How to german slap dance
Dancing the Schuhplattler in Bavaria – Travels With Tricia
Posted byTricia A. Mitchell
Posted inCulture and History, Germany, Holidays and Commemorative Days, Travelogues
Tags:Ammergauer Alps, Bavaria, German culture and history, German folk dance, Oberammergau, Schuhplattler, Trachtenverein, travel
One of the joys of exploring Germany’s Bavaria region is seeing the people’s penchant for preserving tradition. In the village of Oberammergau, where we’ve spent much time visiting my parents, it’s not uncommon to spot an older gentleman wearing a loden green, woolen hat, with feather, during a grocery-shopping trip. On holidays, ladies often don vibrant Dirndls (dresses with poofy sleeves and aprons finished off with a pretty bow). And, during festivals, dancers of all ages take to the stage to show off their dancing skills, looked on by revelers with mugs of beer, a lively brass band, and an occasional yodeler.
Over one hundred years ago, folk clubs in Germany, called Vereine, were established to help preserve fading aspects of culture, such as singing, dancing, and traditional music performance. Several of my parents’ neighbors are even Verein members, and so we’ll sometimes see a middle-aged father, and his teenage son – dressed in Lederhosen (leather shorts and suspenders), woolen jackets, even a feather-adorned hat – hopping in their car with instrument cases in hand to attend weekly music practice. Horse-blessing ceremonies and May Pole celebrations are also held in neighboring villages.
Each summer, Oberammergau’s folk club holds Gartenfests (garden festivals – as you probably guessed) replete with dancing, polka performances, and stands selling homemade cakes, fresh pretzels, Bratwürste, and of course, beer.
If the vignettes I’ve described bring to mind scenes from the 1980s classic film European Vacation (when actor Chevy Chase hops on stage to have some knee-slapping fun with German dancers), perhaps that’s a fitting comparison. Indeed, Oberammergau’s well-coordinated male dancers also do the Schuhplattler, slapping their knees, thighs and soles of their feet, throwing in occasional hops. Now that’s a good way to burn off all that fest food! :) It is said that the Schuhplattler was originally performed so that young men could impress single young ladies, a courtship dance of sorts.
To get you in the mood for summer festivals, which are just around the corner, here are some vignettes from one of Oberammergau’s past Gartenfests.
A young dancing pair, dressed in Tracht (traditional folk costumes) perform in the German village of Oberammergau. Dress such as this was commonly worn in Bavaria and neighboring parts of Austria until the late 19th Century.
Folk clubs, known as Vereine, were eventually formed to help preserve aspects of culture such as dancing and singing. This particular performance was put on by a local Verein. The types of clothing vary, based upon the region.It’s all in the details: the boys and men sport Lederhosen (leather shorts) and hand-knit half-socks, and the female dancers wear white, lace-like stockings.Stands selling beer, Bratwurst, and tempting slices of homemade cakes. In environmentally-friendly Germany, it’s common at festivals to use glass mugs and sometimes even non-disposable dishes. The items are then simply washed on-site. Recycling is also mandatory.
Dogs are beloved in Germany, and are welcome in restaurants and shops, but generally not in stores selling food. Here, a furry friend relaxes in a comfortable spot away from all the action. On the right, a trio of locals dressed in Tracht.Traditional fest food and attire. This man’s suspenders were hand-needlepointed by his wife.
The mountain depicted in the center is Oberammergau’s signature peak, the Kofel, which we climbed in 2013.Even members of the brass band have glass mugs of Bier at the ready.Real red carnations adorn the Mieder of a female dancer’s folk costume. (The Mieder is the part of the costume that is worn over the blouse.) On the right, a boy dancer’s suspenders (Hosenträger) are decorated with Alpine flowers.
Dancers sporting white feathers, and a plethora of pins, watch as their peers take to the stage.
The children’s instructor stomps his foot to keep the dancers in time.
As the fest wore on, dancers of various ages took to the stage. Some performances were all-male, evoking images of the knee-slapping dance scene in a fictional German village in the 1985 film, European Vacation.
Where in the World?
Planning Pointers:
- The Gartenfest festival is typically held in Oberammergau in June, but there are several special events throughout the year.
For the current year’s schedule, refer to the Oberammergau Folk / Costume Club (Volkstrachtenverein d’Ammertaler e.V. Oberammergau) website or the Ammergauer Alpen site. - To get to Oberammergau via the German rail or by bus, consider getting the Bayern or Regio Ticket (website in German, but you can use Google Translate). These special tickets start at €20/25 for one passenger, and cost €6 for each additional passenger. You can use them to travel via bus and train throughout much of the region, making them a better deal if you want to make a few stops in a day. You can purchase tickets online, via a ticket machine, or in person.
- Need more inspiration as you plan your travels through Germany? This link contains a guide and index of all my posts from Germany.
Photography & text © Tricia A. Mitchell. All Rights Reserved.
Oberammergau, Germany
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Posted byTricia A. MitchellPosted inCulture and History, Germany, Holidays and Commemorative Days, TraveloguesTags:Ammergauer Alps, Bavaria, German culture and history, German folk dance, Oberammergau, Schuhplattler, Trachtenverein, travel Tricia A.
Mitchell is a freelance writer and photographer. Born in Europe but raised in the United States, she has lived in Valletta, Malta; Heidelberg, Germany; and Split, Croatia. An avid globetrotter who has visited more than 65 countries, she has a penchant for off-season travel. Tricia has learned that travel’s greatest gift is not sightseeing, rather it is the interactions with people. Some of her most memorable experiences have been sharing a bottle of champagne with distant French cousins in Lorraine, learning how to milk goats in a sleepy Bulgarian village, and ringing in the Vietnamese New Year with a Hanoi family. She welcomes any opportunity to practice French and German, and she loves delving into a place’s history and artisanal food scene. A former education administrator and training specialist, Tricia has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s degree in international relations. She and her husband, Shawn, married in the ruins of a snowy German castle. They’ve been known to escape winter by basing themselves in coastal Croatia or Southeast Asia.
Her writing has appeared in Fodor’s Travel, Frommer’s, and International Living. View more posts
(Remote Learning) German Clap Dance Lesson
(Remote Learning) German Clap Dance Lesson
Created July 2020 Michelle Johnson
Lesson Topic:
Lesson of the German Clap Dance.
Lesson Description:
**For remote learning: Students will pick between two dances to practice during the week:
German Clap Dance (in this lesson) or Line Dance
**For classroom: Teacher will focus on this dance all week.
In this lesson, the German Clap Dance is introduced. The steps are broken down and students get a feel for the rhythm of the music.
Learning Goals/Outcomes:
The student will be able to perform the German Clap Dance with eighty percent accuracy.
Nebraska Standards:
PE.6.1.1.a: Moves to a beat or rhythm in a dance.
Teacher Planning:
Equipment/Materials Needed:
Music for German Clap Dance
Music Playing Device
Computer
Projector (if in classroom)
Speakers (if in classroom)
Time Required for Lesson:
30 minutes
Technology Use:
__X___ YES _____NO
Instructional Plan:
Anticipatory Set/Pre-Activity:
Talk to the students about the country of Germany and the German Clap Dance.
(Ex: Germany is a country in Europe. The German Clap Dance dates back thousands of years. It is a folk dance. A folk dance is a dance developed by people that reflect the life of the people of a certain country or region.)
Show them a video of this dance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ct19ZudhBI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqTZe1YYhAE&t=111s
Music:
D'hammerschmledsgselin (Germany) Bobby Morganstein The Complete Multicultural Party, Vol. 18
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3ck3ofBiJo
Benefits/Explanation/Real-World Connection:
Students can perform this dance at German festivals and weddings or anytime with friends and family.
Activities (i.e. instructions, warm-up, lesson, cool-down):
Formation: A double circle, facing a partner.
**If at home, practice with family member(s)
Part 1:
Count 1: Slap your thighs.
Count 2: Clap your hands.
Count 3: Clap your partner’s right hand (to right hand).
Count 4: Slap your thighs.
Count 5: Clap your hands.
Count 6: Clap your partner’s left hand (to left hand).
Count 7: Slap your thighs.
Count 8: Clap your hands.
Count 9: Clap your partner’s hand with your right hand.
Count 10: Clap your partner’s hand with your left hand.
Count 11: Slap your thighs.
Count 12: Clap your hands.
Count 13: Slap both your partner’s hands.
Part 2:
Gallops in line of dance (LOD) with partner in loose ballroom hold
Gallop-2 & 3 & 4 &5 &6 & 7, stop
Back & 2 & 3 & 4 &5 &6 & 7, stop
Forward 2 & 3 & 4 &5 &6 & 7, stop
New partner 2 & 3 & 4 &5 &6 & 7, stop
Students repeat the dance from the top with their new partners.
Once mastered, combine part 1 and 2 with no music.
Perform total dance:
Students will perform entire dance with music.
Closure:
Ask students if they have any questions over the steps. If remote learning—they will submit what dance they picked and submit a short video of the dance one time through.
Assessment :
Teacher will look for correct performance of dances and if students keep the rhythm.
Supplemental Information:
Modifications:
Have students learn the clapping sequence without contact with their partners until you see that they have it. Then, add the physical contact. Start slow, and increase speed as students start to master the dance moves.
Safety Precautions:
Make sure students do not clap hands too hard with their partner or miss their hand and hit them instead. Keep to the rhythm of the music to keep on task and not too fast.
Comments (adaptations for various grades/ages, teaching styles, etc.):
This is best for middle school age students, but can be adapted for 3-5th grade.
Dance, electro & house beats - listen to online radio
The-Radio.ru - Online radio there are other stations that also broadcast in the Electro & Dance genre. You can always switch to another radio.
Electro & Dance
This section contains information Dance, electro & house beats. You can listen to this radio online, watch the playlist and hit parade of the radio station
Dance, electro & house beats - Electrohouse and Progressive house channel on the popular club radio. A selection of music from DJ Lili Kissimov. Music from Berlin and clubs around the world. Anyone who loves to dance music - welcome to the club!. Additional music channels: 1. Listen to the live radio station Dance, electro & house beats ? Clubsets (Kiss FM) Edm & Future House This list shows the songs that were on the air of this radio station. Full playlist for today and other days available in playlists section 13:27 Jax Jones - Where Did You Go? (Feat. Mnek) 13:25 SAM FELDT - Show Me Love (Feat. Kimberly Anne) 13:21 Tujamo & Vize - Lonely (Feat. Majan)
Radio Playlist
13:15
Riton X Nightcrawlers Feat.
Mufasa & Hypeman - Friday (Dopamine Re Edit)
What song was playing on Dance, electro & house beats?
-
1
Purple Disco Machine - Dopamine (Feat. Eyelar)
-
2
Shouse - Love Tonight
-
3
Dua Lipa - Love Again
-
4
Atb, Topic & A7S - Your Love (9Pm)
-
5
Saint Jhn - Roses (Imanbek Remix)
Hit parade Dance, electro & house beats
list of the most famous and popular idioms and idioms in everyday life
In any language there are well-established expressions, the meaning of which can be fully understood by representatives of this particular nationality.
Such turns of speech are called idioms or phraseological units. They cannot be divided into components, idioms should be taken as a whole, and not as a set of individual words. They cannot change the order and word forms of the incoming units.
Such expressions help to make the speaker's speech brighter, more capacious and rich. Knowledge of phraseological units makes a foreigner in the eyes of native speakers almost his own person.
It is often difficult to guess the meaning of an expression without knowing the exact meaning or native language equivalent. The words included in the idiom are not related to the meaning of the expression as a whole.
English idioms number in the thousands. Of course, you do not need to learn them all, and not every one of them will be useful in life. But to improve your language level, you need to have at least a few of the most common phraseological units in stock.
In the classes at the Capital School Center, our experienced teachers will teach you the most common expressions and help you quickly memorize useful phrases.
Idioms can often be confused with proverbs, phrasal verbs and other set phrases. The line between them is not always able to draw even experts.
The idiom belongs to formulaic language (“speech pattern”), the same group includes set expressions with prepositions, greetings and wishes, proverbs and sayings, phrasal verbs, set phrases and colloquial clichés. Therefore, there may be discrepancies in reference books, and other turns of speech are taken for an idiom.
At our Capital School Center, we learn a lot of speech patterns that will come in handy in everyday life. Phrases such as How are you? or In a moment are not idioms and have a direct meaning (translation) of the words included in them. Without the use of such set expressions, it is impossible to start speaking a foreign language and understand the interlocutor.
The use of phraseological units
Set expressions (phraseological units) are used in informal communication and have a stylistic coloring in a particular social or age group.
They are inappropriate in business conversation and formal communication.
Idioms themselves are not as common in everyday speech as, for example, colloquial cliches and phrasal verbs, which, as we found out, are included in the same group of formulaic language. We can often hear expressions such as once in a while (from time to time) or to look for (search) in speech. At our Capital School Center, teachers will give you the most common phrases that are most often used in conversation. Having learned them, you do not have to think about their construction.
Why do we need to know them
Why do we need these stable word combinations?
Firstly, native speakers use them in everyday life, that is, a foreigner may not understand the meaning of what was said. Also, phraseological units are often found in books or movies.
Secondly, these phrases enrich your speech, making it more diverse, and show you erudite in the eyes of the interlocutor.
Thirdly, it helps to better understand the culture and characteristics of the people, especially if you study the history of the origin of a particular phraseological unit.
Fourthly, the study of set expressions and the search for analogies with native speech is just an interesting activity.
How to remember?
When talking to a native speaker, you are unlikely to hear a lot of English idioms. The foreigner will try to make his speech easier by breaking complex sentences into simpler ones, and will not use slang to make it easier to understand. Then why should they be taught? - you ask. The answer is simple - it is, first of all, an interesting activity.
It is not necessary to memorize a lot of set expressions, it is enough to know 2-3 common phraseological units or at least understand the meaning of what was said, if you do not even use them in life.
Memorizing set expressions just at the level of understanding is not difficult, because they contain vivid images, and often behind such a phraseological unit there is a whole entertaining story of its appearance.
To remember better, you need to understand the meaning and know how this or that idiom appeared.
For example, an interesting story is connected with such a well-known and seemingly strange expression It rains cats and dogs (It’s raining cats and dogs). Agree, if translated literally, it turns out to be complete nonsense, but this idiom has an explanation, and not even one. We translate into Russian with our expression “pouring like a bucket”.
One of the more popular versions of the origin is the thatched roof story. Previously, straw lay on the roof of village houses, where local cats liked to rest. But heavy rains periodically washed them down.
Specialized reference books
Where can you find these idioms in English? A simple vocabulary with word-by-word translation is not suitable for this. The most convenient way to find the right phrase is to use specialized online resources.
• Idioms.thefreedictionary.com
This is a link to the idiom section. The explanation is also given in a foreign language. The reference book will not only help you learn a few new expressions, but also allow you to replenish your vocabulary.
• Urbandictionary.com
For lovers of modern jargon, this online resource will do. In addition to idioms, English sayings, proverbs, aphorisms and more are collected here.
The directory is constantly growing due to the additions of the users themselves (as in "Wikipedia"). Of course, there is a downside to this - the material may not be accurate and of poor quality. But each article has a rating that you can focus on.
The most common expressions
But of the sea of idioms, not all are frequently used.
Therefore, we offer you a list of the most popular idioms that you will definitely need in informal communication.
A Chip on Your Shoulder
Used when one cannot forget past failures. Literally translated as "shrapnel on the shoulder." That is, this fragment is always before our eyes and a piece of the past that has not gone away.
Bite Off More Than You Can Chew
This expression is used when a person undertakes some overwork.
That is, he tries to "bite off more than he can chew."
You Can't Take It With You
This is a call to live in the present. A person should not care too much about accumulating money and give up something for the sake of it, waiting for a special occasion. “You can’t take it with you,” it is understood that all material wealth will remain in this world after death.
Everything But the Kitchen Sink
Used at the same time when we say "rip off". That is, thieves (swindlers) took out everything except the kitchen sink. But the idiom is used not only in this negative situation, it can also be used if you are packing (collecting) things.
Over My Dead Body
We often hear this phrase in movies. The translation literally coincides with our expression "only over my corpse."
Don't Judge a Book By Its Cover
This expression also has its equivalent in Russian – “don't judge a book by its cover”. It is used in the same situation: when you should not judge something or someone by the first impression, but should dig deeper.
When Pigs Fly
In Russian, this expression is known as “when the cancer whistles on the mountain”, and is used in the same situations.
Bite Your Tongue!
Another expression that completely coincides with the Russian counterpart. Phraseologism "bite your tongue" is used when we call on a person to calm down a little in a rude way or not to talk too much.
Put a Sock In It
A more informal and rather rude form of the previous expression, literally translated as "put a sock in it" (meaning in your mouth).
Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
The first thing that comes to mind is the Russian proverb “don't wake up famously while it's quiet”, but this is not entirely true. The English idiom is used when the interlocutor does not want to stir up the past, so that a quarrel does not flare up and past grievances do not surface.
Foam at the Mouth
If translated literally, we get our idiom “with foam at the mouth”.
But in English, this expression is pronounced, describing an angry person.
Wear Your Heart on Your Sleeve
It is used when a person cannot hide their emotions or feelings or simply expresses them openly. Literally translated as "to wear a heart on the sleeve." If you use this expression with negative connotations, for example, She simply doesn't wear her heart on her sleeve, then this will mean that a person hides his feelings and it is difficult for others to understand what he really feels.
A Slap on the Wrist
It is used in the meaning of a very mild punishment, edification.
You Are What You Eat
This expression is widely used in Russian and translates as “you are what you eat”.
It Takes Two to Tango
The meaning of this idiom is that two parties are responsible for something (if they both took part in it). Just as you cannot dance the tango alone, so one party cannot take all the blame for a perfect act.
Head Over Heels
The closest Russian expression is “to fall in love head over heels”.
