Saturday, July 11, 2009

Phillip Chbeeb (Erica Perkins)



This is Phillip Chbeeb a "Popper" from Los Angeles. This clip is from "So You Think You Can Dance" last year. Apparently He started of auditioning for the show two years ago. He didn't make the cut and went home and refined his routine. This video is from his second audition. He dances with a crew called Marvelous Motion under the nickname Pacman.

I started watching the show this season when I saw Phillip I was amazed that anyone could move in that fashion. (this was before I started this class.) I know that I will never be as fluid in my motions as he is. However I do hope to learn how to string together moves.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

bleeding love



It is one of my favorite videos in the “so you think you can dance” show. Using the hip hop to play the song of “Bleeding love” turns out to be good. Although the dance form might be different from what we usually think of hip hop dancing, it actually combines a lot of movements that we have learned in the class, like popping and locking. Those two dances cooperate wonderfully with each other. Since the dance shows its story, they display excellent rhythms in their parts of the body.
Zhiyu^^

California's B-Boy stars Quest Crew











Quest Crew is a dance crew formed in California in 2005. They placed 1st place in 2009 on the show 'America's Best Dance Crew', and placed 2nd at the kb-boy world masters in Korea. They are comprised of mostly of Asian American Males, although there is a girl that joins them on occasion. The group seems loosly knit with members performing with other groups, or solo at times and coming together for larger competitions. Each member has their own specialty, and brings flair to the group. Quest incorporates their other talents into their routines, music composition, artistry, martial arts, and gymnastics. Some members are in multiple groups. These groups are professional dance crews paid to perform and compete all over the world in various venues and competions. They are fun to watch, and I am amazed at the popularity of hip-hop across the world. They also take time to teach and volunteer at the Quest Learning Center in California, from whom they take some inspriation and their name. While they represent the more comercial aspects of Hip-Hop, I believe it is a sign of the popularity of the dance. There are crews world wide performing and competing. Kids in streets world wide are popping, locking, and tricking. I truly thought that this art form died out and was lost to gansta rap forever. I am really happy to see such talented crews, profesionals, and amitures out there continuing, and evolving the art form.
Sophie :)

Jabbawockeez in Automatic Response Show--By Newton



This performance is presented by JabbaWokeez—a dance crew from Southern California whose members are mostly Asian descents. This background make them unique more or less in the hip hop dance circle of united states. They gained fame by winning the first place in MTV hip hop dance competition series America's Best Dance Crew. As you can tell, their style in this video features typical west coast funk characteristics, including fabulous popping and locking. Actually, their mastery of a wide range of hip hop styles wins them numerous picky fans.
The highlights of this dance are definitely the intricate synchronization and precise timing. Each individual possesses distinctive movement, performing as a component element, and all elements are pleasingly and flawlessly combined, achieving an aesthetic success as a whole. The music choice was , Stat with Blin 182’s The Fallen Interlude, followed by Eagles’ Hotel California, then Clubbed To Death by Rob Dougan, end with Dj Shadow’s Building Steam With A Gran Of Salt. Soft and instrumental melody along with moonlight- like lighting effects, generate indefinable mysterious atmosphere. What I find interesting is that the name of this dance is “State of Emergency”. But their performance seems to be anything but emergent. I think there may be artistic metaphor underlies the contradictory essence, which requires insightfulness to interpret.

Newton :)

Hip Hop Waving Style



This is a great video because it shows a style of hip hop dance that wasn't really covered in the film we watched in class. It mostly shows waving with a bit of popping and locking as well. The influence and pieces of early hip hop dance is evident in this newer style. Waving really focuses on being able to isolate body parts and move them in a fluid-like manner. This style really amazes me because it is important to be clean so the audience can see the intricate movements. I also think it's interesting that one of these guys is able to perform half of this while on rollerskates, demonstrating great control while still being loose.

-Kim