The Click Heard Round the World

Jabbawockeez on the Vegas Strip: Making Incredible "MUS.I.C" with their Bodies (review)

On Sunday night, I finally got to see the Jabbawockeez live dance show "MUS.I.C" in Las Vegas. My mind is still kind of blown.

The Jabbawockeez are a hip-hop dance crew that has elevated to craft into something beyond the artform. Their central conceit is that they always dance wearing white masks and identical outfits.  You would think this would mean that their dance is about uniformity and robot-like precision.  In fact the opposite is the case.

The crew members have explained that they wear masks so that you have to rely entirely on their movements to communicate and express themselves, not their faces.  Their dancing is something like mime, Noh theater, and Buster Keaton-esque comedy combined.

Their well-known routines up to this point are 3-5 minute numbers choreographed to a particular pop song.  You can see a lot of their most famous routines on YouTube, often with millions of views.

So how do you translate these short pieces into a cohesive 90 minute Vegas show? I guess I was going to find out.

100 Years of London Fashion and Dance (video)

 

I kind of love this video "100 Years / Style East London", an ad for a new shopping center in London, that showcases fashion and dancing from the 1910s to today.  Those transitions between shots, mixing up all the different outfits, was really well done!

Directed by Jake Lunt with The Viral Factory.  Who are those dancers?

[From the Laughing Squid.]

 

My Vegas Trip: A Casino Wedding, Jabbawockeez and All Manner of Excess

I just got back last night from a fantastic little trip to Las Vegas with the family.  Definitely my best trip there ever. The excuse occasion was the wedding of my cousin Emily to her long-time boyfriend Sean, which was being held at the Luxor Casino Hotel on the strip. As soon as mom and I found out about it, we were both super excited to go.  Apparently much of the rest of our family was also excited, because we all started booking hotels and flights immediately.

Here's me with my mom waiting to get on our flight from Oakland.

Here's a quick photo tour of my trip...

Going to see the Jabbawockeez in Vegas this Weekend! ZOMG!

 

I'm beyond myself excited about seeing the incredible Jabbawockeez dance crew's show in Las Vegas this weekend, courtesy of my awesome cousin Zan. They are one of my favorite hip-hop crews in the world, a group that has elevated the art in new directions and to a massive audience. And all of that while hidden behind white masks.

OMG, can't wait.

.... And also excited about being in Vegas with my family for the wonderful wedding of my cousin Emily and her boyfriend Sean. I expect some major pimpin' from Emily's family at the wedding: blinged out and fabulous.  Should be a lot of fun!

LXD S3Ep4 "Can't Dance": Elliott gets his shoes / mojo back (video)

After last week's fairly boring episode, this week's LXD episode "Can''t Dance" (series 3, episode 4) comes back with a light and entertaining romp through a tailor's workshop. It's got great energy, silliness, and joy in the dancing. I loved it.

Harry Shum, Jr. is just always a pleasure to watch.

Check it out here.

Yehoodi's "Beaver Lodge" Ep 1 is online: where the lindy ladies get their say!

Last week, the lindy boys got to have their fun on the "Sausage Fest" podcast, episode one.  Now its the ladies' turn with episode one of "Beaver Lodge"! This is a bawdy, probably NSFW, gabfest where the lindy ladies get to talk about whatever they want, dance related or otherwise. This show features our host miss Nicole "Mouth" Frydman, joined by Meg Taylor, Angie Sabin and Ann Mony.

Give it a listen over on Yehoodi.com, and subscribe on iTunes if you like what you hear!

Oh and for those offended by the name, let me tell you that this was the least offensive of all the names that were considered.  I personally think that is the cutest beaver I have ever seen.

This Friday Learn How to Give Great Presentations at NPLive Online Event

 This Friday, August 26, starting at 10am PST, I will be speaking at an online interactive event on "Giving Great Presentations," as part of TechSoup's "Nonprofits Live" series.  Other speakers are :

• Kivi Leroux Miller, speaker, writer, and the president of the Nonprofit Marketing Guide
• Nat Robinson, vice president of SlideRocket, who provides insight into cloud collaboration for virtual teams sharing their work online.

We'll cover everything from being a persuasive speaker, to using slides effectively, to integrating video and other multi-media into your presentations. So whether you are presenting to your board, your church or a convention hall, this session should be interesting for you.

I've learned a few things from keynoting at the Second Life convention, presenting at the National Writing Project's annual conference, and organizing various live, online and mixed-reality events over the years.  So I'm excited to share my tips with others.

Head here for more information and to register. Free and online!

[Photo credit: Leko Littlebird.  Check out all of his pics from SLCC 2011 here.]

"67 Sueños": Pro-migrant Mural Unveiling on August 26 at SF Quaker Meetinghouse

I am happy to share that a really beautiful new mural on a pro-migrant social justice theme is being officially unveiled on Friday August 26 in downtown San Francisco.  On the northern wall of the San Francisco Quaker Meetinghouse, the new mural is called "67 Sueños" (67 dreams). 

Created by muralist Pancho Pescador in collaboration with the Community Rejuvenation Project, it is inspired by the stories of undocumented students in the Bay Area (estimated to be 67% of youth.) The mural proclaims that "no human being is illegal" and tells the migrant story through art.

On Friday, August 26, from 6 to 9pm, come to the public unveiling of "67 Sueños" just outside the San Francisco Quaker Meetinghouse at 65 Ninth Street (Between Mission and Market).

The press release follows after the jump...

My Quaker-inspired Solo Dance Piece "The Message" (video)

 

Yesterday at San Francisco Quaker Meeting, after the morning worship, I performed for the first time publicly my solo dance piece "The Message" before an audience of about 30 people. This is a personal piece that comes out of my experience at Quaker Meeting for Worship, particularly what Quakers refer to as "sharing a message" or "vocal ministry."

I got a lot of good feedback from people afterwards. Only a couple of people were totally puzzled by it.  Most felt some part of it resonate with their own experience of Quakerism.  And several noticed things in the piece that I myself had not thought of, but that made sense.

i was most concerned about the hip-hop movement and music, a contemplative piece by DJ Shadow called "Building Steam with a Grain of Salt." Much of my audience was in their 40s or older.  But a quite elderly member of Meeting came up to me afterwards and told me how much she enjoyed it, and how it reflected how she thought Quakers support one another's leadings.

I'm sad that the video I took of my performance didn't work. But this latest rehearsal I think fairly closely matches what was performed on Sunday.  I hope you like it.

Thanks so much to the San Francisco Monthly Meeting for allowing me to share this with the Meeting.  Such a wonderful and supportive community.

LXD S3Ep3 "The Forbidden" : Flamenco, the forgetten street dance (video)

Ah, LXD, you tease.  You had me all sucked in with your two excellent opening episodes of Season Three. And then you give me this weak, boring, illogical episode three, "The Forbidden."

First off, the dancing.  It's Flamenco.  Flamenco, for gawd's sake.  I mean, I know that flamenco is a bad ass dance, a street dance originating from Spain.  But it made absolutely no sense to include this dance for this episode. And it just looks kind of stiff and cheesy after we just had some sick and scary locking in episode two.  Who are these dancers?  Are they connected to the Magnificent Seven in some way?  Why are they in the desert?  You have no reason to feel anything for them at all.

Now the plot.  We learn who the narrator is -- he's the kid!  Fine.  All I could think while the camp was burning was, "Thanks for not helping put out the fire, kid.  Good thing you stuck around to do some drawings though. That will be super useful later."

And then the Magnificent Seven decides, after one amazing show, to not use their super powers anymore.  Instead, they make a pact to scatter to the wind and never use their powers ever... until they die. (duh duh DUH.)

You know who is dying? Me. Help me, Jon Chu.  You're my only hope.