This video from the Xpress Your Swing festival in Montpellier, France has all the things that I love: slick lindy hop, funky street dancing, cool tricks, and clever choreo. And the energy of the whole thing is fantastic. Other dance styles in there include boogie woogie, West Coast Swing, breaking, popping, and whatever that they…
#IAmFrankieManning: Recreating a Photo of a Legendary Dancer
Here's my quick recreation of a photo of legendary lindy hopper, the late Frankie Manning. Check out the original image at this link. A modest contribution to a month-long celebration of Frankie's life, sponsored by the Frankie Manning Foundation. Many more photos can be found soon by checking out the hashtag #iamfrankiemanning this month! More…
Changing the design of Rikomatic.com
I'm messing with the design of this site, to make it more responsive on diverse devices and screen sizes and enhance readability. Pardon the dust!
Favorite Shots from My 2015 Philippines Trip
Me snorkeling in the Verde Island Passage. More snorkeling pics here. While I wasn't shooting up a storm in the Philippines, I did get some decent shots while I was there. Here's a summary of my favorite pictures during the trip.
Beautiful Dance Homage to House Dance Legend Marjory Smarth
Last weekend, I had the honor of performing along with 50 other amazing dancers in a tribute to house dance legend Marjory Smarth, who passed away recently. While I didn’t know Marjory directly, I have been taught by so many dancers who have been inspired and learned from her. I had a relatively small piece…
Exploring Manila’s 2nd Largest Mall: the SM Mall of Asia
On my last day in the Philippines, I was hot, tired, and not up for any long excursions. So I decided to go… to the mall. The SM Mall of Asia to be exact, the third largest in all of the Philippines at 390,193 m² and 1,000+ shops. It's second only to the SM Megamall for…
Running Up a Volcano in the Philippines, Like a Boss
NOTE: I posted this status update to my Facebook wall on April 18, which lots of people seemed to appreciate. I'm reposting it here, with some additional details, for posterity's sake and to have a more permanent archive of it. So I've been running three times a week for about nine months now, which alternates…
“Back in the Days”: French House Dancers Mamson, Anto and Frankwa in Slick Dance Video
The French house dance scene is unbelievably sick, which I suppose should not be a surprise since the French dominate so many other street dance styles. Gotta love the production values and fun of this dance view featuring French housies Mamson (Wanted Posse), Anto (Zamounda) and Frankwa (Serial Stepperz). Really inspiring!
From Fear to Bliss in the World’s Richest Reef
As I write this, I’m flying home from an epic two-week adventure in the Philippines, my first trip back to the homeland in more than 15 years. The impetus for this trip was to participate in the 2015 Philippines Verde Island Passage Marine Biodiversity Expedition sponsored by the California Academy of Sciences. You can read all about…
Holy Carp, I’m Flying to the Philippines Tomorrow!
Early tomorrow morning, I board the first of several flights that will eventually get me back to the homeland, the Philippines Islands! Incredibly, it's been seventeen years since I've been to PI! That's me as a much younger man above, during my second trip in 1998. This is the first time I'm going home without…