Dancing With the Stars' Winner: Donald Driver Wins Season 14, Takes Home The Mirror Ball

After a season full of injuries, record-breaking high scores and William Levy, "Dancing With the Stars" crowned its Season 14 winner: Donald Driver, Green Bay Packers wide receiver.

Driver, together with his pro partner Peta Murgatroyd, wowed the audience with their show-stopping freestyle. This is the first win for Murgatroyd, who joined "Dancing With the Stars" as a featured pro last season.

Despite the judges' constant accolades, opera singer Katherine Jenkins, the early frontrunner in the competition, took second place with her partner Mark Ballas. As always, the freestyle challenge was a game changer. Latin heartthrob William Levy, together with his partner Cheryl Burke, came in third after a disappointing freestyle dance.

With a two-hour show, there was a lot of filler leading up to the big announcement, including performances by Kelly Clarkson and former "Dancing With the Stars" competitor Gladys Knight. All the season's castoffs returned -- Knight, Martina Navratilova, Jack Wagner, Sherri Shepherd, Gavin DeGraw, Jaleel White, Roshon Fegan, Melissa Gilbert and Maria Menounos -- to perform one last time in front of a live audience.

Some of them reaffirmed why they were given the boot early on, while others showed off superior skills that would have potentially landed them in the final three.

Aside from the winner announcement, the main attraction of the night were the top three's final performances. Levy impressed the judges with a hip-shaking salsa, a dance that the telenovela star has perfected throughout the competition. "If this were the Olympics for salsa and rhythm, then you would get a gold metal," said judge Len Goodman. Levy scored a perfect 30 for his final dance.

Jenkins also wowed the judges with her signature dance -- the jive. It was upbeat, energetic and showcased Jenkins' precise footwork perfectly. Goodman called her the "complete package," and judge Carrie Ann Inaba thanked Jenkins for setting the bar so high this season. The opera singer also received a perfect 30 from the judges.

As for Driver, the NFL wide receiver shined with a shirtless cha-cha-cha. Throughout the competition, Driver had relied on his strength and athleticism, and that was clearly on display in his performance. Judge Bruno Tonioli praised Driver for his strategy, saying that he "peaked at the right time."

When it came time to reveal the winner, that Mirror Ball had Driver's name on it. He may not have been the judges' pick, but he clearly got America's vote.

Madhuri Dixit gets demanding!

Madhuri Dixit Nene is urging her fans to trend her dance reality show Jhalak Dikhla Ja 5 on Twitter.

Popularity of a person or an event is no longer judged on the basis of the coverage he/she gets on tv or print. Twitter Trends is all that matters. If only you trend on Twitter, you are considered popular.

The micro blogging site is the fastest and quickest way to spread the word when it comes to news or raising awareness.

Knowing the importance of it in today's times, actress Madhuri Dixit Nene has very humbly and smartly requested her fans to trend her and her show. Jhalak's new season begins tonight.

Madhuri asked her fans, "Are you getting ready for Jhalak? Alright guys show me your jalwa! Let's get Madhuri Dixit and Jhalak trending at Number 1! Pour it on and get everyone to watch it tonight at 9!"

There was a time when fans would ask for a retweet from their favourite actors for what reason we don't know. Looks like the time has come for celebs to put forward their set of demands in front of their fans! Sounds fair eh?

We don't know about others but when Madhuri flashes that million dollar smile, who wouldn't give in to her request? Here goes our twitter hash tag for our dancing diva, the gorgeous Madhuri Dixit Nene!

Types of Dance Styles in India

DANCE is a lucid expression of human beings. Like INDIAN Culture dances are also of diverse in nature. It’s an art where you can express without words also. The most important feature in classical dances is the use of mudras or hand gestures.

Theses gestures help you to narrate a story or certain objects like weather, nature, and the inner feelings of love, care, anger etc. Dances are performed for every possible occasion, to celebrate the arrival of seasons, birth of a child, a wedding and festivals.

Three best-known deities, Shiva, Kali and Krishna, are typically represented by dancing. Dance has its own passion. Indain Classical dances are used to illustrate events from the Puranas related to or describing Vishnu. Ras-lila is performed to dramatize the love scenes of Sri Krishna and the gopis in Vrindaban.

Dances are also dedicated to Lord Shiva where the two facets of Lord Shiva is portrayed – - ‘lasya’ and ‘tandava’. ‘Lasya’, the dance to reveal beauty, grace, love and all tender aspects of existence and on the other side ‘tandava’ is the anger, wild image of Lord Shiva. And dance frames it all well. In the form of the Lord of Dance, Shiva is known as Nataraj and is worshipped by all dancers.

You may not think that male dancers take to Classical Indian dance styles, but in fact there are many top-notch classical Indian dancers who are male: A few examples are the late Uday Shankar, Birju Maharaj and Pratap Pawar (Kathak), Ram Gopal, U.S. Krishna Rao, V.P. Dhananjayan, Raghunath Manet, Mavin Khoo and Dr. Francis Barboza (Bharata Natyam) Raja Reddy (Kuchipudi), Kalamandalam Gopi (Kathakali), Rajkumar Singhajit Singh (Manipuri), Kelucharan Mohapatra (Odissi).

The National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama is the national level academy for performing arts set up by the Government of India. Below is a glance of few top classical Indian dances –

1. Kathak – North Indian Classical Dance – UP
2. Bharatanatyam – Tamil Classical Dance
   
3. Kuchipudi – Telugu Classical dance
   
4. Odissi – Orissa Classical dance – devotion to lord Krishna
   
5. Kathakali – Malayalam Classical Dance
   
6. Manipuri – Manipur Classical Dance
   
7. Mohiniaattam – Kerala Classical Dance
   
8. Sattriya – Asamese Classical Dance

Source Link: http://www.technospot.in/types-of-dance-styles-in-india/

Importance of dance?

Dance is important because knowing it could give you a new talent. not only that dance can also teach you to do other things such as,

• gymnastics
  
• gym
  
• to be flexible

Dancing is a social function in most "western" countries as well as in "India". Depending on the type of rhythm and tempo, it can constitute cardiac, muscular and, more importantly, psychological exercises. As we all know, exercise is good for your general health and a feeling of euphoria embraces you with great joy, excitement, anticipation and well-being. So dancing while you are sober will extend your life by: 1 year if you dance every month, 3 years if you dance every week and 7 years if you dance every day!!! Now, there is a third dimension to this and it is my personal theory. Dancing, in the nomenclature of love, can be categorised as vertical sex and it will, additionally increase your life span by: 1 year if you dance every month and have "delectable orgasmic sex" afterwards, 18 months if you dance every week and have orgasmic sex afterwards and 1 day if you dance every day and have sex afterwards!! The prognoses of all this is to keep on dancing and you will be healthier, happier and you will live for always.

What are the benefits of dancing? Is it an act you participate in just to pass time during the week-end or, possibly, a week night? Do you dance so you can feel beautiful and graceful for a change, or does it hold something of more value for you?

If so, what is so important about the act of dancing? Of course, it's a form of entertaining exercise but why is it so captivating? Why do you crave "the dance?"

Why do you dance when music gets into your soul? Why does dancing make you laugh out loud, sometimes, then lean in closely toward your dance partner at other times?

Source URL: http://www.squidoo.com/importanceofdance

                      http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_importance_of_dance

Important Tips & Benefits of Dancing

                                          

Dancing can be magical and transforming. It can breathe new life into a tired soul; make a spirit soar; unleash locked-away creativity; unite generations and cultures; inspire new romances or rekindle old ones; trigger long-forgotten memories; and turn sadness into joy, if only during the dance.

On a more physical level, dancing can give you a great mind-body workout. Researchers are learning that regular physical activity in general can help keep your body, including your brain, healthy as you age. Exercise increases the level of brain chemicals that encourage nerve cells to grow. And dancing that requires you to remember dance steps and sequences boosts brain power by improving memory skills.

There has been some promising research in this area, according to Rita Beckford, M.D., a family doctor and spokesperson for the American Council on Exercise. For instance, a 2003 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that ballroom dancing at least twice a week made people less likely to develop dementia. Research also has shown that some people with Alzheimer's disease are able to recall forgotten memories when they dance to music they used to know.

Whether it's ballet or ballroom, clogging or jazz, dance is great for helping people of all ages and physical abilities get and stay in shape. There's even chair dancing for people with physical limitations. A 150-pound adult can burn about 150 calories doing 30 minutes of moderate social dancing.

Benefits Abound

Like other moderate, low-impact, weight bearing activities, such as brisk walking, cycling or aerobics, dancing can help:

• strengthen bones and muscles without hurting your joints
  
• tone your entire body
  
• improve your posture and balance, which can prevent falls
  
• increase your stamina and flexibility
  
• reduce stress and tension
  
• build confidence
  
• provide opportunities to meet people, and
  
• ward off illnesses like diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, osteoporosis, and depression

So if you're tired of the treadmill and looking for a fun way to stay fit and healthy, it might be time to kick up your heels!

Source URL :  http://www.aarp.org/health/fitness/info-2005/dance_to_health.html