Root Magazine

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all our readers.... 2008 is gonna be B*I*G

Root is still morphing.... stay tuned! 

San Francisco Historic Dance Landmark Burns

Fire destroys former S.F. home of Irish fraternal organization

Rhythm & Motion dance studios used call their home here in San Francisco.  I did work exchange here on and off, checking students into classes.  I got my inspiration for starting Root Magazine from the mess of flyers all over the building, each colorful xerox competing with the next for attention.  I bitched and moaned with the rest of the woman at the lack of changing rooms and old toilets.  I got completely creeped out when venturing into the basement for some chairs and spotted the old dusty bar that seemed to be evidence of speakeasy days.

Before the studio moved into their new location in conjunction with the ODC Dance Theatre, this was a place many people considered home.  The main dance studio, with its wooden vaulted ceiling and old stage had the space for upwards of 20 live musicians playing for a huge dance class.  It had leftover room for those who snuck in as an impromtu audience.  You can see the windows of the main studio ingulfed in flame in the picture above.  Those windows would steam up like crazy and we'd crack them open breathing the cool air outside unless our teachers wanted them shut to keep extra warm!

The classes go on somewhere else in the city, but this building was a special place and it will be missed.

Big News Coming Soon

Root Magazine has B*I*G plans for 2008. 

And its going to involve Y*O*U.  Stay tuned for an upcoming announcement.

In the meantime, here is some inspiration to get you movin' through those overwhelming office parties, family gatherings, shiny party dresses, and way too much 'holiday' music:

Vintage Charleston Dancing set to the music of Daft Punk

Give the Gift of Lonely Planet

 

Lonely Planet Special Offer to Root Readers

Support Root Magazine Save 30% on Lonely Planet!

Purchase any Lonely Planet guide and receive 30% off your entire order. Plus, an additional 10% of the retail price of your total purchase will go directly toward supporting Root Magazine.

Visit: http://shop.lonelyplanet.com

 

To redeem offer, enter promo code: ROOTMAG on the checkout page.

This offer is valid until August 1, 2008 at 11:59pm United States PST. This offer may not be used in combination with any other special offer or promotion and excludes theme packs and digital guides, and discount does not apply to shipping cost.  Order must meet the conditions outlined above in order to qualify for the special offer.  Promotional code must be entered for offer to be valid.  Code is case sensitive.

Photo of the Month

December's Photo of the Month is of B-Boy Ata from Finland by Maria Falconer of Scotland.

Grass Dancing

Grass Dancing is a Native American dance form requiring rhythm and strength while wearing elaborate hand made regalia.

Powwows.com goes into detail on the origins and meanings of Grass Dancing:

Originally done as a warrior society dance, it has evolved over the years. It has further evolved into a highly-competitive form of Northern dancing.

Grass Dancing always stands out by virtue of two things: his dancing style and his outfit. His dancing has been described often by these words:” gutsy, swinging, slick, old-time,” etc. His outfit stands out by virtue of the almost complete absence of feathers, for aside from the roach feather, there are no bustles of any kind to be seen. The outfit consists of shirt and pants, with beaded or otherwise decorated belt and side tabs, armbands, cuffs, and front and back apron, with matched headband and moccasins, if available. Ribbons and fringe are the only mobile parts of his outfit, other than the roach feather. In other words, the outfit is made to conform to the style of dancing.

Some believe that Grass Dancing came from young boys tying grass on their outfits. Before a dance could be held on the prairie the grass had to be stomped down. This is where many of the movements are believed to com e from. Afterwards the dancers would tie the grass to their outfit. Many believe that the Omaha tribe originated the dance in their warrior societies.

The name “Grass Dance” comes from the custom of some tribes wearing braided grass in their belts.

The unique parts of the northern outfit are the shirt, trousers, and aprons, to which yarn fringe, sequins, and beaded rosettes other designs are attached. The outfit makers are fond of using playing card designs-hearts, clubs, spades, and diamonds.  Hearts and rosettes are the most common. White fringe is preferred, however, gold, silver, and other light color fringe is also used.

Bells are worn around the ankle. Mostly plains hard-sole, or woodland soft-sole moccasins, and sneakers are worn.The apron is probably the, most striking part.

The front apron (or breech cloth) is decorated with beadwork, ribbon work, or a combination. The back apron has several colors of ribbons sewn in V-shapes. The ends hang loose for two to three feet. Ribbons also hand from the center . Belts are usually fully beaded. A “holster” or drop is worn on each side of the belt and reaches to shin level.

They are fully or partially beaded. Ideally, all of the beadwork matches. It may be floral, geometric, a combination of both. Characteristic of the outfit are the large, fully beaded cuffs or gauntlets, arm bands, chokers, occasional loop necklaces or breastplates, beaded collars and ties, and colorful scarves. The real prize is the beaded harness which reaches from the shoulders to below the knees. The two strips are usually connected by a large piece of beadwork which forms and hence the name “H-harness.” Tassels or ribbons hang from the end of the harness.

The perfect headdress is the porcupine hair roach which is attached to a head harness. It is decorated with rosettes, hearts, etc., and long drop stripped with fluffs, or drops made from chains or cafe curtain rings.

Dancers carry fans, eagle-bone or carved ’screen” whistles (some are made from metal tubes), mirror boards, and dance hoops of various sizes.

This Youtube find comes from 1993: Fallon Nevada Pow Wow team grass dance.  The dancers are from Washington State.  The videographer dedicated this clip to Chief Tenaya and the Yosemite Mono Lake Paiute people.

 

Marie, You Make A Grown Man Cry

This online mag was never intended to be snarky or malicious but the amount of traffic to the site based on Marie Osmond's fainting spell was off the hook.  YOU, yes you, asked for it!  (quite honestly this train wreck is hard to resist.)

As usual, someone with little rhythm won Dancing with the Stars, but here is one for your viewing pleasure that really needs to be studied by a team of psychologists:

From Defamer.com: Self-Destructing with the Stars

Before you pass an unfavorable judgment on Marie Osmond's bizarre performance on Monday night's Dancing with the Stars finale, please remember that she's going through an extremely difficult stretch in her life right now... we really can't blame her for succumbing to to the enormous pressure of making the finals by engaging in an act of self-sabotage in donning that ill-considered baby doll costume and flailing limply through "Start Me Up."

 

Tryptophan be damned...

Root Magazine sponsored the Energia do Samba Halloween Party.  For your viewing pleasure, here are a few highlights from that event:

More photos online here:
Halloween Samba Party

For details on Root Sponsored Events, send an email to: Root_Magazine@yahoo.com

Indigenous Peoples' Sunrise Gathering

Every year this event happens on Alcatraz in the San Francisco Bay.  Here is the information you'll need to be a part of it.  Just bundle up and bring some coffee!

The Indigenous People's Thanksgiving Sunrise Ceremony commemorates the 1969-1971 occupation of Alcatraz Island by the "Indians of All Tribes."

 Ferry ticket info: Thursday, November 22, 2007. Ticket sales and boarding begins at 4:15 am. The first departure from Alcatraz Landing is at 4:30 am with 5 additional departures leaving Alcatraz Landing approximately every 15 minutes. The last departure from Alcatraz Landing will be at 6:00 am. Boats begin returning from Alcatraz Island at the conclusion of the Sunrise Gathering Ceremony.

Tickets can also be purchased by calling
415 981-7625 or at the Pier 33 Ticket Booth. The ticket booth opens at 4:00 am on Thursday, November 22, 2007. Tickets are $12.00 per person. Children 5 and under are free.

International Indian Council

Thanksgiving? Fox News does it again...

I'm giving thanks for the Huffington Post.  I will not watch Fox News because I'll be angry all the time.  Thus I completely missed this new outrage until reading the Huffington Post today.

Its Native American History Month... and this is what they have to say?  I'm dumbfounded.

In just a few short days, America will observe Thanksgiving, a celebration of the most successful border incursion by illegal immigrants in the history of North America, where pilgrims from fancy-pants Europe came to America to perform all of the work that the Native Americans weren't willing to do, like give each other smallpox and kill off their own culture. It's a day for Americans to gather, typically on the New Jersey Turnpike, and give an annual boost to all the people who foolishly thought they'd get rich making cranberry sauce.

By and large, this is a holiday that most Americans seem to have down, but Fox and Friends' Brian Kilmeade still doesn't think we know the true meaning of Thansgiving - and so he took to the airwaves today to tell the world about how the Pilgrims signed a "peace agreement" with "his favorite Indians." He seems to think that those Indians were something called the "Okawi" (they weren't: they were Wampanoag, also known as Patuxet), but that's beside the point. They were "the good Indians," Kilmeade says.

Yes.  That's right.  The "good" Indians.  Wonder what they're thankful for this holiday season?

For the video clip go here: A Fox & Friends Thanksgiving

I'd rather post this picture instead of putting that insanity on my site: