Be Melodious: August 2007

Sour Yogurt for the Desert

Read my very brief review of CactusBerry on loft405.

Step-hop, step-hop, now turn under

FLASHBACK
My favorite childhood movie was the Sound of Music. They used to play it on NBC around Christmas time every year. My sister and I would tape it (yes, the term for that back then was "tape," not "record." This was the golden age of the VCR) so we could watch it over and over during the summer.

In addition to the usual Do-Re-Mi-in-the-hills-wearing-old-drapes part and the yodeling goats, I loved the dance that Maria and Captain Von Trapp shared:

Kurt peers into the ballroom of dancing couples: "What's that they're playing?"
Maria: "It's the Landler. An Austrian folk dance."

She starts to teach Kurt the Landler until the dashing Captain Von Trapp cuts in. They dance together in the courtyard-- a romance blossoming-- while the Baroness stares enviously. Then, Do-Re-Mi, yoda-lay-hee-hoo, auf-wiedersehn-goodbye, the Von Trapps live happily ever after.

FAST FORWARD TO TODAY
The Sound of Music is still a very beloved movie of mine. Back in college, I decided that my groom and I would dance the Landler at our wedding. I thought it would be so cool, so original, so different! Instead of performing a typical ballroom dance, like the waltz or the foxtrot, it would be the landler!!

So, all these years (10 to be exact) I've been saving the Landler, telling only my closest friends. Then, last week, my sisters and I revisited The Von Trapp Family Singers and threw the DVD on.

I told my sisters about dancing the wedding Landler. Then I muse, "Oh I wonder if there are some other Landler dances on YouTube? Let's look it up, shall we?"

So, guess what I found on YouTube. ANOTHER wedding party doing the SAME Sound of Music LANDLER. DAMMIT. I'm not so original. I should have gotten married 1 year earlier!

BTW, although it is a very gallant effort at the Landler, I do think they left out some of the best parts (and I realize their reasoning behind leaving out the more complicated dance moves), such as the funny clapping that the Captain does while Maria gallops around him. At my wedding, there will be no cheating of the Sound of Music Landler!!