Musings on Dance, Food, Geek Stuff
I haven’t done too many paid gigs in my dancing career. It just hasn’t been something that I’ve been interested in doing. Performing, working on routines, marketing myself, have the right “look”, finding a partner, and hustling for gigs just sounds like a drag. This weekend my friend Shannon convinced me to partner with her…
It might be that I’m sick and somewhat addled, but I’ve been dreaming about what it might look like for lindy hoppers in my community to have a place we could call our own. The San Francisco Bay Area is one of the most expensive places in the United States to live and run a…
It was a chilly morning at Ocean Beach today. I’m happier with how my waacking throws and grabs are looking. And my hairbrushes are pretty decent here.
The dance scene from Hellzapoppin’ (1941) is arguably the most iconic lindy hop clip in history. Certainly millions of viewers have been inspired by this routine, that is still unmatched in dynamism, exuberance, and athleticism. Go ahead and watch it again here. But how much do you know about this scene? Here are seven remarkable…
I just realized I am already into the middle of week three of my work sabbatical! This is really the first day I have had completely schedule-free since I finished work at the Cal Academy. So far it has been completely wonderful to have this time to take a break and take stock of things….
I’ve lost a lot of dance competitions. But my all time favorite loss was on a warm summer’s evening in New York. A few years ago, my friend and I entered a lindy hop dance contest at a popular music festival, along with several other dancers in our scene. It was held in a large…
Holy smokes, funk legend Chaka Khan has a new track out, and it’s amazing. Could “Like Sugar” be funkier? Not possible. I look forward to the many dance videos featuring this track. Chaka Khan’s “I Feel for You” was a big part of my adolescent sound track. Still gets me moving, decades later.
Here’s another reason why #blacklindyhopmatters. All this week I’ve been participating in the Get Free Hip-Hop Dance Festival, a week of urban dance classes, talks and competitions in San Francisco. Today, a panel of female artists were talking about feminism and hip-hop. One Black dancer explained how she was in the process of discovering the…
Photo Credit: Andrew Lin Yikai About a month ago I had a blast participating in a Jack&Jill dance contest in Singapore at their World Lindy Hop Day celebration. I finally got the video of the comp from local dancer Lionel Tan, who graciously allowed me to share it here. Such a fun time competing with the…
I just can’t get over how amazing this performance by the Fabulous Sisters of Japan was on the TV show “World of Dance.” This is what blows me away about waacking when done at the highest level: the drama, the power, the expressiveness. And that group choreo is just so damn tight and flawless….