Africa is an enormous and diverse continent. So it makes sense that there would be hundreds of different dance styles and sub-cultures. Here is one compilation of African dance forms demonstrated by "The Dance Hall" in Senegal. Really wonderful seeing all these kinds of movement, so many of which were unknown to me. I'm a…
Dancing with Sharon Jones at the Fillmore in SF (video)
I'm on a dance video tear lately, I know. But this one has been waiting several months to be posted. In March I had the extreme pleasure of seeing Sharon Jones and the Dapkings perform at the historic Fillmore in SF, along with my friends Jeremy and Kirk. It was a concert I was frankly…
Kiesza “Hideaway” Music Video is 80s Dance Awesomeness (video)
Could this be better? The answer is: NO. Kiesza is a Canadian singer, dancer and multi-instrumentalist. The single is called "Hideaway." That girl is going places!
Dancing Past Doubt for My Sister’s Wedding Party (video)
My sis Cori and her boyfriend Fadhly got married recently, and we celebrated with a wonderful party at their home in Alameda last Saturday. I couldn't really decide on what an appropriate present to get for the couple who has everything. So I decided to put together a little dance piece for them I thought…
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…
Hemp Superstar Adidas from Journeys
I needed some new kicks and my local Journey's store had these sweet hemp Superstar Adidas that apparently are only available at Journeys. Sold! I love my old pair of tan and gold Adidas, but they were getting just too embarassing to wear in public. These feel really great, are a bit lighter than my other…
Three Variations on the Game “Ninja” by Cal Academy TechTeens
It’s stuff like that that reminds me why I have the best job ever. Just for fun, a group of our summer TechTeens at the California Academy of Sciences created different variations on the popular kids game “Ninja” (or “Ultimate Ninja”). It started as a lunchtime activity to get them physically interacting and playing, and…
Awesome Sculpture of Legendary Lindy Hopper Frankie Manning
I'm proud to say that I'm the owner of a limited edition Frankie Manning sculpture created by artist and lindy hopper Ryan Calloway. Frankie Manning was of course the "ambassador of lindy hop," a treasured dancer and an awesome human being who would have been 100 this year. Ryan Calloway is a talented digital and…
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…