Utah State University Student Newspapers | 2007-02-02 | Page 4

••\ 4 Friday, Feb. 2,2007 .- The Missing Note: Get your daily dose of religious contemplation and humor at the same place, www.sinfe5t.net. It's not a porn site. 797-1769 [e-mail] Sometimes traditions are just dumb (Aou/n su/in BY CYNTI MA H A R M O N Staff Writer The USU Big Band swing club encourages students to put on their dancing shoes and dance the night away in their upcoming Hellzapoppin' Competition, beginning on Feb. 1. The annual tradition, now in its fourth year, is part of the club's Harlem nights, recreating the famed origin of swing in the Harlem Savoy ballroom and honoring Black History Month. Rich \Vith music, dancing and a bit of historical appreciation, the competition is one of the biggest events the USU swing club looks forward to each year. Yet this year Benjamin Sundberg, the club's activities chair, is most excited about a special guest returning to the USU campus. Frankie Manning, one of the guest instructors, is world-renowned as one of the last remaining original lindy hoppers. Now 92, Manning has become a "great" in the eyes of dancers across the nation, specifically in the swing style, Sundberg said. Specifically, Manning is accredited as "the first person to ever do a lift during dancing," and he brings a lot of appeal to the people who see swing as an art, Sundberg said. "Frankie Manning's my idol. He's the man," said Dave Hess, a junior in psychology who eagerly waits to learn from the lindy hop expert. Yet Manning's appeal is even greater since he left the swing world for a short period where he worked with the U.S. Postal Service. Sundberg said swing dancers were happy to see Manning be brought out of retirement in the 1980s largely because of the influence of Steven Mitchell, another one of the instructors at USU's Hellzapoppin' event. Mitchell and his dance partner Virginie Jensen also offer worldwide expertise in their travels to several countries and their combined years of practice. These instructors provide hands-on courses that teach both couples and singles the basics of three main swing styles that vary mostly in how jerky or raw the move- Trevor Nielson/ctn@(c.iisu.edu DANCERS GET IN THE SPIRIT of Hellzapoppin, a event celebrating dancing and honoring Black History Month. ments tend to be. These styles include Hollywood, smooth and savoy, the last of which is probably the most commonly used at USU, Sundberg said. The workshops range in skill level and provide a place where anyone is invited to learn how to properly swing. "At dances, you can always see what we call the 'freshman shuffle' or the 'penguin'" Sundberg said. He said he suggests these workshops are designed to keep beginners from being recognized as such. The workshops, held Feb. 2 and 3, will outline the blues, swing waltz, lindy hop, Charleston coupling and classes designed specifically for either leaders or followers. "Both men and women could be either leaders or followers," Sundberg said, explaining the coined nicknames. Sometimes men who typically lead will take a following class to improve their leading style and vice versa, Sundberg said. Also contrary to popular belief, Sundberg said women are not confined to following and are allowed a lot of freedom in the lindy hop, one of his favorite elements of this dance style. Rule breaking is also a favorite element of the lindy hop, "a dance where anything is game," as Sundberg refers to it. He described the dance as a style based on an eight-count basic swing inspired by tap, the Charleston, the turkey trot and black bottom. Though perhaps a combination of many dance forms, the term "lindy hop" also encompasses several styles of dance that have resulted from the original, including: West Coast, East Coast, jive/quickstep and western/country. For this reason, many refer to the lindy hop as the "grandfather of jazz," Sundberg said. Yet the Hellzapoppin' competition encompasses more than just swing styles, he said. It relies on the music from the lindy hop time period, mainly selections from the 1920s, including: Slim & Slam, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Betty Goodman, Glen Miller and other swing favorites. The music is chosen with the same exactness as the dance steps, ranging from 90 beats per minute up to 350 beats per minute for the perfect rhythm. "The higher beat songs are the ones where you get a jam session going" Sundberg said. In these sessions, the dancers form a circle in which couples enter to show off their different moves. Usually a couple will "jam" only for two phrases (or four counts of eight) and then let another couple enter the spotlight. These jam sessions are one of the opportunities where air steps and aerials are considered appropriate, Sundberg said. Fast and flippant movements twist and twirl the couples as the dancers are thrown into the air-frosting on the cake, as • HELL IS A-POPPIN see page 7 I was really tired and stressed out at Gorrett Wheeler work the other day, and in a moment of weakness, L decided to let loose a rich baritone howl that could be heard all over the office. Then I did it Chew on again. This Then others [e-mail] joined me in a rousing chorus of wolf-like lament. "It was like so awesome - it was like we were all unified and everything - and I think we should make howling a new tradition whenever we finish a big project at work/' I should have said. Yup, that just sounds stupid. Either I am getting old or this whole howling during Finals Week just sounds like a "wonderful" idea. To me, this ranks up there with that brilliant microbeladen proposal of putting LoveSac lounge chairs in the Taggart Student Center to bring students together. A sincere thank you goes to the dude who decided to jump off the wall in the lounge, speeding up the chair replacement to something more sensible, something more affordable, and mostly something that retains much less hobo drool. Other wonderful unification ideas on campus in recent memory include the Night on the Quad to raise awareness about the homeless. Nothing screams "We feel bad for the homeless" like an all-night party with hotdogs, live bands and howling college students. Unification on campus should either serve a humanitarian or community service purpose (boring), or be really fun. HASS vs. College of Engineering Snowball Wars come to mind, or perhaps PrankYour Least Favorite University Office Day. Then, for example, the thousands of students who have ever thought the Registrar's Office was the bane of their existence could be united, if only for that day. Now, if you're going to do something mischievous simply to wake up the people in the library during Finals Week, make it extra exciting. Two words: cherry bombs. Or if you're a little more tame, or too slow to avoid the campus police, tap into the PA system and play Rawhide repeatedly. Just as many people will freak out, but this way they'll also have a dumb song stuck in their heads the rest of the week. I also think there many more enjoyable ways to relieve end-of-semester • HOWLING AT NOTHING see page 13 Traditional video outlets are starting to feel the redbox effect BY T O M LILJEGREN Senior Writer Video rental has become a lot more complicated, or maybe a little easier, depending on what you're looking for. An industry that once featured mostly small, independent rental stores now features many rental options—large rental store chains, online rental companies and now the introduction of automated rental vendors such as redbox. These vendors aim to be the ATMs of the rental industry—fast, convenient and relatively hassle-free. Redboxes, which premiered in Logan stores and the rest of Utah beginning in June 2005, are located in or outside McDonald's restaurants or Smith's and Macey's supermarkets. They contain 35 to 40 of the most recent and popular releases that can be rented for $1 (plus tax) per day and charged to your credit card. On their Web site, redbox advertises saying people can "easily rent a movie in less than a minute." Other similar vendors, such as the Touch Screen DVD vendor in the Taggert Student Center, have also entered the market. The convenience and low cost of redbox are a large reason for its popularity. "It's a cool way to try movies that I'm not really sure about, because it's only a dollar," says Jeanette Cox, a history master's student. Jeff Paystrup, a senior history major, said it is also convenient that the redbox locations, at McDonald's or in supermarkets, allow you to get two things done on one trip. The option of renting and returning a DVD in the space of a single day also appeals to some customers. Logan Julander, a junior civil engineering major, said, "Most of the time I rent a video, I only want it one day anyway." However, the low costs and convenience have not made up for hassles some students have faced. Cox mentioned that redbox corporate officials once claimed she didn't return a movie that she had. She said she was able to resolve the problem quickly. However, freshman Katie Porter, an early childhood education major, was less fortunate. She is still battling a $25 fee for a DVD that redbox officials claim she did not return. These hassles are a large reason some rental retailers may feel they will not be harmed by having redbox around. The vendor cannot offer the customer service of a rental store, said Riley Mann, store director of a Logan Hollywood Video. She said they consider online DVD rental services such as Netflix as their biggest competitors. Additionally, redbox's limited selection cannot match the inventory of other rental stores or online renters. "I like to watch a wider variety of movies," Cox said. "They don't have my independent films." Similarly, redboxes have a limited number of copies of each film. Freshman history major Katie Mills said she once visited six redboxes that were all sold out of one movie. Paystrup said he avoids McDonald's locations "because they always have a line and never have any movies." Although redbox has potential hassles and limited supply, its convenience ensures it won't be going away anytime soon. Although Porter describes redbox as evil because of her battles with undeserved fines, she sums up the appeal of the vendor as offering "cheap entertainment for poor college students." —[e-mail] Patrick Oden/[e-mail] STUDENT TAKE ADVANTAGE of the redbox machines out side of the McDonald's on 800 North.