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Bad Showchoir

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This looks like something I might have choreographed:
 
 

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  2. The Wiggles did the moves for us once or twice and then we did them. The whole thing was a laugh from start to finish. People who entertain kids have to be exactly as they really are – and the Wiggles are exactly what you see. Loved doing it.

  4. The Wiggles are HUGE with the preschool crowd.
     
    If YouTube is an indication of anything, their “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” has over 24 million views, their “Hot Potato” has over 17 million views, and “Fruit Salad” has over 11 million views.
     
    By contrast, try looking for “chorus” or “choir” on YouTube. I find one video that beats those, a flash mob version of “Hallelujah” that shows over 34 million views. A clip from the BBC show “The Choir” shows nearly 4 million, and Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir “Lux Arumque” has high numbers, too, over 2.6 million.
     
    This may not be Justin Bieber numbers (and we all know that where you stand in comparison to Justin Bieber’s YouTube presence is the true measure of success, right?), but still, that’s a lot of views.
     
    Reginald Unterseher

  5. Love these.   There will be a whole lot of little 4 year old Aussie children spontaneously singing Ding Dong Merrily On High complete with actions in a couple of weeks.  The influence of The Wiggles is mighty indeed.

  6. “One Grecian urn.  TWO Grecian urns.  Trickle, trickle, trickle, trickle, trickle.”
     
    QUESTION:  “What’s a Grecian urn?”
    ANSWER:  “About a buck fifty an hour, but the Germans think it’s too much.”
     
    Gloria in excelsis, baby!
     
    John

  7. Michael–is this your group?  Both of the videos?  Did you use Orchesographie  for ‘Ding-Dong’? Or did you just wing it?  I do enjoy a good arm sweep, myself, and thought these were really fun.  ~Marie

  8. Good morning, folks.  I haven’t had enough coffee to be pleasant so forgive me if I get a little snotty.  Betcha didin’t know “Ding Dong Merrily On High” was from the the book, Orchesographie, a book about social dancing from the French Renaissance.  In fact, the steps for this tune (and, when the composer is mentioned, it is often Thoinot Arbeau) are spelled out in dance tabulation.  I have actually used the tabulation and own the book and have, in deed, taught the steps to many and sundry singers and dancers. And—gasp–some of the arm movements in this little presentation are accurate, whether by fluke or design.

    It was felt to be a turning point in dance to be able have steps spelled out instead of having to teach, in person, each dance.  And, it also gave a choreographer more freedom to be able to write down steps, not only be able to remember them but to share new dances.  Even so, there is still no standard dance notation–a movement in the 1960s/1970s to develop a notation much like music notation failed.  The language of classical ballet–and even some other dance forms–is in French because dance masters such as Arbeau were influential in standardizing step names.

    That, ladies and gentlemen, is your dance history lesson for today.  Don’t be hating!

    Marie

    Why do I know this stuff?  My father was a rather famous dance/ballet pedogogue and I studied ballet (with his rather famous ballet teachers)from the the time I could walk–and I taught ballet to earn my way through undergrad.  And Dad INSISTED I buy that darn book when I got a job choreographing a Madrigal Feast and the director wanted a “little dance or something” for ‘Ding-Dong’ and I became fasciated with dance history in general.  I could go on here, but I won’t–next time–count on it!

     

    Thoinot Arbeau is the anagrammatic pen name of French cleric Jehan Tabourot (March 17, 1519 – July 23, 1595). Tabourot is most famous for his Orchésographie, a study of late sixteenth-century French Renaissance social dance. He was born in Dijon and died in Langres.

    Orchésographie

    Orchésographie provides information on social ballroom behaviour and on the interaction of musicians and dancers. It is available online in facsimile and in plain text. There is an English translation by Mary Stewart Evans, edited by Julia Sutton, in print with Dover Publications. It contains numerous woodcuts of dancers and musicians and includes many dance tabulations in which extensive instructions for the steps are lined up next to the musical notes, a significant innovation in dance notation at that time.

    Arbeau’s “Orchésographie” was used as the basis for Igor Stravinsky‘s final ballet, Agon, and Peter Warlock‘s Capriol Suite.

     

  9. Well – the accent is Australian, and this is the biggest Children’s group in the world. Anuna were asked in to do four songs with the Wiggles when they were performing in Dublin last year. The church is the only Byzantine style church in Ireland, Saint Bartholomews where we do our concerts on the rare occasions that we perform at home. I have to say that it was the most fun I have ever had while singing upright.

  12. Yes – we are very proud of it indeed! We weren’t miming either. Probably…
    You might also look at this.
     
     
     

  14. Eh, what?  There are so many disconnects here I almost don’t know where to start.  Are they “serious” or was this an intentional spoof?  And, did you notice that the accent’s definitely American, but the church setting is oh-so-English?  Is this a kiddie thing?  What the heck, huh?
     
    Ron

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