You walk into an elegant social club: chandeliers, leather chairs, paintings of dead white guys everywhere, the works. A full swing orchestra is playing Basie. Around you are a dozen women dressed to the nines in ballgowns and high heels. You think, "This sucks. When will someone who can DANCE get here?" Then you head…
Category: Dancing / Music
Movits: cool Swedish hip-hop jazz (video)
My friends on Yehoodi have been posting about this Swedish band Movits, who apparently are playing in town this week. I love the sound of this song from their latest album. And gotta give them props for including the Swedish lindy hop troupe the Harlem Hot Shots in the video!
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
5 b-boy crews from 3 continents gather for “Hip Hop Generation Next” at Lincoln Center August 6!
I'm pretty excited about the "Hip Hop Generation Next" event at Lincoln Center on August 6. It's an amazingly dope line-up of crews representing b-boying from all over the world: From New York City and Chicago to South Korea and Sierra Leone, five crews from three continents reinvent hip hop dancing with breathtaking virtuosity, jawdropping…
Frankie 95 Festival DVD set now on sale!
I am happy to announce the exciting news that the much-anticipated official DVD set from the Frankie Manning 95th Birthday Festival is now on sale! Just $75 for a whopping five-DVD set, here's all the amazing, professionally shot footage that you'll get: Frankie's 95th Birthday Festival Highlights, Hellzapoppin' and Jack & Jill Competitions, Performances, Jams…
Final Night of Midsummer Nights Swing features Dance Contest to honor Frankie Manning!
Tonight Bill Bragin, head organizer of Midsummer Nights Swing at Lincoln Center, announced that on July 25, the final night of the summer dance festival will feature a dance contest to honor the late swing dance legend Frankie Manning! Twenty couples will compete for a season pass for next year's Midsummer Nights Swing, and other…
Breaking barefoot (pics)
I was doing some long-overdue breakdance practice tonight and decided to take some pics of myself barefoot. Not really practical, but I thought the pictures came out cool. The hardest part was hitting the timer and then rushing over into some kind of freeze. Yeah, I know, I need a remote. More in my flickr…
Popping to the Nintendo Wii music (video)
This is some wicked geek dancing: fantastic popper Mike Song does an adorable tutting routine to the introductory song for the Nintendo Wii. So brilliant. Man, I wish I could tut like that. Thanks for the link, Asane!
Wall Street Journal video on Frankie Manning and lindy hop! (video)
Fellow lindy hopper Elva prepared this really neat video blog "They're Still Doing the Lindy Hop" on the Wall Street Journal site about the lindy hop renaissance. I get a couple of quotes in there about lindy hop and the future of this great dance. Elva also got some really dope swing footage in there!
Rebirth Brass Band funks it up tonight at B.B. Kings! (video)
I just got home from catching the legendary Rebirth Brass Band of New Orleans just tearing it up at B.B. Kings in Times Square tonight. The ensemble filled the packed club with their unique, funked up style. I was right up on the stage, so got blasted by the amplified sound of seven horn players…