Tonight I was super-excited to see "Ballerina Who Loves B-boy," a Korean dance show featuring Extreme Crew, the winners of the 2007 Battle of the Year breakdance competition in Germany. I saw some of the sickest b-boying I’ve ever seen in person, bar none. That alone was worth the price of admission. The Korean crews…
Category: Dancing / Music
Breaking Swipes Practice (video)
My swipes are starting to come along, I think. It’s a deceptively simple move that takes a lot of coordination of your arms and legs and torso. I’ve got another show I’m doing with my breakdance group at PMT Studios in November that I have to start training for. It would be cool if my…
New Pimp Shoes
I wish there were any other phrase to describe the new outfit I bought for Yehoodi’s 10th Anniversary Party coming up in about a week and a half. But there is no other word to describe it other than — Pimpin’. If it were any more pimpin’, I’d have to have actual sex workers in…
What Quakers can learn from hip-hop
Today in Meeting for Worship at Brooklyn Quaker Meeting, my mind was spinning on the subject of hip-hop. Although the Meeting was just about over, I couldn’t help but stand up and share this: This morning I can’t stop thinking about hip-hop. As a form of expression, hip-hop, at its best, challenges the powers that…
“The Breaks” play by Marc Bamuthi Joseph remixing all the elements of hip hop
Tonight my buddy Rafi and I saw "The Break/s", an amazing one-person play by Marc Bamuthi Joseph that mixes dance, spoken word, rap, turntablism, beatboxing and video art, all within a strong hip-hop framework. There’s a loose, dream-like narrative chronicling Joseph’s travels from Senegal to Paris to Tokyo to Havana as a hip-hop instructor, interweaved…
Dancing ninjas, disco skaters, jitterbuggers in Central Park
Sometimes I wonder why I spend any time at all in Second Life. I get all the weirdness, crazy mash-ups, and multi-cultural mixing that I want just wandering around New York City. Yesterday in Central Park was a good example. Paolo Lanna is the organizer of Central Park Swings, an irregular swing dance in front…
My friend Veronica in the METRO newspaper today!
There’s a very cute picture of my friend Veronica dancing on Governor’s Island yesterday in the NY edition of the METRO newspaper. She’s such a ham, so it’s no wonder they used her pic. Congrats, girl! I’m kicking myself that I had to miss the second day of swinging on Governor’s Island yesterday. My friends…
Michael Arenella on Governor’s Island: Let’s Peabody! (video)
I had a really wonderful afternoon today on Governor’s Island, a tiny morsel of land just off of lower Manhattan that has only recently been opened for limited public access. Today on Governor’s Island, Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra performed 1920s-era "hot" and "sweet" jazz in a picturesque park for a friendly and all-ages…
FLYP magazine online article on legendary lindy hopper Frankie Manning
FLYP magazine has published an amazing web article about legendary lindy hopper Frankie Manning that is really worth a read. Combining a sweet tribute, photos, video and a timeline, it’s one of the best articles about Frankie that I’ve seen in awhile. I’ve been fortunate enough to take classes from this amazing dancer and call…
“Sling Shot Hip Hop” documentary on the Palestianian hip hop movement premieres in NY on Thursday
At breakdance practice last night, I was talking with Waleed, another dancer who told me about a real cool film project he is involved with. "Sling Shot Hip Hop" is a film about the role of hip hop music for Palestinians as a form of political expression: Slingshot Hip Hop braids together the stories of…