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DANCE by Janet Spencer Studies have shown that dancing reduces stress and tension and can also help prevent heart disease. Come along with Tidbits as we look at different kinds of dancing! THE HULA • ‘Hula’ is a Hawaiian word meaning simply, ‘dance.’ Originally, only men were allowed to dance the hula. It originated as a method of passing history down, with every single movement carrying a meaning that helped tell the story. The movements were accompanied by drumming and chanting. (Modern hula is more commonly accompanied by ukeleles and guitars.) Hula dances also honored and appeased the gods in religious ceremonies (particularly the volcano gods) and paid homage to leaders. The hula was once outlawed by missionaries who considered it sinful. But David Kalakaua, King of Hawaii from 1874 through 1891, reinstated the tradition of hula dancing, thereby earning his nickname, the ‘Merrie Monarch.’ Each year, the Merrie Monarch Festival is held in his honor. The peak of the festival is the hula competition, with both men and women dancing. An authentic hula skirt requires the leaves of about 60 ti plants, takes about four hours to weave, and wears out in 3 to 5 days of use. • In the 1800s people were fascinated with Native Americans, so P.T. Barnum imported a band of Sioux from Iowa to perform in his New York museum. He hired them to perform their ritualistic dances on stage in front of an audience. Their favorite was the war dance, but they performed it so convincingly that Barnum was afraid someone would get hurt. So he asked them to perform the more sedate wedding dance instead. They agreed, as long as Barnum agreed to provide a new red woolen blanket so the bridegroom would have a gift to give the bride’s father. Barnum agreed, since the blanket cost only $10 and his box-office receipts were very good. But then they informed him that he must buy a new wedding blanket for every performance. Since the show was performed twice a day, six days a week, Barnum was spending $120 a week on blankets. Soon the tribe got homesick for their native land. Barnum paid their passage back to Iowa. • In 1942, the impresarios for Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus decided they wanted to teach their circus elephants to dance. They contacted choreographer George Balanchine and told him to find a composer to help him. He chose Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, and the telephone conversation went like this: “I need you to compose a piece (Continued next page)
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Tidbits® of the River Region DANCING SHOWMANSHIP of music for me.” “What kind of music?” “A polka.” “For whom?” “Elephants.” “How old?” “Young!” “OK, if they are very young, I’ll do it!” The result was “Circus Polka” and it was performed 425 times. • Aristotle told the story of the city of Sybaris, where the horses were taught to dance to the music of a pipe. When the Sybarites went to war against the Crotonians, the Crotonians brought along a lot of pipes. On the battlefield, the pipers began to play, the Sybarian horses began to dance, and the riders were easily slaughtered. DANCE WORD ORIGINS • The old English word ‘jouk’ means to dance, and from that we get our juke box. • Thespis was a poet, dancer, and theatrical manager around 500 BC. He did so much to promote theater that he is still honored today in the word ‘thespian.’ • The word ‘carol’ comes from the Middle English word ‘carolen’ meaning to sing joyously. That word originates with the Greek word ‘choraulein,’ which was a ring dance accompanied by flutes. • ‘Polak’ means Polish man, and ‘polka’ means Polish woman. In addition, the Czeck word ‘pulka’ means ‘half-step.’ When a new dance originating in Bohemia took the world by storm, it was called the Polka. The polka was very popular and many different items were named after the dance. When a new fabric was invented, the manufacturer decided to name the new design ‘polka dots.’ FAST FACTS ABOUT DANCE • It is illegal to dance to the Star Spangled Banner in several states. • President James Polk banned dancing and drinking in the White House. At his inaugural ball, these illicit activities stopped— until the president and his wife left the ball. • In 1865, somcone sprinkled cayenne pepper on the dance floor in Virginia City, Montana during a dance, causing a sneezing uproar. • Russian ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky was able to cross and uncross his legs ten times in a single leap. • Barnum and Bailey Circus once had a troupe of dancing cows. • Choreographer Paul Taylor once performed a solo dance on stage in which he simply stood motionless for four minutes. The critic for “Dance Observer” magazine reviewed his work by giving him four inches of blank white space. DANCE ANTICS & ANECDOTES • In France in 1960 a new disco opened up called Chez Régine. For weeks everyone who showed up at the door was turned away. A sign out front perpetually announced that the disco was full. Finally the sign was removed, and customers flooded in. It was an instant success. The ‘Disco Full’ sign was a gimmick designed to get people’s curiosity up. • In 1971 jazz composer Roger Kellaway wrote a modern ballet entitled mysteriously “PAMTGG.” Audiences soon realized the acronym stood for the TV commercial jingle, “Pan Am Makes the Going Great.” The entire ballet was based on airport life, including takeoff, landing, and baggage scramble. • Dancer Marie Guimard was famous for her style of dancing which mostly involved graceful movements of the arms as she struck poses. When a piece of falling scenery broke her arm, French opera singer Sohie Arnould remarked, “What a pity it wasn’t her leg; then it wouldn’t have interfered with her dancing!” • British ballerina Dame Margot Fonteyn went to see a troupe of black ballet dancers. One of the male performers invited her to join him on stage and she gamely tried to keep up with the rhythm and movement of the vigorous dance as he guided her through the steps. He took her back to her seat saying, “You’re an attractive girl; it’s too bad you can’t dance!” CANADIAN DANCE FACTS • In Canada, the number of people who report earning a living from dance grew from less than 400 in 1971 to over 6,000 in 2001. • Over a million Canadians adults take dance classes or perform in their community. • Over one-quarter of a million Canadian citizens take ballet lessons. • Throughout Canada, dancers earn lower incomes than all other culture workers, and rank among the bottom 5% of all occupations.
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by Samantha Weaver * It was American writer Gore Vidal who made the following sage observation: “The corporate grip on opinion in the United States is one of the wonders of the Western world. No First World country has ever managed to eliminate so entirely from its media all objectivity -- much less dissent.” * If you’re like most people, you’ve probably never encountered a tziganologist. That is, unless you consort with those who study Hungarian gypsies. * When someone mentions the rock band ZZ Top, you probably think of a group of musicians with beards. They don’t all have beards, though; the drummer is clean-shaven as a matter of safety (imagine being in the middle of a drum solo and getting a stick caught in a long beard -ouch!). Interestingly, the unbearded drummer’s name is Frank Beard. * Squirrels are wonderful foresters. Every year, thousands of trees grow from caches of nuts and acorns that squirrels forgot about. * If you see a group of pugs together, know that they’re collectively called a grumble. * One anagram of “William Shakespeare” is “I am a weakish speller.” Incidentally, a person who comes up with anagrams is known as an “anagrammatist.” * If you’re planning a trip to Japan, you might want to add the island of Okunoshima to your itinerary. It’s often called Usagi Jima, or “Rabbit Island,” by locals because the bunnies there are tame and approach humans without fear. * Those who study such things have discovered that if you put a sea sponge in a blender and leave the resulting mess overnight, the remaining cells will find each other and start forming a new sponge. *** Thought for the Day: “An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered; an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered.” -- Gilbert Keith Chesterton (c) 2013 King Features Synd., Inc.
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Tidbits® of the River Region
* On Oct. 31, 1517, the priest and scholar Martin Luther nails to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, a piece of paper containing 95 revolutionary opinions that would begin the Protestant Reformation. In one, Luther condemned the corruption of the Catholic Church for asking for payment for the forgiveness of sins. * On Oct. 30, 1890, Oakland, Calif., enacts a law against opium, morphine and cocaine. The new regulations allowed only doctors to prescribe these drugs, which had been legal for cures or pain relief. * On Oct. 29, 1929, Black Tuesday hits Wall Street as investors trade 16,410,030 shares. In the aftermath of Black Tuesday, America and the rest of the industrialized world spiraled downward into the Great Depression. By 1932, stocks were worth only about 20 percent of their value in the summer of 1929. * On Nov. 2, 1947, the Hughes Flying Boat -- the largest aircraft ever built -- is piloted by designer Howard Hughes on its first and only flight. Built with laminated birch and spruce, the “Spruce Goose” had a wingspan longer than a football field and was designed to carry more than 700 men to battle. * On Nov. 1, 1952, the United States detonates the world’s first thermonuclear weapon, the hydrogen bomb, on Eniwetok atoll in the Pacific. The Soviet Union quickly followed suit, and by the late 1970s, seven nations had constructed hydrogen bombs. * On Oct. 28, 1965, construction is completed on the Gateway Arch, a 630-foot-high parabola of stainless steel in St. Louis. An internal tram system takes visitors to the top, where on a clear day they can see up to 30 miles across the Mississippi and to the Great Plains to the west.
Gary Williams Black/Male 6’1” 190 lbs Hair: Black Eyes: Brown
* On Nov. 3, 1986, the Lebanese magazine Ash Shiraa reports that the United States has been secretly selling arms to Iran in an effort to secure the release of seven American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon. Within weeks, Attorney General Edwin Meese revealed that proceeds from the arms sales were diverted to fund Nicaraguan rebels. (c) 2013 King Features Synd., Inc.
Outstanding Warrants: Possession of Forged Instrument 2nd Theft of Property 2nd (2 counts) Receiving Stolen Property 2nd
Kenneth Mark Mitchell Black/Male 5’5” 240 lbs Hair: Black Eyes: Brown Outstanding Warrants: Failure to Appear on Driving Under the Influence
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Nita Nolan
Tommy Count ______ This week’s winner receives a 4 Doz Doughnuts from
Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Register to win at www.riverregiontidbits.com and click on “Tommy Tidbits” or click the QRCode above. Fill out the registration information and tell us how many times Tommy appears in ads in the paper for this week. From the correct entries, a winner will be selected. You must be 18 years of age to qualify. The gift certificates will range in value from $25 to $50 each week. Entries must be received at the website by midnight each Saturday evening or at PTK Corp, PO Box 264, Wetumpka, AL 36092.
Last Week’s Ads where Tommy was hiding: 1. Pemberton, p. 6 2. Montgomery Zoo, p. 10 3. Must Stop, p. 11
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Tidbits® of the River Region
1. How many consecutive full major-league seasons did Stan Musial hit at least .300? 2. Earl Weaver is third on the list of most wins by a majorleague manager who never was a major-league player (1,480 wins). Who are the top two? 3. Which two teams, entering the 2013 NFL season, had recorded the most victories on “Monday Night Football”? 4. In the 2011-12 season, center Cody Zeller recorded the second-highest field-goal percentage (62.3 percent) in Indiana Hoosiers history. Who had the highest? 5. In the past 10 seasons (200304 through 2012-13), how many NHL teams won their first Stanley Cup? 6. Who was the last NASCAR driver before Jimmie Johnson in 2013 to win the two NASCAR Cup races in Daytona in the same year? 7. In 2013, Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin Del Potro played the longest semifinal singles match in Wimbledon history (four hours, 43 minutes). Who was in the previously longest match?
1. Is the book of 3 Kings in the Old or New Testament or neither? 2. From Revelation 12:9, what was the name of the old serpent? The Devil, Aster, Nehushtan, Lucifer 3. Which book begins, “Now David was old and stricken in years”? Numbers, 1 Kings, Psalms, Joel 4. From Psalms 114:4, what did the mountains skip like? Rams, Lambs, Waves, Children 5. Written around 45 A.D. (C.E.), what’s the oldest book of the New Testament? Titus, Hebrews, James, Jude 6. Of these who was a son of David? Job, Isaiah, Solomon, Amos
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How do you lose weight and keep it off?
College Care Package From Moms Back Home It’s not easy letting go. If you’re one of the many parents who recently sent a teen off to college for the first time, your nest might be feeling emptier than ever. I had that experience when my youngest son settled into his freshman year far from home in Santa Barbara, Calif. It turned out that 12 moms of his high-school buddies were having similar thoughts, and so began a series of bimonthly evening gatherings of “MOBS” (Mothers of Boys) to assemble care packages for our sons. The idea was to collectively show that we were thinking about them at holidays and crucial times during the school year, such as finals week. If you have sons or daughters living away this fall, you might want to gather friends to do the same. Here’s our version, with 12 moms: --One mom keeps the group organized via email or on a private group Facebook account with the date, time and directions to the home hosting each gathering. When the moms meet, each brings 12 of the same item of her choice to contribute, such as packets of microwave popcorn. --Each person also brings a shoebox or flat-rate shipping box from the U.S. Postal Service for assembling and sending the stuff to her son. (You may wish to decorate the inside with scrapbook paper or wallpaper.) --As moms gather, unload the multiples of the item onto a dining-room table. It’s fun to admire all the loot you know will delight the students: lip balm, energy bars, homemade fudge, caramel-apple kits, athletic socks and even crazy Halloween decorations for dorm rooms. --Assembly-line-style, grab your box and fill it with the booty, item by item, while relaxing with friends, sipping hot cider and sharing newsy tidbits about your child’s experiences. Extra idea: Before taping the boxes closed, we tucked in a sheet of paper with pre-printed greetings, our signatures and jingles that we contributed ahead of time. Lighthearted and silly, some went like this: “Do you miss us a bit as you launder and clean? Is the dining-hall food making you scrawny and lean? We send you our love and this package too To say that all of us miss and think of you!” AND AS THE SCHOOL YEAR PROGRESSED ... “Roses are red Shamrocks are green When you’re gone at college Your bedroom stays clean That doesn’t matter I now must confess I’m eager for summer With you and your mess!” *** Donna Erickson’s award-winning series “Donna’s Day” is airing on public television nationwide. To find more of her creative family recipes and activities, visit www.donnasday.com and link to the NEW Donna’s Day Facebook fan page. Her latest book is “Donna Erickson’s Fabulous Funstuff for Families.”
Do you know how to create weight loss habits? How do you stop stress and emotional eating? Do you know how to stop sabotaging your weight loss? There are dozens of questions that chronic dieters cannot answer and never considered being related to being overweight. However, in recent years those who struggle with their weight have come to realize that this is a mind thing. We are creatures of habit and weight gaining habits are permanent until they are replaced. We are mind and body and therefore the absence of psychological support and life changing techniques will lead to more diet merry-go-round. SEE ONLINE TESTIMONIALS at HYPNOSISWORKSNOW.COM
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(c) 2013 Donna Erickson Distributed by King Features Synd.
BIBLE TRIVIA ANSWERS:
1) Neither; 2) The Devil; 3) 1 Kings; 4) Rams; 5) James; 6) Solomon
1. Sixteen (1942-58). 2. Joe McCarthy (2,125 wins) and Jim Leyland (1,676 entering 2013). 3. Dallas and San Francisco, with 43 wins each. 4. Matt Nover made 62.8 percent of his shots in the 1992-93 season. 5. Four -- Tampa Bay, Carolina, Anaheim and Los Angeles. 6. Bobby Allison, in 1982. 7. Boris Becker and Ivan Lendl played a semifinal match in 1989 that lasted four hours and one minute.
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Tidbits速 of the River Region