Academy of Swag Company Workshop!
Saturday Feb. 25, 2012
Body Rituals Studio
300 E Arrow Highway Upland, CA 91786
$15 Presale & $25 @ The Door.
Kicking The Event Off At 2pm Will Be Myself In Studio A & Andrew Herrera In Studio B.
Check The Flyer For More Info.@erniexbee.tumblr.com
Guys if your Saturday is free, go take class! :D
@binalynn is teaching at 4!
My first routine going into this new year. I fell in love with this song while my sister and i were coming home from Northridge. The words of the song struck a place in my heart . I have always thought to myself to be a loving and caring person & i have learned that i have always put myself before others. This song put me back on my choreography game, I honestly feel rusty as heck but it feel so good to be making pieces from my heart. This video is from my 2nd & 3rd round of teaching this routine… Each time i taught it, i had always changed something about it. My main focus on this piece was that I wanted them to feel the lyrics of the song. I took Rihanna’s part as me talking to someone and Drake’s verse as them talking back to me. i dont know if you can get the feel for it or understand it, but i do hope you enjoy it & a special thank you to all my ladies from Elusive & Academy of Swag that learned this piece and did the video, it means alots <3
(sorry for the minor mess up there are, didnt have anytime to clean just create, learn & recorded)
haaaaay binnaa!! :DD
Miss Rie & Miss Parris.
I dream about this collab forever and it has happened. These two are just killa swag babes in the game, and they even have the amazing s**t kingz in their group to perform the piece in. Sigh….
fuck fuck fuckk… fawwk
APRIL RODRIGUEZ | the dancer: Hip Hop vs. Urban Choreography
NOTE: wrote this in October 27, 2009 and surprisingly, it circulated throughout different dance communities in different countries—even ones in Europe and Asia. WOW… totally wasn’t expecting that! There are a couple new perspectives I’ve learned in the past couple of years—I’ve used the term “Urban Choreography” here, though there are definitely other names to term what I believe this “new style” is… AND I’ve also learned that popping and locking and house are not essentially “Hip Hop,” but they can fall under the umbrella of Funk styles, and have influences from disco or electronica. Well.. I’m still learning and figuring this whole thing out. Just thought I’d re-post my opinion for other reflective dancers to ponder upon :)
In class a LONG time ago, one of my first Hip Hop dance instructors told me…
“This isn’t Hip Hop. It’s Urban Choreography.”
After a few years of experiencing the dance community, I’ve realized the need to re-evaluate my title as a Hip-Hop dancer. As a beginner who was very NEW to street dance, I didn’t understand what he meant and continued to believe I was training as a “hip hop” dancer, when I really wasn’t.
Different languages of the world (chinese, spanish, english) are kinda like different dance styles (ballet, jazz, hip hop). We’re able to distinguish between different kinds, because each language uses its own unique rules of grammar and sentence structure, just as each dance style uses its own steps and technique. Over the years, languages and dance styles have changed. We’ve used the term EVOLUTION to describe what we see now in Hip Hop versus what it was in the past. On the other hand, I think what has emerged over time isn’t Hip Hop itself, but instead a different dance style that was INSPIRED by Hip Hop. Urban Choreography–an entirelyseparate language, born and inspired by a collection of the earlier languages. For example, Tagalog (Filipino) was formed and influenced by the Spanish, Malaysian, English, Arabic, and Chinese languages. Couldn’t we say that like Tagalog, our dance style was inspired by Hip Hop as well as other styles of dance, and has collected all of that to become it’s own language with it’s ownunique structure? We wouldn’t call Tagalog “Spanish-evolved” or “Chinese-evolved,” simply because the three languages follow entirelydifferent rules.
Nowadays, people have a few different names to refer to the style of dance being taught in many Hip Hop classes: LA style, West Coast style, commercial Hip-Hop, new-style Hip Hop, but to call it Hip Hop is to assume that it follows the basic fundamentals of Hip Hop dance–techniques in breaking, locking, popping, wacking, funk, groove, swagg etc. I’m no Hip Hop head… I’ll admit it. But when I SEE breaking, locking, popping, and all other styles of true Hip Hop dance, there is no denying that there is a totally different look to THAT kind of Hip Hop compared to what we call “new hip hop,” which varies greatly according to individual interpretation and also lacks greatly in strict rules and technique. In true Hip Hop, there are basic names of steps and techniques that aren’t completely present in this new style… so though we may dance as freely and as creatively as we want to Hip Hop and R&B music, can we REALLY say that it is Hip Hop?.. or are we just over-generalizing things to spare ourselves the trouble of analyzing & truly understanding Hip Hop history?
With so many new dancers coming up in the next generation, I think it’s very important for all those capable to educate them wisely and accurately… and that we don’t discredit or undermine the value of Hip Hop’s history.
in God we trust
<33 APRIL joyVery good read from April Rodriguez of Essence Ladies!
YES. I was always so confused to calling it “hip hop”.
Anyone want to dance this fall season with Elusive Dance Crew
message me asap :) or if you know anyone tell them to hit me up. Im looking to meet and talk to dancers this week.
Im interested in people that are interested.
