There are so many reasons that I love Chicago's summer. One of them is Summer Dance. It is a eleven-week long festival. Each night offers an introductory one-hour dance lesson by professional instructors followed by two hours of music and dancing on a 4,600 square-foot, open-air dance floor designed by artist Dan Peterman out of 100% recycled materials. The dance floor is located in the Spirit of Music Garden in Grant Park, at 601 S. Michigan Avenue. You can find all kinds of people there from all over the world. If you want to reach me on Thursday, Friday Saturday or Sunday, I am always there on the dance floor.
I went to Chicago Steppin' on June 26th. First, I did not know it was an African-American dance. After the lesson, when they played live music, I just totally loved it. You can do couple dance; You can do single free style and even group dance. Here is a little sample: p.s. my friend Hao and I danced in this video! We are really not typical asians.
By the way, I forget to mention that admission is free!!!!!!!!!!!!
Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 6 November, 2009 : - - Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.
After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.
4 minutes later:
The violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.
6 minutes:
A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.
10 minutes:
A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.
45 minutes:
The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.
1 hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.
No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.
This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities.
The questions raised:
In a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?
Do we stop to appreciate it?
Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?
One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:
If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made.
How many other things are we missing?
How many special persons pass us by and we do not MAKE ANY EFFORT TO get to know them?
To be honest, I had a bad year of 2009. I remembered that my facebook status of December 31, 2008 was "I am not ready for the new year". Ready or not, now it is 2010. I was uncertain about my future at that time. I had no idea what will happen after I graduate. I had a lot of fear. I graduated without a job last summer, actually so far I am still unemployed. I have been out of a job for more than half a year. However, to be honest, I am not saying positive things for making myself feel better. I am saying positive thing, because it is truth and I believe in them. After I graduated, I have been learning so much: How to train my brain to process failure; How to gather information; How to network with people; what kind of knowledge I am hungry for; What is my vision for myself; How much blessings I am having from God. This list can goes on and on. I knew I was doing the right things, but still nothing happens. No luck in job search field. My feeling was complicated. I was frustrated. Dance: The Well from Urbana 09 on Vimeo.
At the end of last month, my best friend Margi’s parents paid for me to attend Urbana（a Christian conference hosted by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship every 3 years in St.Louis.）There is so much to share here. Long story short, God told me “Li Ming, What are you afraid of? I am the same God you believed in China. I took you to US. It is the same God loving and taking care of you for this long time. I will be the same God in 2010, no matter where you will be.” I was scared that every time I think about what I will do, if I won’t get a job till this April. I have no back up plan. I have to go back to China. I felt like I will be a looser. However now I am getting peace. I am still not quite there, but I am getting joy and peace to wait for God’s calling, here, China or other places. I have to be obedient. I am not in charge and not in control at all. I am sorry this introduction is kind of long, but one of the commitments I made during Urbana was giving. Give big, Give generously, Give creatively, Give for God’s glory. Give 3 times a week. Therefore, I want to start to track this process. Here I am not bragging anything. I just want to give in God’s name humbly. Jan 3th, 2010 Gave $63 offering to InterVarsity Christian Fellowship Urbana for helping them to reach 1 million dollar goal to help mobilize 12 ministries to end human trafficking and spread the gospel Jan 4th, 2010 Gave compliment to a stranger on 74 bus. I was taking the bus to go to the L. There was a girl standing right in front of me. She has really long black hair with big wave. It is really pretty. I really wanted to let her know that her hair looks gorgeous. After we got off the bus, we were all standing at the intersection waiting to get cross the street. I said to her “Just want to let you know that your hair is so pretty.” She said Thank you. Jan 8th, 2010 Gave caring to my housemate. She had a cold for couple of days. It was not getting better. I made her ginger milk jello. Sounds strange, right? She said it healed her. Jan 9th, 2010 Gave my jacket to a chinese girl. We volunteered at World Peace Gala-China Style. I was in charge of VIP reception desk. All my volunteers had to wear Qi Pao. It was ridiculously cold when they opened the door. There was one chinese girl. She worked so hard and never got a chance to get herself a warm jacket. I shared my wih her. Jan 10th, 2010 Mailed my mom a birthday package. My mom is turing 58 this month on Jan 21st. For so many years, she never wanted anything for herself. I was wondering maybe because she has been a good mom and wife for such a long time. She already forgot how to ask things for herself. I am sad everytime I think about this. Surprisingly, she said she wants a cake this time. I am so happy. I mailed her a package with a bottle of shower gel, lip balm, face cream, hand cream, 48 photos of me and a box of truffles. Hopefully, it will get my mom before her birthday. Jan 12th, 2010 Bought 李叶青 a dinner at Chinatown Jan 15th, 2010 Gave Kelli convient of picking her u-pass in the loop campus for her Gave a Avatar movie ticket to 李叶青 Jan 17th, 2010 Gave Angela a Avatar movie ticket
Rick (my tango instructor, who is the man on the right picture. The picture was taken for his wedding. His wife Anna is also his tango partner and my instructor) always says to his students at the end of the class “Guys, listen! Tango is all about the women. Your job is to making sure she looks good, not you. Let her feel she is the most beautiful woman in the world……”
I believe he is right. Good dancers know his partners’ ability in less than 15 seconds when they start to dance. It is crucial to know what she can do and what she cannot. Ladies! Especially some beginners. If some guys ask you to dance and he is only focusing on the fancy moves and you cannot even follow, then you just really frustrated to say I am not good enough for him. No. I have to say that unfortunately he is not that good. If he even cannot make sure you are with him, he does not know what is dancing.
Every time I dance with Rick, I close my eyes. I do not need to see. I only need to listen to him, trust him and follow him, the essence of Tango is connection. Some people even told me that if guys’ signal is clear enough, all the ladies can dance tango, even for the ones never had experience before. Rick always says “I am not impressed by those people who can do fancy moves, instead I am impressed by couples who can connected together.”
Dancing is a kind of performing arts. At the same time, it is also a non-verbal communication. If using communication theory to explain this. The purpose of communication is transferring a message from a source to a destination. The first step is an information source has to encode the message. Then there has to be a media can carry this encoded message to deliver to the destination. In order to understand the message, the destination has to decode first. Once the destination gets the message, it can send feedback to the resource. For example, John loves Mary and they have been dating for couple of years. John plans to propose. In this case, John is the resource. Message is John's love. He has to encode first. He can encode his message to Will You Marry Me? Then he has to find the right channel to deliver the message. This channel can be a letter, a special fancy dinner ending with proposal and hanging a ring on Christmas tree with all other Christmas decorations in Mary's house. After Mary understands his message. She can give her feedback. Yes or No. In the world of dancing, communication source is guys. The destination is ladies. Guys has to learn how to encode the message through body signal to deliver to his partners. Being the destination, ladies has to learn how to decode and act the way according her partners message. We call this feedback. Actually, in this case, channel is the CONNECTION. Once they loose connection, the message cannot be delivered. Guys have to use connection to transfer energy to girls.
How to build connection in dancing is crucial. It requires trust. It is actually really hard to trust a stranger. At a ball, most of time, you will be asked to dance with a stranger, or you will ask a stranger to dance. Good dancers know how to build connection in a second. It is commitment. It is understanding.
Learning how to dance is really like learning life. There has to be trust and commitment. If you break the trust and commitment, you will have really really hard time to communicate with people.
Yesterday, Link went to Java Jive to swing dance at University of Chicago. There was a really tall guy. I guess he is around 6 feet and 5 at least. Isac really wanted me to dance with him, because he thinks that is hilarious. I was really bold and I walked to him during his break to ask a dance. He was really cool and he said YES, so we danced in the lobby. He is a really good dancer. After the dance, he said most of time when he dances with a new person, that person is hesitated to do a lot of stuff, simply because they never dance before. He said dancing with me is different. I answered that because I trust you.
There is something I want to tell beginners from yesterday. For most of them, it was their first time to go to dance. They all had great time. Dancing is a lot of fun. Keep on doing, there is so much to expect and there is so much to learn. Dancing not only teaches me how to move, it also teaches me how to respect people and treat people.
Sometimes, I believe living my life is dancing with God. I need to be a better listener to do whatever he wants me to do, because he knows he wants me to look good. Remember, dancing is all about you ladies.
If someone asks me what you will miss the most if you leave Chicago, I would say friends and DANCE. Chicago is such a amazing place for dancers. You can find all different kinds of dance gatherings everywhere in the city all the time.
I call myself a dancing freak. No joking. I am. This week I will have 5 nights to dance. I mean out of seven. Monday night West Cost Swing, Wednesday night Rolling 20s Ball, Thursday night East Cost Swing, Friday night Java Jive University of Chicago, Saturday afternoon Tango Lesson at Joel Hall Dance Center. Wow! I always say I do not have a job. What else I can do? Dance!
I met Noel, who is a swing dance insturctor almost one year ago at Univerisyt of Chicago. Then he invited me come to DePaul Swing Society. When I was a student, I've only been there one time. Now I am there everytime. One thing I really like about DePaul's swing society is that it is open to everyone. Even students from IIT and non-students come to the dance party after class. All the classes are in the gym. You do not have to pay for any membership fee to get in, even you are not a DePaul student.
The video I attached here was Noel's birthday dance. I guess all the guys are dreaming that they can do this. I mean dance with all pretty girls. Hahahaha.
Here is the video I recorded last night at Roaring 20s Ball. It was at student center room 120. I would say the only thing I do not like is the dancing floor is little small, but not that bad. It was nice. I promise I will be in the next video.
I have been working for Chicago Sinfonietta as a marketing intern for almost 3 month. Chicago Sinfonietta is a non-profit classical orchestra. Tonight we will have our second concert of the season. LAUGHTER!!!!
To be honest, I never consider myself as a huge classical music fan, do not take me wrong, I love music, but I have to say I am really excited about the concert tonight. I worked for the first concert West Meets East. For me, it was really a life changing experience.It was a chinese theme concert. I just felt I am a part of the whole performace, because it was part of my culture; it was part of me. Anyway, Sinfonietta is not like most of traditional classical music organization. It is small. It is not as heavy as other orchestral. To me, the sound of Sinfonietta is really delightful.
Anyway, I got to go to the office. It will be good tonight!
Review From Sun-Times Funny side of Sinfonietta
Nov 4, 2009 ... On Monday night at Orchestra Hall, the Chicago Sinfonietta made a convincing argument ... for the orchestra's entertaining second program of the season, "Laughter. ... Bryant Manning is a locally based free-lance writer. ...
Dancing is a kind of performing arts. At the same time, it is also a non-verbal communication. If using communication theory to explain this. The purpose of communication is transferring a message from a source to a destination. The first step is an information source has to encode the message. Then there has to be a media can carry this encoded message to deliver to the destination. In order to understand the message, the destination has to decode first. Once the destination gets the message, it can send feedback to the resource. For example, John loves Mary and they have been dating for couple of years. John plans to propose. In this case, John is the resource. Message is John's love. He has to encode first. He can encode his message to Will You Marry Me? Then he has to find the right channel to deliver the message. This channel can be a letter, a special fancy dinner ending with proposal and hanging a ring on Christmas tree with all other Christmas decorations in Mary's house. After Mary understands his message. She can give her feedback. Yes or No. In the world of dancing, communication source is guys. The destination is ladies. Guys has to learn how to encode the message through body signal to deliver to his partners. Being the destination, ladies has to learn how to decode and act the way according her partners message. We call this feedback. Actually, in this case, channel is the CONNECTION. Once they loose connection, the message cannot be delivered. Guys have to use connection to transfer energy to girls. 
