I dropped in on Ken Swift's regular "breaking fundamentals" class that he has been running at PMT Studios for awhile now. It's always an enlightening experience, learning from one of the original innovators of this unique artform. Teaching breaking is enormously difficult, which I know from humbling personal experience. The dance demands so much from…
Tag: ken swift
“Swift Solos”: A Sweeter, Simpler Glimpse into B-boy Culture
This weekend I had the pleasure of seeing “Swift Solos” – a new dance theater show based on the life and legacy of legendary b-boy Ken Swift. I found it to be a dramatic departure from the typical b-boy and hip-hop dance theater shows that I've seen. In a nutshell, “Swift Solos” is about the…
“Swift Solos” Show Celebrates the Work of Legendary B-boy Ken Swift
oLive Dance Theatre's SWIFT SOLOS from Hip-Hop Theater Festival on Vimeo. This year's Hip Hop Theater Festival features a show I'm very excited to see: "Swift Solos." "Swift Solos" is a series of vignettes based on the dance legacy of legendary b-boy Ken Swift. From his early years as an up-and-coming dancer, to joining Rock…
Talk on history of of b-boying by Ken Swift and Joe Schloss now online (video)
HHTF Humanities Series: Ken Swift (Pt 1) from Clyde Valentin on Vimeo. The nice folks at the Hip-hop Theater Festival have released online a video of the really interesting conversation between b-boy pioneer Ken Swift and hip-hop historian Joe Schloss that took place a few months ago at NYU. I learned a lot from attending…
Foundation: the best book on b-boy culture ever written
A couple of months ago I had the pleasure of seeing Joe Schloss, adjunct professor at NYU, speak about b-boy culture along with Ken Swift. Schloss spoke about b-boying in a way that I had never heard anyone speak before, combining the rigor of academic inquiry with insider knowledge as a practitioner of the craft. …
Ken Swift and Joe Schloss on Preserving B-Boy Culture for Future Generations
Last night I was fortunate enough to be among a packed audience of 60+ folks at a "Conversation with Ken Swift and Joe Schloss, PhD" at the NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Ken and Joe were speaking on the subject of b-boying as a cultural phenomenon historically, in the present day, and into the…
Ken Swift: “We are destroying our bodies to do what we do.”
"We are the hardest working artists in hip-hop because we are literally destroying our bodies to do what we do." – Ken Swift, legendary b-boy, talking about breaking at "Gems" Class, July 2009
Two legends of hip-hop in one day: Ken Swift and DMC!
Today was one of those days I just love living in New York. In the morning I got to interview hip-hop legend DMC (of Run DMC) at the ENGAGE Expo at Javitz Center. Then in the evening I got to take a fundamentals of breaking class with legendary b-boy Ken Swift. I love my crazy…
Learning from the legend: the original b-boy Ken Swift
I made it to Ken Swift’s weekly breakdance fundamentals class last night at PMT Studios, despite being dead tired from just returning from the Global Kids retreat that morning. Ken Swift is a legend in the breakdance world, an original innovator of most of the basic steps that make up b-boying today. It was a…
Learning the foundations of b-boying from Ken Swift
Tonight I took my first class with legendary b-boy from back-in-the-day Ken Swift, who has started teaching a fundamentals class at PMT Studios on Tuesday nights. In his early 40s now, Ken is still a phenomenal dancer and ambassador of the art of b-boying. Check out Ken Swift dancing as a teenager in the 80s…