If this isn’t a perfect city summer vibe, I don’t know what is. God damn do I love skating in the park.
Category: Dancing / Music
One Month of Roller Skating: So Happy!
So I’ve been roller skating for about a month now. I can’t think of anything I’ve “worked” so hard at at the start. Pretty much every day I’ve put in at least 1-2 hours of practice. And when I’m not skating, I’m probably watching skate videos. I didn’t do anywhere near that much practice when…
How I’m Surviving the Pandemic: Moving, Meditating, Connecting
So we are in Month 4 of the coronavirus pandemic quarantine, which is unbelievable and weird. Time has no meaning anymore, as people are fond of saying. Despite not getting to go to most of the places that were part of my regular routine (the office, the climbing gym, dance clubs and bars, restaurants, bakeries),…
Rik’s Birthday Weekend Wander!
This year, because of the pandemic, a gathering of my friends was not going to be possible. <sadface> I knew that I didn’t want to throw yet another Zoom virtual party, which honestly is getting a little old. So instead, I came up with organizing a Birthday Weekend Wander! The idea was to invite friends…
My New Thing for 2020: Roller Disco!
As another birthday rolls around, it’s time to learn something new and #embracethesuck. What will I be terrible at today? Two weeks ago, I was biking around Golden Gate Park with my friend Jess when we passed by the “Skatin’ Place” circle near 17th street and Fulton. We were watching the skaters spin, slide, and…
The Cakewalk: A Dance of Black Resistance and Celebration
The Cakewalk is one of the lesser known “grandparents” of Lindy Hop, alongside the Charleston, Black Bottom, the Breakaway and others. The cakewalk, however, was more than just a dance, it was also a subtle but powerful means of Black resistance to white supremacy. The history of the cakewalk goes all the way back to…
Eventbrite: How Lindy Hoppers Moved Their Groove Online
A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by Quinne from the online ticketing service EventBrite about an article she was writing about lindy hop. We had a lovely phone chat for 15 minutes and I promptly forgot about it. Yesterday her story went live on the EventBrite blog: “How Lindy Hoppers Moved Their Groove…
My First Virtual Lindy Hop Dance Video Watching Party: The Playlist
For a long time, I’ve been wanting to throw a dance video watching party. Tonight I finally got my chance! Using the TwoSeven video sharing service, I got together 30 buddies to watch lindy hop videos, chosen by four lovely dancer friends Amanda Collins, Samantha Nguyen, Ann Mony and Shawn Chiao. Hosting a party for…
“Doctor Jazz” : a Solo Jazz / Charleston Exquisite Corpse
An “Exquisite Corpse” is a form of collaborative artwork (typically a drawing or a short story), where each person contributes a small section of the work, but you don’t see the final product until the end. Since we are stuck in quarantine because of the COVID-19 outbreak, I decided to get some friends to collaborate…
Lindy Hop Was Born During Hard Times
During an interview for a blog yesterday, I was musing about what made lindy hop so special to me. And that’s when it hit me: Lindy hop didn’t come from a place where everything was rosy and people were always jumping for joy. It came from the African American community during the Depression, amidst systemic…