Tag: Force

Categories
Entertainment

She’s the Dancing Pressure Behind Nia Dennis’s Viral Gymnastics Routines

She’s the Dancing Force Behind Nia Dennis’s Viral Gymnastics Routines

The University of California Los Angeles Bruins gymnastics team has more than one secret weapon. Yes, there is Nia Dennis, whose floor routine, a lush and powerful celebration of black culture, went viral last week. The team also has another rising star: the choreographer Bijoya Das.

BJ, as she is called, has been the Bruins’ volunteer assistant trainer since 2019. As a former gymnast, she also has a deep relationship with dance. A commercial dancer and choreographer who has lived in Los Angeles since 2007, she has performed with Beyoncé, Pink, Usher, Avril Lavigne and others.

But she also loves when dance is paired with something else, like wrestling – her choreography was featured on season two of “Glow” – and especially gymnastics, where dance is part of the artistic part of an athlete’s score, to which too the execution belongs, technique and composition.

At the college level, dance is an important part: it connects a routine and lets a gymnast’s personality shine on the mat. As Das explained, the dance element is subjective and usually not an area where many deductions are made. But it’s important. At UCLA, she continues a strong dance tradition, following the path of former Bruins head coach Valorie Kondos Field, who, Das said, “came to UCLA as a ballet dancer and choreographer who knew nothing about gymnastics. ”

She made the team dance, just like Das does now with her gripping floor routines, including two viral performances by Dennis. The first and last season was set for a Beyoncé medley. This year, inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement and last summer’s protests, includes Kendrick Lamar’s “Humble”; Missy Elliott’s “Pass That Dutch”; and Monica with The Franchize Boyz ‘”Everytime tha Beat Drop”, one of Dennis’ most popular TikToks.

During the 90 seconds of the floor routine, Dennis sails through tumbling passes – all the more impressive since she underwent shoulder surgery in June – and weaves the dance non-stop. She begins on a stern remark by taking one knee, raising a fist in the air, and rising to salute the Wakanda Forever. “Then she meets a little Nae Nae and a Woah,” said Das, referring to TikTok movements. “It’s legendary new age hip hop. She just loves to dance so we thought it would be fun. “

Dennis got electrified last year and has become even more fluid when it comes to combining dance and gymnastics. The seamless routine includes moments from TikTok dances as well as some steps, the percussive tradition found in black fraternities and sororities. It was inspired by Dennis’ father who helped out by sending out tutorials.

One of the most beautiful moments comes when Das faces Dennis in a cameo and dances with her. They had just changed the timing of how Dennis would get out of a fall pass and she was nervous about missing it.

“We all do the routines on the sidelines anyway,” said Das. “Now I feel like at every meeting of the season, I’ll stand there and do that to her. It’s like our thing now. “

Dennis, who said she found movement a form of freedom, was inspired by That. “I try to be like you, to move like you,” she said in an interview. “She definitely knows how to choreograph for each individual. It’s so hard to do. Not everyone can dance the same way. Not everyone can really dance, you know “

Dennis’s accomplishments aren’t the only UCLA athletes to go viral. In 2016 it was Sophina DeJesus; in 2019 Katelyn Ohashi. This is a team of individuals. Look for Margzetta Frazier – another incredible gymnast-dancer who will soon be introducing a new that routine – and for Chae Campbell, who is even-tempered, bright and just a newbie.

That’s proud of them all. She started gymnastics at the age of 6 and was continuing her sophomore year at the University of Washington when an Achilles tear forced her to quit. “It was a sudden end to my career that I definitely didn’t want,” she said.

After recovering, she told herself if she couldn’t be a gymnast she would become a dancer, something she always loved. “I started taking dance classes in Seattle and I really fell in love with hip-hop,” she said. “I also used jazz funk. I had so much fun finding joy in something. “

And she continues to enjoy dancing even during the pandemic. The one who created the movement for the new video for the Sam Feldt-Kesha collaboration “Stronger” – it’s about finding strength in difficult times and includes a fight sequence – also choreographed the Bruins intro video this season, another Festival for gymnastics and dance.

Recently Das spoke about their approach to the Bruins, how their commercial career influenced their choreography, and about the sensational Dennis who, by the way, didn’t choose to train for the Olympics.

What follows are edited excerpts from this conversation.

Do you want to change the gymnastics?

I think less and less about it: How can I change every athlete for the better and how can I change the program for the better? But when I saw how Nia’s routine had affected people, I realized that I might have a bigger purpose with all of this, and that it’s not just about getting good results and bringing out cool moves.

It’s more about inspiring people to reach their full potential, pursuing their dreams or trying something they thought they couldn’t do because of the color of their skin or because it doesn’t fit into shape.

How do you work with the gymnasts?

They all had a very tough year. I just want the routines to please them and make them happy. This year it wasn’t really about pleasing people or doing what the judges or the gymnastics critics want. It was more about what would make you feel good as an athlete?

In our team we do a studio on Mondays, where I teach a dance class. Having some type of dance training helps with coordination and balance and working through the feet.

I feel like Nia took this workout really seriously. I think she played more of a character last year. It worked and it was a great time watching. This year I feel like she is playing herself: how she lies on the ground is how she is in life.

How did your commercial dance experience get into gymnastics?

One thing that is very important to me is musicality and timing. Not only do we aimlessly strike poses and dance moves and move through the music. We actually hit accents and beats and I want the timing to look good. I’m in a lot of them about that.

Your title confuses me. Are you really a volunteer?

Yes. There are a lot of different rules in the NCAA. And one of the rules in gymnastics is that you are only allowed to have three paid trainers on staff. Often the volunteer trainer is the choreographer.

Wow. This is just so wrong!

You know how dancers are: you just follow your heart because you loved it and then you make bad business decisions along the way.

How do you find a balance between dance and technical skills in a routine?

There are certain college gymnastics requirements they must have, and it is usually two or three fall passes depending on how difficult they are. And then they have to meet a jump requirement. Everything else is dance and art. I choreograph the split times and make them fun to see.

Do gymnasts have more freedom to dance in college than in international competition?

I don’t think it’s freedom.

So the international competition is just boring for me?

[Laughs] These international gymnasts need to do more tricks. It just leaves less time for performance and less energy can be used for it. But it is also the culture of elite gymnastics. When you notice, many of them don’t smile; They don’t actually occur. You just do these in-between movements and poses.

I have noticed!

There are some international elites who are extremely artistic on the ground, but the culture is usually a bit more classic and maybe ballet based. So you won’t actually see people doing the woah in their elite routine – as much as it would be really fun for someone to just shake them up.

Categories
Business

A choose declines to power Amazon to renew internet hosting Parler.

Hong Kong Website Doxxing Police Gets Blocked, Raising Censorship Fears

A federal judge on Thursday declined to force Amazon to resume hosting the social networking app Parler on its cloud computing platform. This is not in the public interest.

Amazon kicked Parler, who had become a hangout for far-right conservatives, off its platform in the days following the January 6 riot at the Capitol. Parler then sued Amazon, accusing the tech giant of failing to adequately warn of the termination of its services, and asking the court to force Amazon to host the social network. Parler also argued in his complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Western Washington District that Amazon partnered with Twitter in violation of antitrust laws.

Amazon responded that Parler has not moderated the violent and red-hot content on its website sufficiently and has no choice but to act quickly. It has also been denied having any contact with Twitter on the matter.

The judge Barbara J. Rothstein ruled that Parler made “only weak and factually imprecise speculations” about the alleged collusion between Amazon and Twitter. It also noted that “there is no debate” that Amazon’s commitment to reinstating Parler now, before the social network could establish an effective content moderation system, “would result in the continued posting of abusive, violent content “prompted Amazon to start Parler in the first place. The court, she wrote, “specifically rejects” forcing Amazon to deliver this type of violent speech.

Judge Rothstein wrote that the riot in the Capitol was “a tragic reminder that inflammatory rhetoric – faster and easier than many of us would have hoped – can turn a legitimate protest into a violent uprising.”

Although the judge did not dismiss the case outright, she wrote that Parler “has not been able to show that it is likely that he will prevail on the matter”.

Jeffrey Wernick, Parler’s chief operating officer, said in a statement that the litigation is still in its early stages. “We remain confident that we will ultimately prevail in the main case,” he said.

Categories
Entertainment

Barbara Weisberger, a Power in American Ballet, Dies at 94

Barbara Weisberger, a Force in American Ballet, Dies at 94

Barbara Weisberger, who founded the Pennsylvania Ballet in Philadelphia with a steadfast vision that would turn the troupe into a nationally recognized company, died on December 23rd at her home in Kingston, Pennsylvania. She was 94 years old.

Her family reported her death.

Originally trained in ballet in New York and Philadelphia, the young Barbara enjoyed studying dance like many children, but never had a career as a dancer in a professional company. Instead, she became an influential ballet teacher who played an important role in the development of regional ballet in America.

She was also the first child George Balanchine admitted to the school he opened in Manhattan in 1934. That connection was renewed after her family moved to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where she opened a ballet school in 1953 and attended seminars that Balanchine organized for teachers affiliated with small community troops.

Ms. Weisberger founded another school in Philadelphia in 1962 and the Pennsylvania Ballet the following year. By 1974, as Clive Barnes wrote in the New York Times that year, the company was “absolutely one of the best troops in the country”.

Ms. Weisberger’s time as artistic director, which ended in 1982, was a tour de force. She combined a focus on works by Balanchine, the official advisor to the Pennsylvania Ballet, with an openness to works by a variety of other choreographers.

A major early hit was the version of Carl Orff’s rough cantata “Carmina Burana,” performed by the Pennsylvania dancers with the New York City Opera.

During the same period Antony Tudor, the king of psychological ballet, staged his passionate dance drama “Jardin aux Lilas” for the Pennsylvania Company. In a 1967 performance, Barnes praised the “sensitivity” of Tudor’s production, adding that “the dancers repay the compliment with an almost touching sense of devotion.”

Ms. Weisberger started her company in Philadelphia with only a few students from Wilkes Barre School. These included Rose Marie Wright, who later became the lead dancer with Twyla Tharp’s modern dance troupe Roseanne Caruso and Robert Rodham, who after her dance in the New York Ballet also acted as the choreographer and then as the company’s ballet master.

Barbara Sandonato and Patricia Turko were highly recommended by Balanchine’s school, and Ms. Weisberger later recruited a world-class dancer, Lawrence Rhodes, while developing newcomers.

The troupe performed frequently in New York during the 1960s and 1970s, usually at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and at City Center in Manhattan. Public television made it known nationwide with its series “Dance in America”.

It also performed with missionary zeal in the United States, touring for one-night stands with one bus for the dancers and one for the orchestra. As Ms. Sandonato recalled in a telephone interview, some viewers had never seen live ballet performances.

Once, she said, there was no applause after the performance of “Concerto Barocco”, a Balanchine signature piece, and none for the second and third works in the program. But, she said after the troupe closed with Balanchine’s “Scotch Symphony”, “the audience screamed and roared.”

“The audience later told us at reception that they wanted to be very respectful until the end,” said Ms. Sandonato.

For Gretchen Warren, who joined the company in 1965, the first few years were fraught with small dangers. During an outdoor performance, she said, the dancers danced over small frogs on a makeshift stage in a cow pasture.

But there were also great joys. She was delighted, she said, that Ms. Weisberger had retained the choreography that Balanchine later modified in his own company, the New York Ballet, to the regret of some fans. One example was the Arabic dance from his “Nutcracker”. “I did a sluggish solo and danced at half the pace as it was originally done,” said Ms. Warren.

However, Ms. Weisberger didn’t want the Pennsylvania Ballet to be a copy of the New York Ballet, Ms. Sandonato said. “Balanchine talked about where to put an accent and how to do a plié,” she said. “But we had individual qualities, and he allowed that.”

Recognition…Pennsylvania Ballet

If you

Barbara Linshes was born in Brooklyn on October 28, 1926, the daughter of Herman and Sally (Goldstein) Linshes, who worked in the clothing business. The family moved to Wilkes-Barre in 1940 and Mr. Linshes ran a well-known business there, the Paris Dress Shop.

When Barbara was 5 years old and still living in Brooklyn, her mother enrolled her in a local ballet school run by Marian Harwick, who had danced with the Metropolitan Opera. Thanks to Mrs. Harwick, Balanchine, newly arrived from Europe and little known in America, accepted 8-year-old Barbara as the first child in his School of American Ballet. Three years later she moved to the Metropolitan Opera ballet school.

Coincidentally, this was the time when Balanchine was tasked with choreographing new ballets and opera productions for the Metropolitan Opera. Barbara noticed him again. “I’ve been to the Met in all of his ballets – anything kids could use,” she told an interviewer.

On the way, she studied at the pioneering Littlefield Ballet School in Philadelphia as a teenager, attended the University of Delaware, and graduated from Penn State. While running her school and student company in Wilkes-Barre, she became a leading figure in the National Regional Ballet Association.

Ms. Weisberger founded the Pennsylvania Ballet in Philadelphia because she thought the city could better support a professional company. Nevertheless, she remained connected to the Wilkes-Barre region and spent every weekend there with her children.

She married Ernest Weisberger in 1949. He and his younger brother started a company that made bespoke kitchens. He died in 2013 at the age of 94.

Mrs. Weisberger is survived by a daughter, Wendy Kranson; one son, Steven; three grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

In 1972, Ms. Weisberger invited the American choreographer Benjamin Harkarvy, who worked in Holland, to become her deputy director and then artistic director alongside her as executive artistic director. But after years of struggling financially, they faced a hostile board of directors. Ms. Weisberger and Mr. Harkarvy submitted their forced resignation in 1982.

Rather than starting another business, in 1984 she started the Carlisle Project, an innovative program in Carlisle, Pennsylvania to develop choreographers. she ran it until 1996.

When asked over the years about her enduring loyalty to Balanchine at the Pennsylvania Ballet, she replied that it was “an aspired, unimposed influence”.

“He’s the best,” she would say.

Categories
Health

Biden Picks Dr. Nunez-Smith to Lead Well being Fairness Activity Drive

Biden Picks Dr. Nunez-Smith to Lead Health Equity Task Force

Many factors have contributed to higher infection rates and serious illnesses in minority communities. Blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans are more likely than whites to live in overcrowded households and are less likely to be able to work from home. Minority Americans have higher rates of underlying health problems that increase their risk for severe Covid-19, and they often have limited access to medical care. Asian-Americans were less likely to be infected than white Americans, but had slightly higher rates of hospitalizations and deaths.

While almost every American today knows someone affected by Covid-19, in color communities at least a third of people have lost someone close to them. “Think about the individual toll that costs,” said Dr. Nunez-Smith. “These are people’s parents, friends and relatives. We cannot overestimate the disproportionate impact. “

Dr. Nunez-Smith is currently one of three co-chairs on an advisory board that advises the Biden transition team on managing the pandemic. Colleagues describe her as a brilliant scientist with a gift for consensus-building, a sharp contrast to the politically motivated administrative officials who led the response during the Trump era.

“She is a national gem,” said Dr. Harlan Krumholz, Professor of Medicine at the Yale School of Medicine. “This is a person who spends their days thinking about how we can make health care more equitable and what interventions can address these differences.”

At Yale, Dr. Nunez-Smith many hats – practicing internist, scientist, teacher, mentor, and director of several research centers. She heads Yale’s Equity Research and Innovation Center, which she founded, and a National Institutes of Health-funded research collaboration investigating chronic diseases in Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, and the US Virgin Islands.

She is also involved in community organizations such as the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven and Connecticut Voices for Children. “She’s not sitting in her ivory tower,” said Christina Ciociola, senior vice president of grants and strategy at the foundation.

Categories
Politics

Home Strikes to Power Trump Out, Vowing Impeachment if Pence Gained’t Act

House Moves to Force Trump Out, Vowing Impeachment if Pence Won’t Act

The president had been excited about the event for days, focused more on it, and tried to overturn the electoral college vote than anything else. On the way to Wednesday, some advisors said privately that Mr. Trump appeared to believe that Mr. Pence could legally pass the election to him in his role as chairman of the vote.

At one point, Mr Trump told the Vice President that he had spoken to Mark Martin, the former chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, who had told him that Mr Pence had that authority. Mr. Pence had assured Mr. Trump that he did not. Mr Trump had the Vice President defend his case in a meeting with attorneys whom Rudolph W. Giuliani helped draft.

Both parties admitted they had no clear picture of how many Republican senators could ultimately vote in favor of Mr Trump’s conviction.

Mr Toomey said Mr Trump has been “kind of mad” since the election and has effectively “disqualified” from ever running for office again. But a day after calling Mr. Trump’s behavior “incontestable,” Mr. Toomey argued that impeachment would be impractical as Mr. Trump was already on his way to the exit.

“I think the best way for our country, Chuck, is for the president to step down and leave as soon as possible,” he told host Chuck Todd on NBC’s Meet the Press. “I admit that may not be likely, but I think that would be best.”

Speaking to staff about the prospect of yet another impeachment trial, Mr. Trump was struck by the fact that few people on his defense team would be part of a new trial in last year’s Senate trial.

Jay Sekulow, who has served as his lead personal attorney, and two other private attorneys, Marty Raskin and Jane Raskin, will not attend any future impeachment defense, according to a person briefed on the planning, as will Pat A. Cipollone, attorney for the White House or Patrick F. Philbin, his deputy.

Categories
Politics

False Experiences of a New ‘U.S. Variant’ Got here from White Home Process Pressure

False Reports of a New ‘U.S. Variant’ Came from White House Task Force

Reports of a highly contagious new variant in the United States released on Friday by several news outlets are based on speculative statements by Dr. Deborah Birx and are inaccurate according to several government officials.

The flawed report arose recently at a meeting at which Dr. Birx, a member of the White House’s coronavirus task force, presented diagrams of the escalating cases in the country. She suggested to other members of the task force that a new, more transferable variant originating in the US could explain the surge, as did another variant in the UK.

Their hypothesis made it a weekly report sent to the state governors. “This fall / winter rise was almost twice as fast as the spring and summer rise. This acceleration suggests that there may be a US variant that has evolved here, on top of the UK variant that is already spreading in our communities and potentially 50% more transferable, ”the report said. “Aggressive attenuation must be used to match a more aggressive virus.”

CDC officials in dismay tried to remove the speculative statements, but were unsuccessful, according to three people familiar with the events.

CDC officials disagreed with their assessment and asked to have them removed, but they were told no, according to a frustrated CDC official who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

Dr. Birx could not be reached immediately for comment.

News of a possible new variant appeared on CNBC Friday afternoon and quickly spread to other branches. In response to media inquiries about the variant, the CDC issued a formal statement refuting the theory.

“Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are monitoring all emerging variants of the coronavirus, including the 5,700 samples collected in November and December,” said Jason McDonald, an agency spokesman. “So far, neither CDC researchers nor analysts have seen any particular variant emerge in the US,” he said.

Variants in circulation in the US include B.1.1.7, which was first identified in the UK and is now driving a surge and overwhelming hospitals. The variant has been discovered in a handful of states, but the CDC estimates it currently accounts for less than 0.5 percent of cases in the country.

Another variant that circulates in small amounts in the US, known as B 1.346, contains a deletion that can make vaccines less effective. “But I didn’t see anything about increased transmission,” said Michael Worobey, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona who discovered this variant.

This variant has been in the US for three months and also accounts for less than 0.5 percent of cases. Therefore, it is unlikely to be more contagious than other variants, according to a CDC scientist who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the matter.

All viruses evolve and the coronavirus is no different. “Because of the scientific understanding of viruses, it is very likely that many variants will develop simultaneously around the world,” said McDonald of the CDC. “However, it may take weeks or months to determine if there is a single variant of the virus that is causing Covid-19 to fuel the surge in the US, much like the UK.”

Carl Zimmer reported from New Haven and Noah Weiland from Washington DC

Categories
Health

White Home Coronavirus Process Pressure backs restoration of inbound journey from Brazil, UK and Europe, sources say

White House Coronavirus Task Force backs restoration of inbound travel from Brazil, UK and Europe, sources say

President Donald Trump speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on Friday, November 13, 2020.

Evan Vucci | AP

The White House Coronavirus Task Force has recommended President Donald Trump that the United States begin admitting travelers from Brazil, the United Kingdom and the 27 countries of the European Union, according to two officials involved in the discussions.

If Trump approves the proposal for a directive, it would reverse entry bans on U.S. allies that were in place at the start of the pandemic as the virus rose overseas. Travel from China and Iran, two of the earliest hotspots for the virus that restricted travel in January and February, would not be eased, according to these officials.

The task force disagreed on its recommendation, which was sent to the president before Thanksgiving. According to the sources, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention strongly disapproved of reopening travel as reckless, especially as the agency’s leadership signaled to the American public that domestic vacation travel was unsafe.

The proposed policy would not guarantee entry to the same countries for US travelers and would upset some of Trump’s advisors who argue that it violates the government’s “America First” mantra. However, significant disagreements persist between nations and blocs over what protocols are needed to keep transmission of the virus at bay, and the two officials who spoke with CNBC said there may be disagreements between the outbound and inbound administrations could give, which further complicates the negotiations.

In the U.S., the task force agreed that local authorities – such as individual airports, governors, and mayors – would be responsible for the testing and quarantine protocol international travelers would need after they land in order to avoid the creation of a surviving federal regulatory regime Pandemic.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on where the political process stands and when Trump might put it into action. The two sources involved in the discussion said that if approved, they would be announced before Trump leaves office, but the growing virus as a holiday approach would challenge any announcement until then.

Reuters initially reported on the lifting of travel restrictions. The Wall Street Journal reported in October that officials were discussing a limited opening of the travel corridor between New York and London, which should go into effect before the holidays.