International Ballroom

Bachate is a unique dance that I have the privileged to learn in my PE-154 international ballroom dance class taught by professor Jane Edwards. This dance originated from the Dominican Republic. It can be difficult to identify the precise style of the Bachata due to the fact that are so many variations throughout the world. However, in all of these different styles throughout the world there are the same basic steps with a tap with hip movement on the 4th beat. The original style of Bachata was developed with the music in the 1950s and 1960s.This dance was well known in the countryside and rural neighborhoods. The creation of the Bachata is given credit to the servants of large households who were the first ones to use the movements and steps. Musicians would use everyday items like trash cans and fences to create music. The term Bachata is said to mean trash, however, other believe it is actually a word for party. For a time the Bachate was only affiliated with the poorer parts of D ominican society forcing these styles of dance only to be performed in the rougher parts of town like brothels and bars, which only further tarnished its name.Nevertheless, the increased popularity of the music eventually caused Bachata to be accepted by the upper classes of Dominican society. There also are some skeptics that believe that the dance was brought over from Italy from an Italian Ballata. Bachata is known to be connect the emotions of romance and heart ache. There are five main styles of Bachata, the Original, Traditional, Modern, Bachatango, and Ballroom. The original is the basic style that can alternate between an open and closed position.The traditional is a simpler style that was developed in the late 1990s with a basic steps side to side changing direction after every tap. The modern style began around 2005 and is an abbreviation of the â€Å"traditional† style. This still is believed to originate from Spain. The modern has the basic Bachata steps with the integration of salsa, tango, zouk-lambada, and ballroom. The bachatango it true to its name and is a mixture of Baracha and Tango. The Ballroom is a style used in various formal dance competitions and there is an extreme use of the hips all throughout the music.

History of Film: Film Distribution

There were many changes in marketing and distribution of films from end of the silent period to the modern digital period. There was a studio system that existed at the end of the silent period and collapsed in 1949 with a court ruling. During this same time a sales era of marketing existed. After the Second World War the sales era was replaced with a new way of thinking and sales and marketing were not synonymous anymore.Marketing after World War II meant finding out what consumers’ needs and wants were and providing them with products to satisfy those needs and wants. Globalization began to occur rapidly in the 90’s and expansion in foreign market meant marketers had to concentrate on this market more than they had in the past. The digital period also meant changes of first runs and second runs for films. The studio system was a means of film production and distribution dominant in Hollywood from the early 1920s through the early 1950s.The term studio system refers to the practice of large motion picture studios (a) producing movies primarily on their own filmmaking lots with creative personnel under often long-term contract and (b) pursuing vertical integration through ownership or effective control of distributors and movie theaters, guaranteeing additional sales of films through manipulative booking techniques. A 1948 Supreme Court ruling against those distribution and exhibition practices hastened the end of the studio system.In 1954, the last of the operational links between a major production studio and theater chain was broken and the era of the studio system was officially dead. The period lasted from the introduction of sound to the court ruling and the beginning of the studio breakups; about 1927 to 1954, when the studios no longer participated in the theatre business. During the Golden Age, eight companies comprised the so-called major studios responsible for the studio system.Of these eight, five were fully integrated conglomerates, combining ownership of a production studio, distribution division, and substantial theater chain, and contracting with performers and filmmaking personnel: Fox (later 20th Century-Fox), Loew's Incorporated (owner of America's largest theater circuit and parent company to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer), Paramount Pictures, RKO (Radio-Keith-Orpheum), and Warner Bros. Two majors, Universal Pictures and Columbia Pictures were similarly organized, though they never owned more than small theater circuits.The eighth of the Golden Age majors, United Artists, owned a few theaters and had access to two production facilities owned by members of its controlling partnership group, but it functioned primarily as a backer-distributor, loaning money to independent producers and releasing their films. The ranking of the Big Five in terms of profitability (closely related to market share) was largely consistent during the Golden Age: MGM was number one eleven years running, 1931 to 41.With the exception of 193 2 when all the companies but MGM lost money. One of the techniques used to support the studio system was block booking, a system of selling multiple films to a theater as a unit. Such a unit, frequently twenty films, typically included no more than a few quality movies, the rest perceived as low-grade filler to bolster the studio's finances. On May 4, 1948, in a federal antitrust suit known as the Paramount case but brought against the entire Big Five, the U. S. Supreme Court specifically outlawed block booking.Holding that the conglomerates were indeed in violation of antitrust, the justices refrained from making a final decision as to how that fault should be remedied, but the case was sent back to the lower court from which it had come with language that suggested divorcement the complete separation of exhibition interests from producer-distributor operations was the answer. The Big Five, though, seemed united in their determination to fight on and drag out legal proceedings for years as they had already proven adept at after all, the Paramount suit had originally been filed on July 20, 1938.The sales era is called the sales era because many companies' main priority was to move their products out of the factory using a variety of selling techniques. The sales era lasted from the early 20’s to the end of the World War II. Compare this to the cinema and both the sales era and studio system era align closing on a time period. During The sales era, companies felt that they could enhance their sales by using a variety of promotional techniques designed to inform potential customers about and/or persuade them to buy their products. This type of thinking was initiated by the economic climate of the time.The selling concepts related markets that already existed, where globalization hadn’t yet occurred and creating profit pools hadn’t even been thought of yet. However October 29, 1929—†Black Tuesday†Ã¢â‚¬â€marked the beginnin g of the Great Depression. This was the single most devastating financial day in the history of the New York Stock Exchange. Within the first few hours that the stock market was open, prices fell so far as to wipe out all the gains that had been made in the previous year. Since the stock market was viewed as the chief indicator of the American economy, public confidence was shattered.Between October 29 and November 13 (when stock prices hit their lowest point), more than $30 billion disappeared from the American economy— comparable to the total amount the United States had spent on its involvement in World War I (Schultz, 1999). The amount of disposable and discretionary income that consumers had to spend on necessities and luxuries also decreased dramatically as the unemployment rate approached 25 percent. Companies found that they could no longer sell all the products that they produced, even though prices had been lowered via mass production.Firms now had to get rid of the ir excess products in order to convert those products into cash. In order to get rid of products, many firms developed sales forces and relied on personal selling, advertising signs, and singing commercials on the radio to â€Å"move† the product. Theodore Levitt(1960), a prominent marketing scholar, has noted that these firms were not necessarily concerned with satisfying the customer, but rather with selling the product. This sales orientation dominated business practice through the 1930s until World War II, when most firms' manufacturing facilities were adapted to making machinery and equipment for the war effort.Of course, the war dramatically changed the environment within which business was conducted. This also changed companies' philosophies of doing business. The marketing concept era, a crucial change in management philosophy can be linked to the shift from a seller’s market, where there were more buyers for few good and services, to a buyer’s market, w here there were more goods and services than people were willing to buy them. When World War II ended, factories stopped manufacturing war supplies and started turning out consumer products again, an activity that had practically stopped during the war.The relationship marketing era follows the marketing concept era. Relationship marketing succeeds the marketing concept era; however most firms are still practicing the marketing concept use of marketing. The advent of a strong buyers market created the need for consumer orientation by businesses. Companies had to market good and services, not just produce them, but sell them to. This realization has been identified as the emergence of the marketing concept. Marketing would no longer be regarded as supplemental activity performed after completion of the production process. Instead, the marketer ould play a leading role in product planning. Marketing and selling would no longer be synonymous terms. Today’s fully developed market ing concept is a companywide consumer with the objective of achieving long-run success. All facets and all levels of management of the organization must contribute first to assessing and then to satisfying customer wants and needs. Even during tough economic times, when companies tend to emphasize cutting costs and boosting revenues, the marketing concept focuses on the objective of achieving long-run success instead of short term profits.The firm’s survival and growth are built into the marketing concept; companywide consumer orientation should lead to greater long-run profits. Gone With the Wind, released December 15th 1939, was no doubt a cash cow. In the film’s 8th closing week it had already earned $5,567,000, where it began to see profit. By June 1st 1940 the film had already made its year and half goal of over 20 million; a very sizeable profit for the producers of the film. It did however require a large amount of investment from its producer David O. Selznick, of almost 4 million in production costs, and another million in marketing expenses.Adjusted for inflation it would have nearly been 50 million in production costs alone. David Selznick must have known his film was going to be a big hit. He paid $50,000 for the rights to a New York Times bestselling book. If the film was going to do as well as the book he knew he was going to see a large profit from his cash cow. It wasn’t common to have a worldwide release during the studio system era like it is today. Typically films would be released in their native country first and then a few months later it would be released in countries with speaking languages the same as the country of origin.In North America the first run of a film refers to the exhibition of theatres it would play in. A first run of a film would only play in the major cities in the downtown areas in the â€Å"de luxe† first run film theatre. These theatres would seat anywhere between 1500 to 5000 people in on e room to one screen. This is of course before the days of digitization where people can view the film on DVD, and before the days of multiplexes. First run films had a higher ticket premium than that of second run or subsequent runs of the film. Gone With the Wind is said to have charged $0. 5 for a matinee viewing of the film and up to $2. 20 at Manhattan’s Astor in its first run. Compare this to the $0. 23 average ticket price in that year, the price was very high. Gone With the Wind’s first run lasted two and half years and was seen by 203 million people. It played in 156 theatres in 150 cities domestically. Gone With the Wind was eventually released around the world. Box office revenue for foreign release is much harder to calculate. Gone With the Wind made $30 million in domestic revenue and $19 million in foreign revenue in its first run.Adjusted for inflation that amount would total about $755,821,500. 00 today. (Dollar Times) Most of Gone With the Wind’ s came from domestic revenue, about 63. 3 percent. Enter 2009. Many things have changed. Firstly a new marketing era is now in place. The studio system has collapsed. Globalization is not a competitive advantage of the studio system period, it is a competitive necessity. Films that do not compete in the global market do not compete at all. First runs last only weeks, months if the film is a really big hit.First runs are not only in the downtown theatres but also in the neighborhood theatres, and now in the muitlplex theatres. A second run in today’s language is when the film hits the new release section of the rental shop. In its third month Avatar is a big hit. At the time of this writing it is still playing in its first run. How does it compare to Gone With the Wind? Avatar is currently being seen on 3,452 theatres in hundreds of countries. Estimated to cost $280 million to make Avatar is much more expensive to make, even for adjusting inflation that Gone With the Wind.Curr ently domestic box office revenue is $710,842,764, and its foreign box office revenue amounts to $1,839,000,000. This is prove of the globalization of the cinema industry. The majority of the box office revenue no longer comes from domestic revenue but rather from the foreign market. Avatar is not only seen on the traditional 2D screens that Gone With the Wind was but it also seen on 3D screens, and IMAX screens, allowing for price alterations between the different formats the film is viewed in. It will be interesting to see how Avatar does when it ends its first run and enters its second run.A film that has ended its first run and second run is much more accurate to compare with Gone With the Wind since the film would have been shown at neighborhood theatres two and half years after it was first released. Titanic was released in 1997 and has ended both its first and second run. How did these two films compare? Titanic’s production budget was $200 million compared to Gone Wit h the Wind’s adjusted for inflation budget of 50 million. Total gross revenue for Titanic has reached $1,843,201,268, while Gone With the Wind has reached $400,176,459.Adjusted for inflation Titanic would have reached nearly 3 billion in total gross revenue at $2,996,049,690. If Gone With the Wind were adjusted for total gross revenue it would reach $3,099,918,548. Total gross revenue includes first run, second run, and all other revenue that comes from the film, including T. V rights, rentals, VHS and DVD sales. It can be concluded that the importance of globalization in the film industry is more important now than it was during the studio system period. The way in which films are exhibited today is very different than it was during the studio period.First run theatres do not exist in the same way they did during the studio system period. Second runs of films were in theatres and now they are a way in which the audience may view the film on their terms, following the marketi ng concept idea. Consumers choose the way in which they consume products. The industry adapts to this and finds new ways to market their ideas and invents new products for the consumer to consume.Works Cited ‘Avatar' Passes ‘Titanic's' Overseas Record. The Hollywood Reporter, 24 Jan. 2010. Web. . Boone, Louis E. and David L. Kurtz. Contemporary Marketing. [Mason, Ohio]: Thomson South-Western, 2006. Print. Box Office, Associated Publications. â€Å"What If the Government Wins Its Suit? † Editorial. Boxoffice 1 June 1940. Print. Crane, Fredrick G. , Roger A. Kerin, Steven W. Hartley, Eric N. Berkowitz, and William Rudelius. Marketing 6th Canadian Edition. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 2006. Print. Frankly, My Dear â€Å"Gone with the Wind† Revisited. Yale University Press, 9 Feb. 2009. Web. . HBrothers. â€Å"Inflation Calculator The Changing Value of a Dollar. Web. IMDb. com, Inc. â€Å"Avatar, Titanic, Gone With the WInd. † Avatar, Titanic, Gone Wit h the WInd. IMDb. com, Inc. , 4 Mar. 2010. Web. . King, Clyde Lyndon, Frank A. Tichenor, and Gordon S. Watkins. The Motion Picture in Its Economic and Social Aspects. New York: Arno, 1970. Print. Rebecca Keegan, Rebecca. â€Å"How Much Did Avatar Really Cost? † Vanity Fair 22 Dec. 2009: 112. Print. Shindler, Colin. Hollywood in Crisis: Cinema and American Society, 1929-1939. London: Routledge, 1996. Print. TIME. â€Å"SHOW BUSINESS: Record Wind. † TIME

Small-Cale Chinese Restaurant in Hatfield Dissertation

Small-Cale Chinese Restaurant in Hatfield - Dissertation Example They compare the perceived benefits received against the perceived costs in terms of sacrifices they make. If they are not treated fairly, the perceived customer value is not derived. The study also finds that the two restaurants under study have their own restaurant management methods. One has an authoritative structure with formal procedures and policies while the other nurtures a culture of service, with its roots in the Chinese culture, characterized by guanxi and harmony. Both have created their own points of differentiation. One thrives on food quality and the other on service quality. The study concluded by recommending that restaurants should adopt experiential marketing which would enable evaluating and understanding customers’ point of view, their expectations and perceptions. Customer feedback should be adopted as a strategic imperative which is being ignored by one of the restaurants under study. Employee empowerment is another human resources strategy that should be adopted. While a customer-focused approach is essential the finer details of the strategy would depend on the size of the restaurant, the level of the restaurant, the clientele it serves, the cuisine it has on offer and on the objectives and goals of the company. Acknowledgement The presentation of this dissertation has been a challenging and one of the most satisfying experiences in my academic life. It has been possible to complete this study only with the support, guidance and patience of the following people: Ms Bunce Sally, my tutor, whose patience and guidance has been a motivating factor. She undertook to be my supervisor despite her academic and professional commitments. Her persistence in corrections helped me achieve this level of work. The owners of two... The hospitality sector, being a service sector, maintaining service quality is a major challenge. Competitive advantage and consequent success relies heavily on the service delivered. Globalization and internationalization have made the business environment even more challenging. The delivery of service depends upon several factors, the human resources being the most important factor. Every interaction in the service sector is a service encounter and such encounters take place at various levels. With services being intangible, heterogeneous, perishable and inseparable, how these elements are perceived by the customer would lead to customer satisfaction. Besides, elements of human â€Å"chemistry† may affect service delivery as some might be more committed to successful service encounters (Lashley, 1998). However, assessing customer expectations of satisfactory service becomes difficult. With the globalization of the food industry, the British appetite for global food transform ed national eating habits. Asian cuisine became palatable along with the traditional English fish and chips or burger chips. As per a survey conducted by, Valued Opinions, a company that conducts paid surveys, Chinese food is Britain’s favorite takeaway. A market research report by Mintel also shows that Chinese cuisine has come out on the top for the first time as the nation’s most popular takeaway meal. By now, more and more western people enjoy Chinese cuisine in the UK as they find Chinese food is not just delicious, but green and healthy as well.

Crime and persistence of drugs in American Society Essay

Crime and persistence of drugs in American Society - Essay Example Criminologists supporting the conflict tradition argue that the inevitable process of capitalism is the main cause of crime. That is to say, disputes emerge between those who embrace the society in a pluralistic view and those who do not. Pluralists believe that groups in the society exercise power with an objective of furthering their own influence and power within that society. These criminologists, or conservative conflict theorists, argue that difference in economic status, and culture or the struggle in ideology, morality, status, race, ethnicity, or religion are the sources of crime. These theorists believe that such groups that gain allegiance to the mainstream culture obtain control of the necessary resources that allow them to criminalize those conflicting individuals who do not observe the same cultural values and moral code. According to Siegel, therefore, crime has its root in the instrumental or symbolic conflicts that occur at different sites of a fragmented society. Cr itical theories concerning crime base their arguments on group difference on the larger social environment; some highlight class difference, others gender difference, and others societal difference. In this regard therefore, there are different critical arguments and theories on crime, but all focus on group difference in power. The theories include Marxist theory, institution anomie theory, and feminism theory. The capitalist class (those who have means of production like businesses and factories) advocate for laws that criminalize and prohibit low-class street crimes, but merely restrict or prohibit some harmful actions resulting from their factories and business. ... The theories include Marxist theory, institution anomie theory, and feminism theory. According to Marxist theory, the capitalist class (those who have means of production like businesses and factories) advocate for laws that criminalize and prohibit low-class street crimes, but merely restrict or prohibit some harmful actions resulting from their factories and business (Siegel 2011). These individuals use power to their advantage, and their main aim is to make profits. The theory on institutional anomie borrows from social learning and control theories to argue that the high rates of crime in the US result from the emphasis on the â€Å"American Dream†. People are encouraged to achieve success in monetary terms, but with no emphasis on the legitimate means of obtaining such success. Lastly, the feminist theories base its argument on crime because of gender difference in power. They try to explain why men engage in most forms of crime in comparison to women. Structural argument s on crime try to use a structural methodology in developing theoretical perspectives on delinquency and crime. Theorists supporting this approach focus on the study of social structures with emphasis of power relations between groups or individuals. The common approach in the study of these social structures is the concern of vertical, hierarchical relations among the members of the society (Siegel, 2011). The structural approach to criminology embraces the study of power relations as the centre of criminology research. In essence, the approach studies both power relations to criminal behavior and other people’s reactions to criminal behavior. The main theory in structural criminology arguments is the power-control theory. According to the

Ethical dilemmas teachers face Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Ethical dilemmas teachers face - Research Paper Example Every lecture needs to be prepared at least one day in advance. It is far more complicated for the teachers to check the homework they give the students than for the students to do it. Each student has to bear his/her own load but the teacher has to bear the load of the whole class. In addition to that, the teacher has to take exams, check the papers and grade them. To top it all, contemporary educational setup is far more complicated than it ever was. There has occurred advancement in syllabus with the emergence of new subjects and research. The class has become more and more multicultural in terms of the ethnic origin of students. Consequently, ethical dilemmas for teachers have both increased in the level of complexity and number. â€Å"There is no single code of ethics in pluralistic societies† (Aksoy, 1999). Every day, a teacher gets into so many situations that require him to make a very important decision without the existence of a single code of ethics that he/she can follow. This paper discusses some of many ethical dilemmas that teachers all over the world face. The teachers interviewed shared their experiences and told how they tackled the situations and provide rationale for the choices they made. 1. Intervention in student’s personal life A teacher faces an ethical dilemma deciding the limits to which he/she can intervene in the personal life of a student (Kristian, 2011). This interview was from Mr. Brown who has been working as a private high school teacher for over ten years. This paragraph summarizes Mr. Brown’s account of the ethical dilemma he encountered in the school. Charles was a very active boy. His participation in the lectures was marvelous. He always did his homework on time. He had the capability to assist other students in understanding intricate concepts. He had wonderful teaching skills. When I had a question for the whole class, he would be the first to volunteer and solve the question for the whole class. One thing that was particular of Charles was that he would never miss the class. He had not been absent for a single day in his three years in the school. Then one day, Charles did not come. The following day, he was absent too. All the teachers and particularly I were very concerned about him. The school principal called him at the home number but nobody attended the call. The third day, Charles came. After the class, I asked him if everything was alright. That was when Charles told me that his step-father had physically abused him. He further told me that he wanted to shift over to his dad’s place, but his mom wouldn’t allow that because his dad had divorced her. I consoled him like I would my own son, but I knew there was not much I could do to pull him out of those problems since I was his teacher. Charles was emotionally close to me and considered me eligible to confide his secrets in. I told him to see me after the class whenever he felt like, and he did start to discuss his home issues with me frequently. I believe that â€Å"[e]ffective teachers often draw more openness from their students† (Reid and Stringer, 1997). But gradually I realized that he had become a little too dependent upon me, and would take my pieces of advice seriously. Al though I tried my best to give him the most rational advice, yet after all I was a teacher, not a counselor or a psychiatrist. I was worried that if I intervened inappropriately, that could not only put his academic career on stake, but also damage his personality. On one side, I would make him more upset if I refused to see and listen to him. On the other side, I assumed responsibility for any consequences that he might see if he followed my advice, and it led him to the wrong point. â€Å"

Music and Mind Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Music and Mind - Essay Example This paper aims at presenting further research in addition to those previously covered in recitations and lectures. It also aims at presenting new and more challenging ideas to critically understand the subject. Similar to language, music is a manifestation of the human spirit. Music practitioners have been able to convey messages to mankind that would have otherwise been impossible to convey. Music integrates the mind, body and spirit. Music has both beneficial and non-beneficial effects on the human brain. These effects could either be instant or even long lasting. Some effects of music are improving verbal IQ and evoking some colors in the mind. Music also said to help one see happy faces all round. Music and behavior has been previously researched using researches like the Mozart effect. This effect involves a brief effort that is passive with a transient effect. It states that if a person listens briefly to something, they receive a long-term benefit on their lives1. Some people also tend to think that listening to music for young children helps solve their problems. Music has also had transfer effects involving learning of a single task that influences the learning of another. On transfer effects of cognition, it has been found that learning how to listen to music results to an increased reading score. Those who listened to music achieved a better pitch as well as phonemic awareness. It was therefore confirmed that transfer effects did influence the learning to read that involved sounding out words2. Several reports have also shown that music making increases creativity. Under Neuromusical Research, it has been discovered that the human brain has enough ability to respond as well as participate in music. Music is a trait of mankind that is species-specific. The musical brain starts operating at birth where it persists throughout a person’s life. This has been

Interracial Marriage in China Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Interracial Marriage in China - Essay Example The paper will then conclude by discussing the significance of race within this period. Branding, which is the word used within this text to describe the ultimate affects of any such a union, originated as the act of using an extremely hot implement to mark the flesh of humans and livestock. The practice of branding, including that of physically marking human beings, began long before recorded history. Although originally intended to mark ownership in cattle, it was also used as a form of punishment, and employed to distinguish criminals, slaves, and prisoners of war. In Western civilization, branding was banned as a form of punishment in the late 1800s.2 Historically, having a brand was a symbol or mark of identification and ownership - it labeled the person, significating what they were, rather than who they were; criminal, slave, and so forth, and the fact of being branded considered a sign of public shame and personal humiliation. Of course, this marking, including its accompanying reputation, remained with a person for the rest of their life. The use of this word in the above statement, therefore, gives a very clear indication of the attitudes among the general population of the early 20th century towards the idea of interracial marriages. Not only were these types of relationships negatively viewed, but they were also considered as being both shameful and humiliating. Consequently, Tom Frew, his Chinese wife, and their unborn children, would have all been branded with this public mark of shame, of derision, and of exclusion in certain quarters. Early Twentieth Century Worldviews "It has been justly remarked that a nation's civilization may be estimated by the rank which females hold in society. If the civilization of China be judged of by this test, she is surely far from occupying that first place which she so strongly claims" (Chinese Repository, vol. 2, 1833, p. 313). Although this quote is earlier than the period that this essay is addressing, existing worldviews during the earlier twentieth century were based on similar principles, and were rooted within this theory. Within the 1920s, Chinese women were generally seen throughout the Western world, as demonstrated through the above quote, as representative objects of an inferior, underdeveloped society. Almost despised, considered second-rate, this very common worldview, meant that Tom Frew and his Chinese family would face severe discrimatory attitudes and practices where ever they chose to live. "Could he live anywhere, with a Chinese wife" the statement demands. Only, it would seem, with the greatest of difficulties. America, in the early twentieth century, was very suspicious of the Chinese, especially in relation to the influx of immigration. Chinatowns had sprung up throughout many of the major cities - the result of the clash of two distinctively different cultures - and although living in the same city, there was little attempt at integration by either the Chinese or American people. Each community kept within its cultural boundaries, holding onto its group identity, and ensuring the continuation of this through imposing restrictive