BIOGRAPHY
CHARLES JOSEPH SMITH
Dr. Smith was born on October 22, 1970. He started his composing seriously at the Chicago Musical College of Roosevelt University in 1990, where he took composition with Robert Lombardo and a composition seminar class with Patricia Morehead, and performed his "Carmen Fantasy" for piano during a student composition recital in 1992. He got a B.M. in Piano in 1994, cum laude.He continued his piano studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he got a M.M. in Piano in 1995, and a D.M.A. in Piano Performance and Literature in 2002. While at the university, he continued composing a lot more compositions.
He composed over 700 compositions, most of them for the piano alone, and started getting into the world of electro-acoustic composition in 1994, where he had composed MIDI compositions as well, which he uses for tape music. His music ranges from commercial all the way to classical and even experimental compositions. In addition to his campus accomplishments, he had some success as a pianist abroad. He attended the French Piano Institute in Paris in July 2000 and won an Honorable Mention in their final recital and competition. He went to Italy in 2001 to compete in the IBLA Grand Prize International Competition in Sicily, where he won an Honorable Mention for Musicianship. In the same year, he also performed in a master class under famous Hungarian pianist Csaba Király at the International Piano Master Class in Budapest. In March 2005, he performed his contemporary solo piano composition "Smooth Suspense" at the School of Designing a Society House Theater weekend in Urbana in March 2005. . In October 2005, he attended his first electro-acoustic composition conference, Electronic Music Midwest, at the Kansas City Kansas Community College, (in Kansas City, KS) , where his original tape composition, "Synth vs. Synth", was featured. In February, 2006, Charles participated in the Black History Celebration concert sponsored by the Chicago Music Association, performing the complete Sonata no. 1 by living African-American composer George Walker, and also performed his operatic piano transcription "Non più andrai" from Act II of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro in honor of Mozart's 250th birthday. Charles also loves creative writing, especially poetry, and also likes photography and drawing.
INSPIRATIONS
One of our activities we plan to do in Celebration of Joy Inc. is to teach K-8 or K-12 ASD students ballroom dancing, and I am going to use my review of "Mad Hat Ballroom" (2005) for you to imagine your inspirations, because this flick was a great example on how ballroom dancing can be used as a positive effect within the public schools.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
REVIEW OF MAD HOT BALLROOM (by Charles Joseph Smith)
[NOTE: This review contains some spoilers.]
The way the movie sets up reminds me of my ballroom dance days in college, where you take a lot of ballroom dance classes leading up to the college's own dance competition.
So, here are some public school teachers in New York, dealing with K-8 students as they teach them ballroom dancing. Some of the K-8 students are, obviously, latch-key kids who are having rude attitudes and antisocial behavior, as those teachers take those young students on a journey to what competitive ballroom dancing is like. At the end of the movie, these young dance sport competitors realize that if you can succeed in dance sport, you can succeed in other areas of life, way, way from the dance floor.
It is almost amazing as the teachers teach them the waltz, merengue, swing, tango, rumba, and foxtrot.
The flick reminded me of "Music From The Heart" featuring Meryl Streep, because in this big project, New York public school teachers and students wanted something that would make those who slashed funding for the arts in public schools take a second look at ballroom dancing as probably equally better as music to help them increase their grades in school courses not related to ballroom dancing.
I strongly focused on one of the competitors named Tara, who joined in a group of student competitors called the "Green Team". Tara was almost like me, because as a ballroom dancer myself, I love to give it my all on the dance floor. Therefore, Tara was immediately believable in character. I followed Tara all the way in one of the local dance competitions where she shined in her favorite dance--the swing. She wails, she rocks, she shimmies her way in the first round of competition and she gets one of the level trophies. Then all of this ballroom bliss turns to shock for Tara when she finds out that she was not picked for the semifinal round. I see Tara's disappointment as she cries as if she lost her favorite friend. Later, I realized that her overconfidence in her dance skills was probably why she did not make the semifinals.
But as the finals came in, the movie became better and better. I can reminiscence the days when the 1990s had two good periods--the rebirth of salsa and the swing. Especially when the swing number "Hot Line" ("706-6655") by the Jet Set Six, caused both the competitors and even spectators to excite themselves. There were two good merengues also that made me get off the chair and dance.
Then I focused on the bald-headed guy who was for the Indigo Team when the team competed against the Green Team for the Challenge Trophy. Another believable character too, as he shined especially in the Latin dances, especially the merengue.
The biggest tension came when the emcee said "...There is no third-place, there is no second-place; there can be only one Challenge Trophy". As the Indigo Team was announced as the winner for the trophy, it was almost like a madhouse as the bald guy is surrounded by the victorious mob, as if the team won the state high school basketball championship, even though it is not a basketball championship game--just a dance sport event. You see the Green Team members frozen in shock, and in disgust.
Then the Indigo Team guy shows the greatest sigh of relief as he holds the trophy. That ending of the movie shows perhaps the greatest innocence---that which New York needed after being terrorized by the 9-11 attacks.
That is why "Mad Hot Ballroom" is a great hit. "Mad Hot Ballroom" is is not just for fans of "Shall We Dance?"--whether in the Japanese version or the new twist on the flick featuring Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez. "Mad Hot Ballroom" is for the ballroom dancer in all of us! This is very great, and that is why I adore this movie highly.
CHARLES JOSEPH SMITH
Dr. Smith was born on October 22, 1970. He started his composing seriously at the Chicago Musical College of Roosevelt University in 1990, where he took composition with Robert Lombardo and a composition seminar class with Patricia Morehead, and performed his "Carmen Fantasy" for piano during a student composition recital in 1992. He got a B.M. in Piano in 1994, cum laude.He continued his piano studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he got a M.M. in Piano in 1995, and a D.M.A. in Piano Performance and Literature in 2002. While at the university, he continued composing a lot more compositions.
He composed over 700 compositions, most of them for the piano alone, and started getting into the world of electro-acoustic composition in 1994, where he had composed MIDI compositions as well, which he uses for tape music. His music ranges from commercial all the way to classical and even experimental compositions. In addition to his campus accomplishments, he had some success as a pianist abroad. He attended the French Piano Institute in Paris in July 2000 and won an Honorable Mention in their final recital and competition. He went to Italy in 2001 to compete in the IBLA Grand Prize International Competition in Sicily, where he won an Honorable Mention for Musicianship. In the same year, he also performed in a master class under famous Hungarian pianist Csaba Király at the International Piano Master Class in Budapest. In March 2005, he performed his contemporary solo piano composition "Smooth Suspense" at the School of Designing a Society House Theater weekend in Urbana in March 2005. . In October 2005, he attended his first electro-acoustic composition conference, Electronic Music Midwest, at the Kansas City Kansas Community College, (in Kansas City, KS) , where his original tape composition, "Synth vs. Synth", was featured. In February, 2006, Charles participated in the Black History Celebration concert sponsored by the Chicago Music Association, performing the complete Sonata no. 1 by living African-American composer George Walker, and also performed his operatic piano transcription "Non più andrai" from Act II of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro in honor of Mozart's 250th birthday. Charles also loves creative writing, especially poetry, and also likes photography and drawing.
INSPIRATIONS
One of our activities we plan to do in Celebration of Joy Inc. is to teach K-8 or K-12 ASD students ballroom dancing, and I am going to use my review of "Mad Hat Ballroom" (2005) for you to imagine your inspirations, because this flick was a great example on how ballroom dancing can be used as a positive effect within the public schools.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
REVIEW OF MAD HOT BALLROOM (by Charles Joseph Smith)
[NOTE: This review contains some spoilers.]
The way the movie sets up reminds me of my ballroom dance days in college, where you take a lot of ballroom dance classes leading up to the college's own dance competition.
So, here are some public school teachers in New York, dealing with K-8 students as they teach them ballroom dancing. Some of the K-8 students are, obviously, latch-key kids who are having rude attitudes and antisocial behavior, as those teachers take those young students on a journey to what competitive ballroom dancing is like. At the end of the movie, these young dance sport competitors realize that if you can succeed in dance sport, you can succeed in other areas of life, way, way from the dance floor.
It is almost amazing as the teachers teach them the waltz, merengue, swing, tango, rumba, and foxtrot.
The flick reminded me of "Music From The Heart" featuring Meryl Streep, because in this big project, New York public school teachers and students wanted something that would make those who slashed funding for the arts in public schools take a second look at ballroom dancing as probably equally better as music to help them increase their grades in school courses not related to ballroom dancing.
I strongly focused on one of the competitors named Tara, who joined in a group of student competitors called the "Green Team". Tara was almost like me, because as a ballroom dancer myself, I love to give it my all on the dance floor. Therefore, Tara was immediately believable in character. I followed Tara all the way in one of the local dance competitions where she shined in her favorite dance--the swing. She wails, she rocks, she shimmies her way in the first round of competition and she gets one of the level trophies. Then all of this ballroom bliss turns to shock for Tara when she finds out that she was not picked for the semifinal round. I see Tara's disappointment as she cries as if she lost her favorite friend. Later, I realized that her overconfidence in her dance skills was probably why she did not make the semifinals.
But as the finals came in, the movie became better and better. I can reminiscence the days when the 1990s had two good periods--the rebirth of salsa and the swing. Especially when the swing number "Hot Line" ("706-6655") by the Jet Set Six, caused both the competitors and even spectators to excite themselves. There were two good merengues also that made me get off the chair and dance.
Then I focused on the bald-headed guy who was for the Indigo Team when the team competed against the Green Team for the Challenge Trophy. Another believable character too, as he shined especially in the Latin dances, especially the merengue.
The biggest tension came when the emcee said "...There is no third-place, there is no second-place; there can be only one Challenge Trophy". As the Indigo Team was announced as the winner for the trophy, it was almost like a madhouse as the bald guy is surrounded by the victorious mob, as if the team won the state high school basketball championship, even though it is not a basketball championship game--just a dance sport event. You see the Green Team members frozen in shock, and in disgust.
Then the Indigo Team guy shows the greatest sigh of relief as he holds the trophy. That ending of the movie shows perhaps the greatest innocence---that which New York needed after being terrorized by the 9-11 attacks.
That is why "Mad Hot Ballroom" is a great hit. "Mad Hot Ballroom" is is not just for fans of "Shall We Dance?"--whether in the Japanese version or the new twist on the flick featuring Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez. "Mad Hot Ballroom" is for the ballroom dancer in all of us! This is very great, and that is why I adore this movie highly.
