, polska… if we have time!) as well as techniques for building connection with your partner and the music, and ideas for improvisation and variations.

    No need to bring a dance partner along if you don’t have one, you’ll probably end up dancing with everyone anyway :)

    Entry is free, donations for the musicians and dance leader are gladly accepted.

    Who:

    Barnaby Walters (Hodgepig, Buzz, Duo Gerhardt & Walters) is a hurdy gurdy player and builder who, after spending ten years playing various folk and traditional music, discovered tanzimpro two years ago and wondered what he had been doing with his life for the previous eight years. Trying to make up for lost time, he has since danced and played for dancing in Iceland, Turkey, France, England, Germany and Austria, most recently as half of Duo Gerhardt & Walters.

    Benjamin Bech (Bech and Bomholt, PÚLK, Vildspil, Tyrolerband) is an excellent dancer and clarinet player from Denmark, currently researching Icelandic traditional dance music.

  2. php-mf2 v0.3.0 is released! This long overdue update contains a variety of bugfixes and new features:

    • Requires PHP 5.4 at minimum (PHP 5.3 is EOL)
    • Licensed under CC0 rather than MIT
    • Merges Pull requests #70, #73, #74, #75, #77, #80, #82, #83, #85 and #86.
    • Variety of small bug fixes and features including improved whitespace support, removal of style and script contents from plaintext properties
    • All PHPUnit tests passing finally
    • Many thanks to @aaronpk, @diplix, @dissolve, @dymcx @gRegorLove, @jeena, @veganstraightedge and @voxpelli for all your hard work opening issues and sending and merging PRs!

      github

      packagist

  3. Book of Life praising hugs sums up very nicely what I enjoy about true following in dance — the opportunity to, for a few minutes, let someone else take care of everything.

    Leading and following are things people can choose to do in the moment, not roles to be forced into, integrate into personal identity, or assume because of gender. Leading is to communicate “I have this idea about a thing to do”. Following is to communicate “I understand this idea. I accept or reject it.”.

    Dancing with one person very clearly leading and the other very clearly following can be just as valuable an experience as a completely balanced dance with both(+) people leading and following each other. Each option is valid because the other exists. Awareness that the other option exists means that the people involved have chosen to act as they do.

    That both people know that they could choose freely to lead or follow allows for the most authentic interactions between dancers.

    I have had wonderful experiences completely following, completely leading, swapping with clear boundaries or dancing blurred, balanced and boundary-free. The common element is that what everyone involved wanted from the experience was communicated, and a consensus reached, whether verbally or not.

    The predominating assumption in traditional dance is still that men lead and women follow (or even that men and women dance together), and as such consensus to dance differently must usually be reached verbally (try it! It’s incredible). With people who share my philosophy it’s sometimes possible to reach consensus without words, and hopefully that will become easier the more dance is danced like this.

  4. Found in The Division Viol (1659): an interesting social comment on mid-17th Century acceptance of the idea of a heliocentric solar system:

    “(Chuse whether you will have the Sun, or Earth to be the Fixed Center)”

    Also of interest: “American English” spelling of “centre” as “center”…
  5. Sometimes I make the mistake of thinking that my life is, sometimes, in its own little way, difficult. Then I listen to pretty much anyone else (including other middle class white men, althought that’s obviously a factor) and am consistently blown away by how much pain people suffer. I don’t know how you all do it. I don’t think I could cope. I’m scared to find out.

    Edit: to clarify, this is intended purely as expression of my amazement at other people, not in anticipation of me having hard times in the near future. Interesting and unpredictable times, sure, but I remain as optimistic as ever :)

  6. I only agree with about half of what I’ve read so far on thebookoflife.org, but it’s some of the most interesting, detailed, honest writing I’ve come across in a long time. Concise, philosophical analysis which glories in small everyday things. Maybe a good world-viewing lens to add to the collection.