There is no telling when a photo will show up as a Photo of the Day. Ultraclay! posted this one December 1, 2006. Why now? Why today? These tango dancers, one a blur, but for the clasp of a hand, evokes a romantic dream–the type of shot that can only be captured at the right instant.
Great!
Send your captured moments our way at Gadling’s Flickr Photo Pool. Who knows? Next week –, tomorrow, or two years from now, it could show up as a Photo of the Day.
A service at Paris area airports will have people dancing in the terminals. Literally.
As a special summer promotion provided by Aeroports de Paris, dance classes will be offered to passengers before they hop, or samba, onto their flight. Call it France‘s version of the reality hit So You Think You Can Dance. Styles include tango, salsa, modern jazz, and mambo. There is even instruction in hip hop and rock and roll.
You are imagining a teacher wearing a leotard and leg-warmers prancing around Charles De Gaulle critiquing each step that students take, aren’t you? It’s not quite like that. Passengers are given a set of headphones on which instructions and music are played. They are pretty much on their own after that. The classes run for about 15 minutes and are only offered during weekend daytime hours.
According to airport authorities, over 4,000 people have used the service since it began at the end of June. No word yet on whether these ground-breakers participated willingly or not.
Are in-terminal dance classes the wave of the future? Or is it simply a ploy to get people talking about something besides how high oil prices are making air travel so damned expensive?
Just opened in Pentonville Road, Islington (Greater London) is Surya (Hindi for “Sun” and Sanskrit for “Sun God”), the world’s first green nightclub.
It will generate its own electricity when people move on its floors, will operate on solar and wind energy, has air-flush waterless urinals and low-flush toilets, and free entry for cyclists and walkers. Otherwise club entry is £10 and customers must sign a pledge towards helping combat climate change.
Brainchild of Mr.Charalambous, head of Club4Climate, the club’s dance floor is made of crystal and ceramic, which when trodden on generates electricity under the concept of “piezoelectricity”. This current is fed into nearby batteries, which in turn fuel the club. It is estimated that if a large group of clubbers danced vigorously, they could generate 60% of the club’s energy needs.
With aim of inspiring the youth to get involved in tackling the issue of global warming, Charalambous said in the Times of India: “Unless we stop preaching to people and use an inclusive philosophy we’re never going to create the revolution to combat climate change.” I couldn’t agree more.
Matt Harding, as in “Where the Hell is Matt,” –the guy who dances around the world, has found the answer to world peace. Don’t believe me? Just watch his video, Dancing 2008 and you’ll be smiling in a few seconds. Halfway through, you’ll feel like dancing yourself. The song “Praan” is perfect.
As Matt dances his way around the world through 42 different countries, people join him. Along the way there are laugh-out-loud surprises and joy. (To see the high quality version, click on the video. It will take you to the YouTube site. Click on “watch in high quality” under the video–or go here for the video via Matt’s Web site.)
What a great way to travel. Matt, you’re brilliant.
Infiltrating North Korea is a two-week series exploring the world’s most reclusive nation and its bizarre, anachronistic way of life. To start reading at the beginning of the series, be sure to click here.
Yesterday’s video captured the playful, innocent spirit of North Korean kids as they flew kites and ran amuck through Kim Il Sung Square in celebration of the Korean Workers’ Party Foundation Day.
Today, we take you to another celebration for the same holiday. This one, however, fast forwards to the slightly older age of high school students and their version of a celebratory get-together that is far more organized in scope and thus, far more indicative of the tightly structured North Korean lifestyle we had witnessed throughout our stay in the capital.
Although just a few years older than the kids we saw kite flying in the same square, playtime seems to have evolved at the high school level to a choreographed effort where everyone had a role in a much larger production.
Sure, perhaps I’m projecting too much of the North Korean regime onto a simple outdoor dance festival, but it’s difficult to imagine otherwise; the state simply controls and regulates every aspect of life, even down to the moves at a high school dance.
Totalitarian sock hop or otherwise, the production was nonetheless a joy to watch from high atop the Grand Study House where we had just wrapped up a tour. The dance wasn’t on the itinerary but we were able stop for a few moments and take it all in.
The video also includes close-ups of a large Kim Il Sung mosaic, the Yanggakdo Hotel where we stayed, as well as the 170-meter Tower of the Juche Idea that was constructed with 25,550 stones, each representing a day in the life of Kim Il Sung up to the age of 70 when the tower was unveiled on his birthday.
Yesterday: Kids will be Kids
Tomorrow: More Song, Dance, and a Little Conundrum about Chocolate
