Dance2Connect international urban festival Dublin 2018

What is Dance2Connect?

First of all, Dance2Connect is an International Urban Dance Festival, which ran over 3 days early February 2018.

All the more so, the festival showcased:

• dance theatre
• masterclasses
• dance battles
• social dance
• live jams.

Furthermore, the festival was curated by dance artist Matt Szczerek as well as presented by himself and Matthew Williamson.

What is Dance2Connect’s mission?

Secondly, the festival’s mission is to preserve and strengthen urban dance in our communities through Hip-Hop culture and dance theatre’s elements.

Indeed, the festival creates opportunities for the dance community to learn the intricacies of the dance form.

As far as learning it, they can do so through:

• workshops
• performances
• exchanges with high-quality Eu professional dancers.

What were the Dance2Connect’s partners?

Thirdly, the festival organisers partnered with Tallaght Community Arts. Additionally, they received support from Noise Dublin and South Dublin County Council.

As yet, in order to keep up-to-date with their next festival, like their Facebook fan page.

So, now, let me start sharing with you the dance theatre shows running order:

DANCE2CONNECT LIVE RECORDINGS

So, I filmed some of the dance theatre acts. Keep in mind that these YouTube and Instagram videos are in portrait mode. Consequently, I recommend you to watch them on your mobile phone.

In addition to these shows, there was also a Q&A between the dancers and the public.  You can see its overall picture below.

To top it up, this first day ended with a live jam. You can enjoy the below audio-only track from it.

Last but not least, the second day of the festival focused on dance workshops by professional dancers from different hip-hop styles.

Then, the festival was wrapped up with dance battles.

Finally, the following live streams come from Ibrahim Kennedy. He has filmed some of the judges’ showcases and dance battles.

And now, let’s get down to the battles between the different participants:

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Bluefire World Street Festival 2015 in Dublin (Ireland)

Some of you have asked me to share pictures and videos taken at the 2015  Bluefire World Festival.  Since there was a lot going on, I couldn’t film or photograph everything. But I hope you will enjoy these snippets of this lovely event!

If you have missed the event and aren’t aware of what Bluefire Street Festival is about and what they stand for, check out their website:

http://www.bluefiredublin.ie/

Now, time to showcase what went on at Bluefire. Have  a look at  these beautiful pictures of the different activities that happened on that day, namely:

• workshops,
• performances,
• market stalls and
• crafts, talks.

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Here is another part I found pretty interesting, the talks from founders of Ajo Arkestra band and Grangegorman squat:

Now, let’s move on to dance performances!

This is the last video from a musical performance on the main stage!

Finally, you can view the year 2017 festival edition here.

Kwaito (South African House): its music evolution, exportation and the dance

For those of you who never heard of Kwaito music, I let you catch up on this by reading my previous article at the following link:

http://wp.me/pXgap-fR

To understand the origin of Kwaito, please check this article out:

http://africanmusicdance.wikia.com/wiki/Kwaito

Today, I will introduce you to the Kwaito music industry through a very good documentary filmed by Eric Sell a.k.a EES (also: eesy-ees/EeS/EeS, “Easy Eric Sell”) a Namibian German Kwaito artist and rapper. He travels between South Africa, Namibia, Kenya and Germany to demonstrate the music evolution and its exportation. Any of his German explanations will be subtitled in English, but most part of this reportage is in English. Now, enough talking from me, check out the youtube film below:

Since you know now more about what Kwaito music is, you may want to see how the Kwaito dance looks like and try out few basic steps. The two first video below will showcase a TV dance show and a dance performance and the last one is a dance tutorial from EES (Eric Sell). What are your thoughts in this music and dance style? Do you think it has potential to become a worldwide phenomenon?

To listen to and watch Kwaito music mix and dance, check out this link full of videos:

http://www.mashpedia.com/Kwaito

How to choreograph a dubstep dance routine

Have you ever wanted to create a really great dance routine, but have never been sure about how to do it best?

First of all, before we delve in the dub step particular dance style, here are general dance routine guidelines for any kinds of dances to keep in mind :

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Dance-Routine

If you are going for a solo performance, these tips should help you out, too:

http://www.howtodothings.com/hobbies/how-to-choreograph-a-dance-solo

Now let’s move more specifically to Dubstep dance choreography as such. Please follow the theoretical steps below:

http://www.wikihow.com/Dubstep-Dance

For those who need more visual tutorials on specific moves, i.e videos, these two below links should be of a great help. Please note that you can find more of them on YouTube. As it is explained in the first link, Dubstep is no more than popping on a dubstep music. So refresh your basic popping techniques and apply them to a dubstep tempo :

http://www.brambilabong.com/dubstep-dance.html

Finally, if you are looking for a couple of songs you’d like to practice, check out this link:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20121013160645AARRNpK

Do you have any other tips to share with us ?

Granby Park in Dublin (IE)- free activities for all ages

Granby Park was a temporary “pop-up” park in Dublin 1, Ireland. There is a lot happening, between art and music. You can also participate in dance workshops and language lessons in collaboration with the Trade School Dublin (@TSchoolDublin).

You will find something for everyone and every age . Entrance is also free!

This park was opened for one month to the public until 22nd September 2013. However, some of the organisations around this pop-up park are still going on.

They held every last Friday of the month creative mornings sessions. Different speakers explained how they came up with this idea and their involvement in the pop-up park organisation.

For more information on this, follow these twitter account for updates: @Dublin_CM and @weareupstart.

So, now please find below the programme for activities held at Granby Park, Dublin 1. Please note that some of these activities are still happening. You are more than welcome to participate in them: http://www.tradeschool.coop/dublin/class

Finally, these pictures show you how the park looked like.

 

Videos and pictures of 2013 Irish Hip Hop Dance Championships finals

Have you attended the Irish Hip Hop Championships event ? Or have you missed it and want to see what it was like ? In any cases, I hope you will enjoy these videos of mega crews, b-boy battle and house dance workshop.

Mega crews:

B-Boy Battle:

House Dance Workshop with Jaja:

Photos of all competitors in different categories. To access them, click on the link below:

http://www.dephoto.biz/irishhiphop

Finally, if you want to have updates on the actual championships results, please check the below Irish Hip Hop Productions Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/Irishhiphopproductions?fref=ts

2013 Irish Hip Hop Dance Workshops taught by championship judges

Referring to my blog post from 14th February 2013 about the Irish Hip Hop Championships, you may like to know that, in addition to the dance competition programme, there will also be dance workshops taught by the judges themselves on Sunday 14th April 2013!

Please find below the various dance workshops schedules with each one of the judges’ panel.

If you aren’t sure what these dance styles look like, check out the below Youtube videos.

Locking with Funky J (the girl):

Commercial hip hop with Alex Schoendorf:

Popping with Natalie McParland:

House with Jaja aka xclusiv (dance starts at 0.28min):

B-boying with B-Boy Yelke from Bad Taste Cru:

Funk and animation with Soulsisterz:

Waacking and voguing with Del Mak:

If you want to know more about each of these dancers, check out the Irish Hip Hop Productions fan page on facebook!

So, guys, which workshop(s) are you interested in taking?