Toni Duguid sent out news to the swing community that there are four lindy hoppers in the new Sean Kingston music video "Fire Burning." You can see them exit a convertible at the beginning, and perform some swing aerials at the 2:20 and 3:40 marks. Toni identifies the girlies as twin sisters Christina and Jessica…
Tour of “Awesome Philippines” virtual island in Second Life (video)
Here is a quick video tour of the "Awesome Philippines" island in Second Life, a joint project of the Philippine Department of Tourism and MTV. Sorry about the low volume on some of my audio, and all of my "ums". All of the ambient sounds you hear come from Second Life. You can also check…
Digital recreation of Al Minns doing the charleston in Maya
This is a neat 3D digital animation recreating Al Minns awesome charleston steps from a film in the 1950s. Don't know how this was done exactly, but the character does seem to mimic quite well a lot of the subtle styling of Al Minns. I'd love to get this animation for my Second Life avatar!…
Global Kids teen Sabienne featured in NY Daily News!
The New York Daily News has a sweet article about five New York teens who beat the odds by graduating. The story features Global Kids teen leader Sabienne Brutus! In 2005, the High School for Global Citizenship student and her siblings moved to Crown Heights from Haiti to escape the country’s political instability and to…
PBS documentary about Frankie Manning online!
PBS channel 13 in New York has put online a sweet 30 minute documentary about legendary lindy hopper Frankie Manning called "Never Stop Swinging." From the website: The documentary features the last major interview of Frankie Manning before his death, as well as precious archival footage of his dancing from the 1930’s to 2009 in…
Draxtor interviews Chelo Alvarez-Stehle about “SOS-Slaves” game on sex trafficking
This is the second in a series of interviews conducted by citizen journalist / machinimatographer Draxtor Despres with participants in the BAVC Producers Institute. In this interview, Draxtor talks with Chelo Alvarez-Stehle about her project on sex-trafficking, called "Sands Of Silence." I was one of the mentors on this project at the Producers Institute. Looking…
Appreciating my role as a “Connector”
Post-processing my experience being a "mentor" at the BAVC Producers Institute in San Francisco last week, I've been realizing some of the unique aspects of my own personal journey and how that has shaped me into the odd amalgamation of activist / technologist / educator/ dancer/ Quaker etc. This past week has helped me to…
Lindy hopper gives shoutout to Frankie Manning & dances with Adam Shankman on SYTYCD! (video)
I have to give mad props to California lindy hopper Calico Sequeira for her appearance on Episode 3 of Season Five of "So You Think You Can Dance." Not only does she mention that Frankie Manning is her inspiration in her intro, she also gets choreographer / judge Adam Shankman to lindy hop with her! …
BAVC Producer’s Institute Finale: Pitching your project!
The culminating event of the BAVC Producer's Institute is a presentation of the eight projects being developed here to a group of potential funders, partners and distributors. The challenge presented to each team was to develop and present a prototype of a participatory media project that creates social change. It's an intense and nerve-wracking experience…
Draxtor’s report on the BAVC Producer’s Institute
Here's the first in a series of machinima reports by my friend Draxtor Despres on the Producer's Institute, run by the Bay Area Video Coalition in San Francisco. Draxtor's first guest is Wendy Levy of BAVC, the coordinator of the Institute, explaining what it's all about.