Waltz

The waltz (from German: "Walzer") is a smooth, progressive ballroom and folk dance, normally in  triple  time, performed primarily in closed position.

Introduction and acceptance

There are several references to a sliding or gliding dance—a waltz—from the 16th century, including the representations of the printer H.S. Beheim. The French philosopher Montaigne wrote of a dance he saw in 1580 in Augsburg, where the dancers held each other so closely that their faces touched. Kunz Haas (of approximately the same period) wrote, "Now they are dancing the godless Weller or Spinner." "The vigorous peasant dancer, following an instinctive knowledge of the weight of fall, utilizes his surplus energy to press all his strength into the proper beat of the measure, thus intensifying his personal enjoyment in dancing".

The peasants of Bavaria, Tyrol, and Styria began dancing a dance called Walzer, a dance for couples, around 1750. The Ländler, also known as the Schleifer, a country dance in 3
4 time, was popular in Bohemia, Austria, and Bavaria, and spread from the countryside to the suburbs of the city. While the eighteenth century upper classes continued to dance the minuet, bored noblemen slipped away to the balls of their servants.

XO (Elliott Smith album)

XO is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. It was recorded from 1997 to 1998 and released on August 25, 1998 by record label DreamWorks; Smith's first solo album on a major record label. Two singles, "Waltz #2 (XO)" and "Baby Britain", were released.

Content

An early working title for the album was Grand Mal.

The title of the first track, "Sweet Adeline", was inspired by Smith’s recollections of his grandmother singing in her glee club, Sweet Adelines International. "Amity" is believed to be named after a friend who can be seen in photographs from Smith's 1997 tour.

Release

XO was released by DreamWorks Records on August 25, 1998. It was Smith's first solo record on a major record label, though he had previously released music on a major label with his band Heatmiser final album, Mic City Sons (1996).

Singles released from the album were "Waltz #2 (XO)" in the same year and "Baby Britain" the following year.

Reception

XO was well received by critics upon its release. Pitchfork wrote, "Smith's songwriting continues to improve, as each of [the album's] fourteen tracks displays his inarguable mastery of the pop song structure more clearly than ever." The album placed at number 5 on the 1998 end-of-year Pazz & Jop poll.

Waltz (music)

A waltz (German: Walzer; French: Valse, Italian: Valzer, Spanish: Vals, Polish: Walc), probably deriving from German Ländler, is dance music in triple meter, often written in time signature 3/4. A waltz typically sounds one chord per measure, and the accompaniment style particularly associated with the waltz is (as seen in the example to the right) to play the root of the chord on the first beat, the upper notes on the second and third beats.

History

The name "waltz" comes from the German verb walzen, in turn taken from the Latin verb volvere, which describes the turning or rotating movement characteristic of the dance. Although French writers have attempted to connect the waltz to the 16th century volta, firm evidence connecting this Italian form to the earliest occurrence in the mid‑18th century of walzen to describe dancing is lacking (Lamb 2001).

Classical composers traditionally supplied music for dancing when required, and Franz Schubert's waltzes (including the Valses Sentimentales and Valses Nobles) were written for household dancing, without any pretense at being art music. However, Frédéric Chopin's surviving 18 waltzes (five he wrote as a child), along with his mazurkas and polonaises, were clearly not intended for dance. They marked the adoption of the waltz and other dance forms as serious composition genres. Other notable contributions to the waltz genre in classical music include 16 by Johannes Brahms (originally for piano duet), and Maurice Ravel's Valses nobles et sentimentales for piano and La valse for orchestra (Lamb 2001).

Halloween (1931 film)

Halloween is a short animated film distributed by RKO Radio Pictures, and starring Toby the Pup. Though not the last cartoon in the series, it is the last one that is known to exist today.

Plot

At a Halloween party, a jolly Toby dances around. He kisses several girls but each reacts with dismay and runs away. One girl confronts Toby. Toby kisses her a few times and she slaps him. She then complains to him about trying to spoil her party, and threatens to tell his mother about it. To placate her, Toby offers to play the piano. He plays while the other guests listen, including a goat who eats various household objects, including the piano keys. A church bell chimes and Toby warns everyone that this is the witching hour.

Meanwhile, a witch and various supernatural creatures are flying above. They fall through the chimney and frighten the party guests. Toby fights with several ghosts. When a number of ghosts surround him, he emulates a rooster's crow which frightens the ghosts and they flee. Toby and the girl notice an egg on the floor which hatches into a small ghost who calls Toby "daddy".

Halloween (American Horror Story)

"Halloween" is a two-part episode, consisting of the fourth and fifth episodes of the first season of the television series American Horror Story. The first part aired on October 26, 2011, and the second on November 2, 2011. Part 1 was written by James Wong and Part 2 was written by Tim Minear; both were directed by David Semel. Part 1 is rated TV-MA (LSV) and Part 2 is rated TV-MA (LV).

Part 1 was nominated for a Primetime Emmy award for Outstanding Costumes for a Miniseries, Movie or Special.

In this two-part episode, the Harmons are visited by the former owners of the house and are given advice on Halloween decorating while Tate (Evan Peters) is harassed by bloody teens while on a date with Violet (Taissa Farmiga). Kate Mara and Zachary Quinto are credited as special guest stars for their roles as Hayden McClaine, the student Ben was having an affair with; and Chad Warwick, one of the former homosexual owners of the house.

Plot

Part 1

2010

In 2010, a gay couple Chad (Zachary Quinto) and Patrick (Teddy Sears) now own the house. They have a damaging relationship and while decorating the house, Chad confronts Patrick about his infidelity after finding seductive messages to a person online before an angered Patrick leaves. Moments later, the Rubber Man appears and Chad believes the man to be his partner but the latex figure ends up attacking him before attempting to drown him before breaking his neck. Patrick, in a cowboy costume arrives and sees Chad's corpse before staring at the Rubber Man in shock.

Halloween (The Office)

"Halloween" is the fifth episode of the second season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's eleventh episode overall. It was written by executive producer and showrunner Greg Daniels and was directed by Paul Feig. The episode first aired on NBC in the United States on October 18, 2005. Guest stars in this episode included Devon Abner, Hugh Dane, George Gaus, Annabelle Kopack, Ava Nisbet and Alec Zbornak.

The series depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. In this episode, the employees at Dunder Mifflin celebrate Halloween at the office. Michael Scott (Steve Carell) struggles with making the decision of whom to fire. Meanwhile, Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) and Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) post Dwight Schrute's (Rainn Wilson) resume on the internet.

Due to the Halloween concept of the episode, the cast members of The Office were allowed to wear costumes rather than their "usual, realistically plain suits". B.J. Novak, writer for the series as well as actor, called the experience "fun". The episode features the last on-screen appearance of the background character Devon until the series finale. The episode earned a Nielsen rating of 4.1 in the 18–49 demographic and was viewed by 8 million viewers.