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For "Our Ben"   They seek him here, they seek him there His clothes are loud, but never square It will make or break him so he's got to buy the best 'Cause he's a dedicated follower of

You've inspired me, Oz.   One of my parents' favourite songs was Dancing in the Dark (Fred Astaire). As it was a foxtrot, it was also one of their favourite dances.   I've adapted

Dance Duck? these are my charity shop shoes.....how could you turn me down......... 

Mine caught me and I only saw her home after the dance.  A hound should be able to run better than that, but I guess I wanted to get caught.

Went to the pictures next night.  Ritz Carlton.  I was living high.  Lousy film but neither of us cared.

Felt like the Beagle that caught the Rabbit. :Friends:

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This one Jill ?.............love Donold's shoes.........i'll look in Bulwell ''Charity shops'' bet they have some........

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Tap shoes. I'll bet there are loads of them in Bulwell!

 

When we were children, dad put metal segs in our sensible shoes. This made them almost like tap shoes or, as my sister put it, made her sound like a carthorse clip clopping down the road. She hated the sensible shoes dad always bought us as children. She wanted fashionable footwear. As dad said, 'When you're paying for your own shoes, you can have what you like!'

 

 

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That year again..63.......loved this instrumental..''Perfidia''......10 bob for caravan.......after dancing....in 'happy Days club......

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Nice tune Ben.  I don't recall hearing the Shads version.  It's very relaxed.  The one I knew best was the Ventures rather more frantic version:

 

Perfidia has been recorded by hundreds of artists.. but the other one I recall is Glenn Miller's.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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14 hours ago, benjamin1945 said:

.loved this instrumental..''Perfidia''

Perfidia does not fit with your persona Ben

In Spanish it means faithlessness, treachery or betrayal, I am sure that none of those represent our Ben

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I also knew someone with that name but she was always known as Dita, for short.

 

The name Cordelia, also from Shakespeare (King Lear), runs through my mother's maternal line as a middle name.  I rather like it but it wasn't given to me.

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Actually Danced here..about the same year this was filmed...........funny night 99% of the customers were Chinese............good night though....Danced with several Chinese girls...at least i think they were different girls....:)

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I used to watch Come Dancing on the tv when I was a child. Both my parents were keen and, so I'm told, talented ballroom dancers.  I coveted one of those huge net dresses the women wore in those days. It appears they have gone out of fashion these times.

 

I was already having ballet lessons, so ballroom was not on the agenda! At Manning, we had a ballroom dance club at lunchtimes, taken by a young teacher named Miss Steele. As it was a single sex school, we had to take it in turns to be the male.  I remember having a dance with my father round the sitting room and he complained, 'You're leading!'  Reminds me of that immortal line from Some Like It Hot "You're leading again, Daphne!". Joe E Brown to Jack Lemmon.

 

However, it was useful to learn all the ballroom dances: the waltz, the Viennese waltz, foxtrot, paso doble, tango, quickstep and many others. Rare happy memories of time in the Manning School hall.

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Come Dancing. Always used to watch it, the announcer would describe the woman's dress, who made it and how many sequins were sewn on, etc. Once a night was formation dancing. It fascinated me how the dancers would cross between each other.

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Those dresses were, in reality, mainly net underskirts with a couple of layers of voile or silk tarlatan comprising the actual "dress'. It fascinated me to watch the floaty upper layers waft about as their wearers were dancing.  Goodness knows how much net was required to make one of the underskirts. I know how much net went into a standard ballet tutu. A lot more than you would think from looking at the finished product. Ballroom skirts must have cost a fortune in net. Perhaps that is why they fell out of favour.

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Both my son and daughter did competion dancing and won quite a few trophies and medals. I used to make all my daughters ballroom and latin american dresses. Almost a  bale of net would make a full underskirt for my daughters dresses. But they were made in a way that the underskirt fit all her dresses, fitting them with velcro. One lady whose daughter went to the same school of dancing , was a dressmaker working with theatrical costumes. She made her daughter a dress for her exams and the judges said to get her a dress that was adapted for ballroom and old time dancing not a Shakespearian play. She asked me to make her an underskirt and after that every girl wanted one. I think I supplied the whole school ( girls only)

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On 10/8/2021 at 11:36 AM, philmayfield said:

Not Perfidia but I did know a lady called Perdita. The 

 

Reminds me when we were in R.O.T. Chatting to one of our customers she said she loved Italy and had given her daughter an Italian name. I had to turn away because she called her Padella , ok it sounds nice and Italian but it means frying pan.

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Short tutus were a bu**er to make. I only made a couple. They incorporated a wire hoop and were stored by hanging them upside down from the crotch to keep the layers of net turning upwards when worn.  Classical ballet costumes were much easier to make as they are longer (ankle length) and don't incorporate the 'pants' section. They require far less net than ballroom underskirts. The amount of net used in those would have interfered seriously in a female dancer's elevation and, in pas de deux sequences, it would have been impossible for the danseur to get anywhere near his female partner.

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They were soft so all the net was pushed to the rear and were made with gathered strips of net sewn to a circle of net and the next layer was sewn onto the edge of the previous layer, so all the fullness was at the edge and was shown off to perfection. The dress being separate and just rested on top. They used to take me a week to make one. Never had to make a tutu though, think it would have driven me to desparation.

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I wouldn't recommend it, nonna. Net, especially black net or dark colours, has an unfortunate effect on the eyes and I found i couldn't do much work on it at any one time without taking frequent rests.

 

Then there was the dreadful business of boning! Tutus are supposed to fit like a second skin and, for that reason, incorporate stays, either metal or flexible plastic, sewn into the bodice. Not the most comfortable things to wear and then there's the painful deformity of the feet caused by dancing en pointe. Looks good. Hurts like hell!

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I definitely agree with you, Jill, about dancing on points - I was put on points too soon when my foot bones weren’t ready for the pressure.  I never felt pain but it made my feet a different shape!

I only had one tutu which was when I was only 11 so I didn’t need any bones in the bodice.   My mum made it and stitched the layers of net upside down (if that makes sense). It had a lemon satin outer layer and green satin leaves because I was supposed to be a primrose!!!

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Black with any needle work is pure torture. Working on fine linen on complicated cross stitch nearly drove me insane. It wasnt black but pale blue with lots of different shades of blue.

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