David and Missy Dancing the Cha-Cha Slide

December has always been a month of going to parties and get-togethers. Last Dec. 13 was MRH's 6 Central's Christmas party so off we went there.  I have been enjoying my Lumix DMC-LX3, mostly shooting some videos with it and the party was a good way to test it's capabilities. I already signed up with a free Vimeo account but haven't decided yet if I want to get the $60 per year premium membership for unlimited HD uploads with a 2GB weekly file size restriction. Right now, I'm getting by with a once a week HD video upload with a maximum 500mb file size, roughly a 3-minute video thus a clipping is usually needed.  I've read that 'youtube' has HD uploads now but I still have to check it out.

I thought I can do some serious editing when I came across a free MOV to AVI converter without compression called MP4Cam2 AVI Easy Converter v2.79 but the audio was not syncing properly and the delay was like at least 10 seconds. So much for thinking it was a goldmine but I'm sure there's a way to fix it. I just need to explore it more.  Anyway, here's a sampling from the LX3's night scene capability. As usual, the HD version can be seen only by clicking on the link and when you want to view it full-size.

6 Central's Christmas Party-2008 from Ariel Magno on Vimeo.

A Show of Traditional Philippine Dances

Yesterday at Nova Southeastern University, we were treated to a festival of color, action and sounds as we watched a dance exhibition by the Palawan State University (PSU) Sining Palawan Dance Company. They are presently on tour here in the US and their show is primarily about traditional Philippine dances that originated from the different regions and provinces in the Philippines.

It was pure delight and although the venue could have been better, the organizers are already planning to do it in an auditorium by next year. It was 'standing room only' in the second floor venue of NOVA's University Center. Even the third floor which has like a balcony overlooking the performance was used by the audience. Anyway, the place didn't really give justice to the splendid performance by the PSU students but it gave us more than a glimpse of Philippine traditional dances. The costumes were superb and the dancers were very skilled in their craft. It was good that we decided to go there early since I was really planning to take pictures and I was fortunate to do that by getting a good spot. The first three rows were reserved but I was able to position myself next to a post and thus I was never guilty of blocking somebody else's view.

It was an enjoyable night, a full two hours less 20 minutes for intermission for the entire show. It was a pleasant surprise that it started almost on time at 7 pm, if you know what I mean. Their program indicated the performance is for 18 different dances. One of which is actually a beautiful rendition of a Kundiman that was composed by Dr. Jose Rizal and is titled "Dulces Las Horas". But upon checking the photos I made after the show, they probably omitted one but I'm not sure. The theme of the show is "A Legacy of Philippine Heritage" and the groupings of the different dances fell into the following:

In the Palace of the Terraces
Dances of Yesteryears
Mindanao Exotica
Countryside Dances

I made a simple slideshow of some of the photos I made. There is no music since I don't have any soundtrack of any of their dances and I will just make it bad if I put any music that is not compatible to the dances they did. I just inserted the name of the dance they were doing and a brief description of it (based on the program) if anybody is interested.

Also, here are some individual photos. I just realized blogger has such a small frame size for its video/slideshow.