Tag Archives: YouTube

LXD: Legion of Extraordinary Dancers

August 25th, 2010 | Posted in Education, Hip-Hop, Skill, Sport, Tap, Technique, Television, choreography, culture, dance, video, website

Last month Hulu premieredthe online miniseries “LXD: Legion of Extraordinary Dancers” created by Jon M. Chu also director of movies “Step Up 2 & 3D”.  Volume 1 of this 10 chapter miniseries showcases many elements of dance/sport movement on never-before-seen small screen, 360° slow motion cinematography. If you ever thought those accomplished aerial/gravity defying stunts in dance movement were impossible, this series gives you a birds-eye view of this ability. The “dancer” as “superhero” performs Ninja-type choreography, eloquently filmed and slowed so the viewer may marvel at the dancing abilities of these artists in their respective techniques. From B-boying, Popping and Locking, Krumping, contemporary Modern, Tap and Ballet, 10 chapters in total convey 10-13 minute storylines creatively displaying technical feats of various movement vocabulary, through stories of passion, desire, intrigue and revenge. Chu has created dance themes in everyday settings like the high school prom, the hospital, the office, the street, all as backdrops and reasons to display contagious dance episodes. Chu has definitely created a new genre in cinematic dance, making the dancing element the primary focus of entertainment.  

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SYTYCan…Criticize?

August 6th, 2010 | Posted in Education, Reviews, Skill, Sport, Technique, Television, choreography, culture, dance, history, video, website

AdeChicke Torbert - solo

I had to refrain from blogging about SYTYCD season 7, which turned out to be quite a bore with a few exceptions. Let’s begin with the audition elimination. When judges failed to choose two superb male dancers that auditioned in NY, the injured Anthony Burrell and D.J. Smart (who later featured his amazing audition choreography in episode 21), I asked myself “o.k. now where is this program going?” Anthony, D.J and slated season 7 winner Alex Wong, would have offered a highly polished performance quality, perhaps as an unfair advantage to the other contestants. But why was the later injured and  eliminated Alex chosen over the other two? Was this a deliberate casting angle?

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Irish Clogging circa 2010 “What goes around comes around”

March 14th, 2010 | Posted in Africa, Education, Skill, Technique, choreography, culture, dance, history, video


In my last blog I made a comparison of the South African Pantsula dancing and Irish Clog dancing from a reference of my Art in Education performances. Historically, Africans when transported by Irish sailors during the Middle Passage, were forced to exercise and entertain by dancing. This created an interchange of culture resulting in the African slaves adopting dance movements from the cultures they witnessed ie. Spanish/Latin America, French/Haiti, Portuguese/Brazil. The new African-American slaves often performed/created dances of Juba and The Jig with the influences they learned from the Irish. Well now the tables have turned…
In my search for Irish Clogging I came across this video of a 2009 Clogging competition where many of the youth team competitors have included Hip-hop influences in their choreography. If I am not mistaken, usually Irish dance when performed, the upper carriage or torso remains erect while the feet/legs make intricate rhythmic patterns. In observing this video, the dancers are performing with a curvature of the spine and flexion of the pelvis, specific to the African style of dancing.
Will there exist a need for Cultural Sustainability as we have a melding of DNA heredity and cultural norms? This may very well be a topic for purists in sustaining an art form, or a revolution for segregationists, who oppose the blending of culture.

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R U IN-2-TUBED?… I AM

September 8th, 2008 | Posted in Education, Skill, Technique, Television, black history, choreography, culture, dance, video


Today I spent an entire day on YouTube. Well it all started when I received and email with a YouTube attachment. This video of the Charles Moore Dance Theater, of which I am currently in rehearsals, had a full length performance of Katherine Dunham’s “Shango” as performed by the company. I needed to answer many questions pertaining to this post of Ms. Dunham’s signature piece, which CMDT performed just last year. When the remaining postings of this one member appeared, I was forced to delve deeper into my ethnological dance studies. In that one grouping, I found videos supporting my syllabus “Dance and the Civil Rights Era” followed by my topic “Black Broadway revisited”, and lastly the difficult and unfounded subject “Leaders of the New School”, performing artists of the 21st century.
I always thought of YouTube as a social network in fame and celebrity for the not so famous. A method by which one may gain notoriety, on a global scale, of insipid self-aggrandizement. However, many people are taking rather seriously, a stance of self expression and infotainment, by sharing catalogues of personal collections through video, in support of very viable causes and interest. I am so “In to YouTube”, that I created an account for my 82 year old mother who enjoys multi-media nostalgia, in this computer age. With the correct keyword, and the click of the mouse, I have travelled worlds and time zones for information, which would have taken days to find in various public libraries and research facilities. I have organized collection(s) of thought, past and present, which are not only educational and informative, but are visually stunning as well.
If you would like to join me on my pedagogical journey through the “Black Dance Vernacular” , please respond to this blog, or send me an email and I will submit my playlists.

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