I've been meaning to put together this list for awhile, since I get asked this on a regular basis. This is my own, non-exhaustive, curated list of places to learn and dance lindy hop in the San Francisco Bay Area. Basically, if I can recommend a venue or I go their regularly, they made the…
Category: SF Bay Area
Appreciating the Sky, for Once
I happened to stop by the Palace of Fine Arts after running some errands, right around the beautiful hour. Lots of people were milling about, shooting pics with their phones and cameras, probably hundreds of shots every minute. I decided to just stop and take in the incredible sky, framed by the palace. Over the…
Okonomiyaki: As Fun to Say as to Eat
Is there any other food item that is as fun to say and to eat as "Okonomiyaki"? I think not. Just say it a few times to yourself: "O-ko-no-mi-ya-ki , O-ko-no-mi-ya-ki, O-KO-NO-MI-YA-KI!" For those that have not had the pleasure, I'm sorry for you. It's a delicious savory Japanese pancake, typically stuffed with some kind of meat…
“Shake It Off” Shim Sham (video)
I find it difficult to not like Taylor Swift when she sings earworms like "Shake It Off" and enjoys making a fool of herself in her own music video. Apparently I'm not alone. Here's a bunch of swing dancers at Lindy in the Park in San Francisco doing a modified Shim Sham to "Shake It Off."…
Bay Area Old Skool Hip-hop Dancers Breaking It Down (video)
As someone who loves street dance / hip-hop dance, I do think about the image of a middle-aged dude breaking it down in the cypher or on-stage. It's a young person's game, like so many things in life. So it does my heart good to see old skool dancers continuing to represent in Bay Area,…
Scooting Around on Christmas Eve Eve
My friend Debra and I have been feeling pretty scrooge-y this holiday season. So we decided to get together on our scooters and hit the streets to see if we could find some Christmas cheer. It was a very successful ride, taking us from Scoot headquarters in Soma to various locales all around the city. A…
Zipping around SF on a Rentable Electric Scoot
Obligatory touristic pic of my Scoot at the Painted Ladies. I love scooters. There's really nothing like the feeling of riding around town on a zippy scooter, the wind in your face, all of your senses activated. There's something romantic and whimsical about scooters. The final scene from "Amelie" encapsulates some of that for me….
Riding my Brompton Foldie Bike from the Sunset to Sausalito
On Saturday, I did something I've been wanting to do for YEARS: bike across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito. My main hesitation has been that I ride a Brompton folding bike. While the Brompton is an engineering marvel, it's not so good on steep inclines. So getting from my Inner Sunset to the…
Mixing Up Hip-hop, House and Swing to Gabin’s “Doo Uap” (video)
What would happen if you tossed together four different street dances with one infectuous electro-swing song? You'd get this routine — "It Don't Mean a Thing"! I am excited to share with you this video of me and my friends performing at Wednesday Night Hop in Mountain View last week. Dancers Shawn , Jeremy,…
Teens Learn Citizen Science, Create Digital Games on Mt. Tam
A couple of years ago, I led a summer camp for middle schoolers called the "Pearson Young Scientists" at the California Academy of Sciences. It was a super fun program to develop and facilitate, taking a group of a dozen middle schoolers from the Bay Area and exposing them to citizen science, local parks, and…