Musings on Dance, Food, Geek Stuff
On August 15, I had the pleasure of attending the annual skate formal at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History. As a museum nerd, getting to roller skate inside of an entire museum has long been on my bucket list! Particularly with dope music provided by DJ Tsu Ali! What made it extra…
I only recently discovered this music video that came out two years ago that features footage of Panther Skate Plaza, including a couple of shots of me. Or more precisely, my skates. Oh and me doing a drop split. The song is “Gravity” by Oakland based R&B musician Xay V. I love the vibe of…
A short video I made on the process of learning a new skill. I made this inspired by a session focused on executing the “power slide” on inline skates.
This past Saturday was my first time going to the Coney Island Mermaid Parade as a spectator, not a participant. It was a very different experience, and a lot of fun. Particularly because I got to enjoy it with my partner Satise, as part of her first visit to NYC. It was so cool getting…
This is Jersey style rhythm skating, at the legendary Branch Brook roller rink in Newark, New Jersey. I was there on a regular Sunday adult night, and I’m still processing what I witnessed. Here’s why Jersey style is so ridiculous. First off, the music. Jersey is typically skated to house music. That’s fast tempo, four…
I’ve been playing around with the AI video generator Synthesia, and it’s pretty impressive. Designed for business applications, Synthesia offers a fairly easy-to-use interface that anyone who has used Powerpoint or Google Slides should understand. It offers a variety of pre-designed avatars of various ages, races, and body types as well as a number of…
The “Agape Joe” Christian theater group was the first time I participated in a collective creative endeavor where I felt seen and appreciated. Only today do I realize what an impact it had on me as a young adult. Based out of UCLA in the early 90s, “Agape Joe” was formed out the non-denominational college…
I just started reading Race, Riots, and Roller Coasters: The Struggle over Segregated Recreation in America by Victoria W. Wolcott (2012). It’s about how the fight for Black people to be able to access public spaces was not just about lunch counters and busses , but also amusement parks, pools, roller rinks, and other recreation…
I was fascinated by this description of a folk dance called the “kasa” performed by the Ajamat people, native to the Gambia. Kasa is a celebration dance traditionally performed to celebrate an abundant rice harvest. Although dance troupes will perform a portion of Kasa’s steps in unison currently, it was historically performed as a solo….
Last night I led my first choreo skill share at the 6th ave skate rink, for about 20 folks, a line dance called “The Stand Up” that I modified to be a skate routine. Line dances are not normally my thing. I find choreography often frustrating to learn. And something in me resists doing the…