Someone give this man a dollar! Holy cats, "I Need a Dollar" by Aloe Blacc is the best soul song of 2012. This earworm is going to stick with me all week, I'm sure. Also check the equally amazing live acoustic version.
Category: Dancing / Music
Nicole & Carl Dance to New “SwingNation” Theme Song! (video)
Check out this fantastic mini-showcase routine put together by my friends Nicole Zuckerman and Carl Nelson. It's a great bit of choreography with wonderful styling and flourishes, and dynamic movement throughout. But what I like best is that it is choregraphed to the new theme song for Yehoodi's new talk show "SwingNation"! It's a jaunty…
Me Dancing in the Cypher in “The Ella Effect” Show (video)
Lots of people have asked about when video from "The Ella Effect" show that I participated in on Friday will be available. My friend Jim has the whole thing on his camera, but it will take awhile to edit it for our youtube channel. In the meanwhile, here's a short clip of me dancing…
Keone Madrid and Mariel Martin “Please Don’t Stop the Music” (video)
Thanks to Tessa for bringing Keone Madrid and Mariel Martin into my radar. Keone and Mariel are members of Choreo Cookies dance team in San Diego, and a real life couple, as seems obvious from this video. I've been watching this video of theirs every day or so for the past couple of weeks, and…
What If You Bring It and No One Catches It?
I'm of mixed emotions right now. I'm feeling elated and proud that my dance crew and I pulled off a really fun show last night, along with other amazing dancers and musicians. I felt like I gave a strong performance, bringing my own spirit and joy to the stage. You should have been there!…
Catch “The Ella Effect” Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald TONIGHT ONLY in SF
I'm delighted to be performing tonight along with a boat-load of amazing musicians and dancers in this unique tribute to Ella Fitzgerald called "The Ella Effect" in San Francisco. For one night only, Josh Klipp and his Klipptones will perform several of Ella's most iconic songs from "A Tisket a Tasket" to "Mack the Knife."…
Solo Jazz Dance by Pamela Gaižutyte of Lithuania (video)
I can not say this girl's name, but I'm loving the grace and simplicity of her movement in this solo jazz piece by Pamela Gaižutyte of Lithuania. So lovely. Best part is her blowing her hair at 1:00 mark. But the whole thing is just great. [Hat-tip: Vernacular Jazz tumblr]
Wayne McGregor on Choreography as “Shared Cognition” (video)
I'm not really the audience for this kind of modern dance in this TED Talk by choreographer Wayne McGregor. But I really enjoyed what McGregor had to say about choreography as "shared cognition" among the choreographer, the dancers, the musicians, visual artists, designers, even scientists. This is so far beyond what most people think of…
Heidi and I Charlestoning at the Gatsby Summer Afternoon (pic)
Here's a fun pic from the Gatsby Summer Afternoon a couple of weekends ago in Oakland. That's my friend Heidi from NY and I in the charleston contest. Full picture here, by Marianme. Used with permission.
SwingNation #3: Lindy Hop Score Geekery, Chazz’s 80th, & Cute Kids Swinging!
We just finished episode #3 of "SwingNation", the internet's only live swing dance talk show. My co-hosts Spuds, Zuckerpunch and I had a great time putting on this episode last night. We hope our audience enjoys our banter, news, interviews and video clips that we show. In this show, we feature a conversation with…