The You Make The Camera Dance Blog Award

Though Fred Astaire was well-regarded as a highly skilled dancer, it was in partnership with Ginger Rogers that his style, charisma, and expressiveness found both their pinnacle and their home. She is widely regarded as the best of his dance partners, not for her dancing skill (though hers was great), but for the way in which their styles suited each other, and for her brilliant ability to continue acting while dancing. It was said by John Mueller, the leading expert on Rogers & Astaire, that Ginger Rogers had the ability to make dancing with Fred Astaire "look like the most thrilling experience imaginable."

Fred Astaire is known as being one of the hardest working performers of his time. He did much of the choreography for his musical-dance movies, and was always pushing himself towards innovation. Ginger Rogers is known for having contributed to the choreography, and also for being willing to try moves previously beyond her ability. That is, together Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire were both willing and, so also, able to push their dancing talents beyond what they had been before.

In addition to the synchronicity present in these two dancing together, Fred Astaire is one of the most influential men in the history of American entertainment. One of his several innovations brought to the big screen was the introduction of dance segments being shot in one continuous frame. That is, he demanded that a dance number would be shot all the way through without interruption. As a result, the cameraman had a choice--either they could back up to get a long shot that would cover the full range of movement planned in a dance sequence but lose some of the closer detail, or the camera could dance too, moving about with the motions of the performers thereby capturing the brilliance of the performance in one continuous frame.

This blog award then is meant to recognize blog sites that make the camera dance, that is, move their various considerations forward to new abilities, and that in their doing so ignite a spark with which we can say "you make the camera dance."


The blog award goes to:


1. Life in Travel
The author of Life in Travel, Hahn, combines accounts of her love for travel, and her incredible expressiveness in fashion on this one site. She also considers the importance of caring for others through donations to international relief efforts, and educational projects in other countries. There are many fashion blogs across the globe these days. In the midst of so many, it can be difficult to find one that balances attention to the writer's unique style, with both grace and humility. Life in Travel represents a genuine expression of such balance --she showcases her excellent taste in fashion, and her ability to combine a broad range of designers, while doing so in a manner that makes clear she is both well-grounded, and open-hearted at the same time. Hahn has captured a wonderfully pleasant, and interesting approach to her favorite styles. She consistently has lovely photography, and occasionally her kids pop in to showoff their favorite craft projects, or fashion explorations. Hers is a consistently high quality blog, and one of my favorite to read.

2. Fashion is Poison
Lucrecia has brought her readers into not only her fashion tastes, via pictures of her various outfits, but also into her love for her dear dogs, her travels around the United States, and in the last year, her fight with brain cancer after last January being diagnosed with a brain tumor. Since, her blog chronicled not only her determination to fight the disease, but also the inspiring support she has from her partner, the changes she's made in her diet to encourage her overall health, and also the personal transformations she's gone through in facing the difficulty of illness and treatment. As a result, what had been more primarily a fashion blog with personal insights, was transformed into a space in which readers were able to stay connected to her health progress, while also seeing the inspiration that comes from facing life honestly expressed through Lucrecia's investment in longer term projects, in her immediate circumstances, and too in her fashion choices. In this way, then, her blog has shown that living a healthy, balanced life includes a wide range of interests, and commitments. More recently, unfortunately, comments expressed by insensitive readers have caused her to commit to a shift back to a primarily fashion focused blog. However, even in her fashion focused posts, Lucrecia's passion and calm shine through.

3. A Parent's Life to Behold Through Insanity & Bliss
Well-regarded for her ability to turn everyday life scenarios into full-blown humorous extravaganzas, InsanityKim has a talent for considering the importance of raising a young girl while considering a pro-active approach to the-not-yet-here-but-oh-lord-it's-on-its-way realities of dating life, the horror of losing a computer power cord, and the joys of home schooling two kids while outside there is a snowstorm (among many other things) all in humorous manner. She also manages to combine a refreshingly honest approach with a light-hearted regard for her topic. Her kids are a regular consideration on her blog, and she writes about them in a way that escapes the banality that, let's face it, other-peoples-kids can sometimes have, and instead makes readers think her kids must be (1) entirely loveable, and (2) super happy. What a treasure is that? The talent presented by her blog Insanity & Bliss, then, is in taking everyday life and turning it into a treat of posts very pleasant to read. InsanityKim also regularly hosts giveaways from various etsy sites, and does an excellent job at referencing other blog reads for consideration from around the internet.