Latest news with #Dance
Miami Herald
a day ago
- Sport
- Miami Herald
Greg Cote's Poll Dance: Who was MVP of Florida Panthers playoffs? Vote now!
The Conn Smythe trophy is awarded to the most valuable player of the Stanley Cup playoffs and voted on by an 18-member panel of hockey writers at the end of the Stanley Cup Final. The 2025 award went this week to Sam Bennett of the repeat-champion Florida Panthers. Agree with the choice? Or do you know more than a hockey writer? Not saying at all that Bennett was a questionable pick, no, but fans deserve their say, too, and that's where Mr. Poll Dance comes in. The Panthers' talent is so rich and deep that ours is a large ballot -- 10 names, listed alphabetically. No category for 'other,' sorry. I mean, there's 10 names here. But there's a twist! This is a Most Valuable Person poll. Eight players dominate our ballot, but we include two men in suits during games, not on skates: Coach Paul Maurice and general manager Bill Zito. However you parse what 'most valuable' means in bestowing the most credit for this title run, pick your one MVP. Vote as many times as you'd like or until your fingers ache. GREG COTE POLL DANCE: WHO WAS FLORIDA PANTHERS' PLAYOFF MVP?: Previous Poll Dance verdict: Close! Split-decision on Heat and Durant: This was an unusually close Poll Dance. We asked, 'Should the Miami Heat (once again) pursue Kevin Durant?' You said: No. You don't build a future with a guy almost 37 years old, 37%; Yes! He's still great even at his age, 32%; and Yes, but only if the price is right, 31%. Although the no's led in most votes, the combination of yes votes (outright or qualified) totaled a majority of 63 percent.
GMA Network
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- GMA Network
Pokwang explains why she will use comedy when judging on 'Stars on the Floor'
Pokwang is all set to bring in the laughs for her stint as a judge on 'Stars on the Floor.' Although she is part of the panel of judges, also called the Dance Authority, everybody's favorite Mamang will bring her signature high-energy comedy to the show. At the series' grand media conference, Pokwang said her past experiences inspire her style of judging. Pokwang started her career by participating in dance contests and as a professional dancer and choreographer. 'Dati rin po kasi akong kontesera. Nung bata po ako, duma-dance contest na 'ko. Ang unang tungtong ko po dito sa GMA, lumaban po ako ng dance contest sa 'Lunch Date,' the dubbed Star Comedienne of the Dance Floor said. 'Kontesera po ako so alam ko po 'yung pakiramdam ng ninenerbyos ka. Alam ko 'yung pakiramdam na kulang nalang mawala ka sa tinatayuan mo,' she added. 'Ako 'yung bilang balanse para mawala 'yung nerbyos ng mga [contestants].' She added that the judges see the contestants' nerves and exhaustion. 'Kailangan naman natin balansehin. Tawa-tawa tayo,' Pokwang said. As a judge, she is looking for a contestant's determination, eagerness, and ''yung hindi sila talaga matatakot harapin kung ano 'yung mga ibibigay sa kanila na genre.' 'Stars on the Floor,' dubbed the ultimate "COLLABanan ng Stars sa Sayawan" brings together personalities from entertainment and the digital world to pair up for a dance-collab competition. The stars will take part in dance styles from hip-hop, contemporary, and ballroom to jazz, swing, disco, Latin, dancehall, and more, with the best choreographers in the Philippines to guide them. The Celebrity Dance Stars are Glaiza de Castro, Rodjun Cruz, Faith da Silva, Thea Astley, and VXON Patrick. Meanwhile, the Digital Dance Stars are Zeus Collins, Dasuri Choi, JM Yrreverre, Kakai Almeda, and Joshua Decena. Kapuso Primetime Queen Marian Rivera, the Star Comedienne of the Dance Floor Pokwang, and the Dance Trend Master Coach Jay Joseph Roncesvalles, are the show's judges, or the Dance Authority. It is hosted by Alden Richards. 'Stars on the Floor" premieres June 28 at 7:15 p.m. on GMA Network. It is directed by Miggy Tanchanco, Paolo Valenciano, and Johnny Manahan. —JCB, GMA Integrated News
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Forever No. 1: The Beach Boys, ‘Help Me, Rhonda'
Forever No. 1 is a Billboard series that pays special tribute to the recently deceased artists who achieved the highest honor our charts have to offer — a Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single — by taking an extended look back at the chart-topping songs that made them part of this exclusive club. Here, we honor Brian Wilson, who died on Wednesday (June 11) at age 82, by looking at the second of The Beach Boys' three Hot 100-toppers: 'Help Me, Rhonda,' the final classic of the Beach Boys' earliest golden age. What a difference an 'h' makes. When 'Help Me, Ronda' was originally featured on The Beach Boys Today! in early 1965, the band didn't think too much of the shuffling love song with the repetitive hook; you can tell by how little care they took to normalize the volume levels, which inexplicably jump around in the song's last two choruses. But leader Brian Wilson believed in the song's potential, and after the band re-recorded it or single release (and for inclusion on the band's second 1965 album, Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)) as 'Help Me, Rhonda,' it became the latest in a stunning streak of smashes for the family-and-friends quintet from Southern California. More from Billboard The 20 Best Beach Boys Songs (Staff Picks) Addison Rae Announces Dates For Debut 2025 Headlining World Tour How Brandon Lake Is Leading A Whole New Flock To 'What's Real And What's True' In Christian Music In fact, by early 1965, The Beach Boys was one of the only American bands still holding its own against the pop-rock raiders from overseas. The British Invasion was in full swing, and The Beatles alone had topped the Hot 100 six times in 1964. In between No. 1s four and five for the Fab Four that year came the Boys' eternal teen anthem 'I Get Around' and the group had two additional top 10 hits by the end of '64: the wistful 'When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)' (No. 9) and the the ebullient 'Dance, Dance, Dance' (No. 8). Both of those were included on The Beach Boys Today! at the top of 1965, and the set also spawned a third single in a cover of Bobby Freeman's 'Do You Wanna Dance?,' which just missed the top 10 (No. 12) that April. As the Beach Boys were still enjoying their run of fun-and-sun early hits, Brian Wilson was beginning to stretch out both as a songwriter and a producer. 'I Get Around' was backed by 'Don't Worry Baby,' Wilson's first real attempt to outdo his idol Phil Spector, with impossibly dreamy production and harmonies and a gorgeous rising verse melody that somehow elevated into an even-higher-flying chorus. The flip-side to 'Dance, Dance, Dance' was 'Please Let Me Wonder,' another Spectorian love song with strikingly fragile verses and a near choir-like refrain. And perhaps most notably, Today! included the lovely but disquieting 'She Knows Me Too Well,' Wilson's first real lyrical examination of his own romantic insecurities and failings. All of these would ultimately point the way to the artistic leap forward the band would take on 1966's Pet Sounds, the band's intensely personal and overwhelmingly lush masterwork which disappointed commercially, but made them critics' darlings for the first time. But they weren't there yet. In mid-'65, they were still fighting to maintain their place in an increasingly crowded pop-rock landscape — and, not having reached the Hot 100's top five since 'I Get Around' nearly a full year earlier, they needed a no-doubter to lead off Summer Days. So Brian Wilson dug back in on the song he'd relegated to deep-cut status on the album before. 'Ronda' was much more in line with the group's earlier, simpler hits than the more lyrically and musically complex fare Wilson was starting to explore, but he was right that the song had real potential: It was a clever number that basically managed to be both a breakup ballad and an upbeat love song at once, with a chorus so relentless that you could hear it once and remember it for the rest of your life. It just needed a little extra maintenance. In truth, Brian did a lot more on the re-recording of 'Help Me, Ronda' than add an 'h' to her name and keep his finger steadier on the volume controls. He also clipped the intro, so it began right with its 'Well, since she put me down…' intro, dropping you right into the middle of the song's narrative. He tightened the tempo a little, and added some 'bow-bow-bow-bow' backing vocals to tie together the 'help-help me, Rhonda' pleas of the chorus. He added some extra piano and guitar to give the song's instrumental bridge a little extra zip. And perhaps most importantly, he laid an extra falsetto backing 'Help me, Rhonda, yeah!' on top of the chorus climax to make it stand out a little better from the rest of the refrain. They're all small additions, but you don't realize how much difference they make until you go back to the Today! original and wonder why the whole thing sounds so empty and lifeless by comparison. But while Brian Wilson allowed the song to soar, 'Rhonda' was anchored by a less-celebrated Beach Boy: Al Jardine. A high school friend of Brian's, Jardine had mostly served as a glue guy in the band to that point and had never sung lead on one of their songs, much less a single A-side. But Brian was intent on giving his buddy a spotlight moment, and decided Jardine would take the reins for 'Rhonda.' It was a good match: While the Wilsons' voices drifted towards the ethereal and sentimental, and Mike Love's had a more muscular, occasionally snide edge to it, Al Jardine's voice had both a sturdiness and an unassuming everyman quality to it. He was the Beach Boy best equipped to sell a relatable song like 'Rhonda.' And while 'Rhonda' was a less musically and lyrically ambitious song than others Wilson was attempting contemporaneously, there is still a bit of trickiness to it. It's a lyric that mourns a romantic split with one girl while attempting to simultaneously ask a new girl to ease his pain — and the vocal matches the shift; Jardine's singing is frenzied and pained and in the first half of his verses and smooth and composed in the second. From a less likable or compelling vocalist, the whole thing could've very easily come off like a cheap come-on, like he doesn't actually give a damn about either girl. But Jardine manages to sound sincere, like he actually is going through it and is genuinely in need of the help that only the titular female can provide. When he begs on the chorus for Rhonda to 'get 'er outta my heart!' — after a couple dozen shorter pleas from the rest of the Boys — you really hope she succeeds in doing so. With its new arrangement and new title, 'Rhonda' did indeed prove the no-doubter that the Beach Boys were hoping for to re-establish their pop supremacy in '65. The song debuted on the Hot 100 on April 17 at No. 80, and seven weeks later, it replaced — who else — The Beatles' 'Ticket to Ride' to become the band's second No. 1 hit, lasting two weeks on top before being replaced by the other dominant American pop group of the era: The Supremes, with 'Back in My Arms Again.' The Beatles would, of course, be heard from again just a few months later with a 'Help!' No. 1 of their own — and in between them in June, the Four Tops reigned with 'I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch).' (Draw your own conclusions about a generational cry for additional assistance amidst the turmoil of the mid-'60s if you so desire.) 'Help Me, Rhonda' would mark something of the end of an era for The Beach Boys and Brian Wilson, as it was their last major pop hit before the group started rapidly scaling up its ambitions. Even 'California Girls,' the group's universally accessible No. 3-peaking follow-up to 'Rhonda' — which, wouldn't you know it, got stuck behind The Beatles' 'Help!' on the Hot 100 — came affixed with a cinematic instrumental intro and a vocal outro in-the-round that no other pop group of the time would have dared attempt. By 1966, the group was pushing pop music into the future at a rate that would ultimately prove uncomfortable for both the public and for the Beach Boys themselves — though it would culminate in one more all-time classic pop single before it all fell apart. And 'Help Me, Rhonda' stands alone in all of pop history in at least one respect: It remains the lone Billboard Hot 100 representation for all Rhondas worldwide. No other song (or artist) with that name — outside of a No. 22-peaking Johnny Rivers cover of the song in 1975, featuring Brian on backing vocals — has ever reached the chart since its 1958 introduction. (No 'Ronda's either.) Tomorrow, we look at the final of the Beach Boys' three Brian Wilson-led No. 1s: the forever singular 'Good Vibrations.' Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Four Decades of 'Madonna': A Look Back at the Queen of Pop's Debut Album on the Charts Chart Rewind: In 1990, Madonna Was in 'Vogue' Atop the Hot 100
Japan Today
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Japan Today
Ezra Collective's infectious energy defies jazz 'elitism' to win new fans
By Clara LALANNE UK five-piece Ezra Collective has built up a loyal fan base with its upbeat jazz fusion, successfully challenging the genre's "elitism", saying that they embrace everyone. Over the last two years alone, "EZ" has become the first British jazz group to win the prestigious Mercury Prize and have a Top 10 UK album with 2024's "Dance, No One's Watching." Its crowning glory came in March when it was named group of the year at the 2025 Brit Awards, an annual celebration of UK music. "Jazz, when I was growing up, was an expensive thing to tap into. I couldn't afford to get into most jazz clubs, I definitely couldn't afford a drink," drummer Femi Koleoso told AFP at his small music studio in North London, close to where he grew up. "Jazz felt like an upper class, elitist high art form... so we're just making people feel like this is for everyone," he added. The story of Ezra Collective, named after the biblical prophet, began around a decade ago when Koleoso and his younger brother TJ, a bassist, began playing in teenage jazz clubs, where they met keyboardist Joe Armon-Jones and saxophonist James Mollison. They were later joined by trumpeter Ife Ogunjobi. "We learned jazz... but we fell in love with Afrobeat first. That was our first love, and infusing the two was the first sound," explained Koleoso. A decade later, the band, which will play at the Glastonbury Festival later this month, has incorporated other influences such as hip-hop, dub, reggae, Ghanaian highlife music and "most recently salsa music", he said. But jazz still "underpins" everything the band creates, added the drummer. Its danceable and inventive concoction has won fans far beyond jazz's traditional base, helped by the wild energy of its concerts where the charismatic Koleoso, like a preacher, exhorts the crowd to create a "temple of joy". One of the leading groups in an insurgent jazz scene, driven by a new generation of musicians, the quintet surprised everyone by winning the prestigious Mercury Prize for their second album, "Where I'm Meant To Be", released in 2023. The victory "finally acknowledges a golden age for UK jazz", said Guardian music critic Alexis Petridis. "A lot of us have a similar origin story in that a lot of us met in these youth clubs," which, according to bassist TJ Koleoso, have helped make London "the best place to be born in the world" for aspiring young musicians. The thriving community owes much to the "Tomorrow's Warriors" program established by Gary Crosby and Janine Irons. Attempting to address the lack of diversity in jazz, they founded the program in 1991 to provide young people with free spaces to practise, learn to play together and meet artists. It has fostered numerous talents such as Nubya Garcia, Kokoroko, and Ezra Collective, and the band's members now give lessons or donate instruments to the city's clubs, which have seen their numbers dwindle amid spending cuts. "This moment right here is because of the great youth clubs, and the great teachers and the great schools that support young people playing music," Femi Koleoso said at the Brits in March, as his band triumphed against music giants such as Coldplay and The Cure. Devout Christians and fans of Fela Kuti and Arsenal Football Club, the brothers grew up in the north London neighborhood of Enfield. "I grew up next to a Bangladeshi family, my best friend in school was Turkish, I'm Nigerian, my best mate is Ghanaian and (there's) Jamaicans everywhere you go," said Femi Koleoso. "That kind of melting-pot" has inspired "everything I wrote and created", added Femi Koleoso, who also toured with top group Gorillaz in recent years. When Ezra Collective takes to the stage, "the first part of the song will be played accurately" but "the moment the last note of the first part of the song is done, it's just a free-for-all, just see what happens, and long may that continue," said a smiling Femi Koleoso. "I don't know if AI could be doing that gig," added TJ Koleoso, addressing the debate about technology. He insisted that "real, authentic things survive" such upheavals. © 2025 AFP
ITV News
10-06-2025
- Politics
- ITV News
'I tried to take my own life': Somerset MP on teenage struggle with dyslexia
A Somerset MP has revealed his struggles with severe dyslexia once led to him trying to take his own life, as he opens up as part of a campaign being led by Jamie Oliver. Liberal Democrat Adam Dance is joining the celebrity chef in calling for teachers to be better trained in offering the support that children with the condition need, and for mandatory early screening to be introduced. "When I was at school I used to play up to get out of the classroom because I felt stupid," Dance says. "I felt stupid, I was bullied, and I even tried to take my own life at one point." Free school meals to be expanded to all families on universal credit Oliver's documentary on Channel 4, called 'Jamie's Dyslexia Revolution', is targeted at decision-makers in Westminster and hopes to pick up enough momentum to force those in power to listen. Already, it has encouraged the Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson to commit to proper training for new teachers from this September. The chef has already rallied outside Parliament with campaigners, parents and those with lived experience, and he plans to keep putting pressure on the Labour government along with other MPs, like Dance. The Yeovil MP was elected to the Somerset constituency in July last year and has spoken publicly about how he navigates living with dyslexia and ADHD. Speaking with Oliver in the documentary, he says he has been "really touched" by the chef's campaign, admitting that he chose to go into politics "because people like me and you need someone to speak to them". Dance's first encounter with local politics was when he was 16 years old and, with the support of his local Lib Dem MP, he helped save his local youth club from closure. The centre was a "saviour" for Dance, who was struggling with a lack of support in school for his dyslexia. It was then that the late Paddy Ashdown - former Lib Dem leader and Yeovil MP - spotted a future politician in the teenager and encouraged him to get involved with the party at a local level. Dance then went on to become a local councillor, and in 2022 became the lead member for public health at Somerset Council. Two of Dance's most high-profile campaigns as an MP have been related to saving services at Yeovil District Hospital. He admits he never expected to become an MP, but is open about the fact his challenges at school made him more resilient, and he says he wants to be the voice in Westminster that he feels he didn't have when he was a young boy in Yeovil.
