BlueFire Street Festival 2017 – music and dance in videos

This year, we got a little unlucky for the Bluefire Street Festival because it was ☔ the whole day. So, fair play to festival organisers, volunteers, festival-goers and street performers who put up with the rain!👏On the main stage, there were a little luckier as they were sheltered from the rain.

However, this didn’t prevent us from attending it and it was enjoyable despite the bad weather conditions.

I have taken pictures of the programme from this year’s festival as well as street art murals, circus performers on stilts, a stage music performance (Ronix), a youth talk from the Girl Crew and the welcome tent. Take a look at this slideshow to view the pictures. If you’d like to find out more information about the performers at BlueFire Street Festival, take a look at their website.

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I have also filmed this new school hip-hop street dance performer that replaced Sam Gabriel. If you’d like to follow Des Ebelle on Facebook as well, check his page here.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZJLsmqF_hN/

Finally, I spent most of my time watching the Venezuelan singer Ronix featuring Allegro andante band on the main stage playing Latin fusion sounds like merengue, bachata… Their infectious latino rhythms kept us on our feet!

If you would like to follow them, you can find them on Facebook at Ronix and Allegro andante show band.

I have filmed two long videos and a shorter one, which I hope you will enjoy!

If you have taken more pictures or videos, share their links with us in the comment box below!

If you would like to watch the festival for the 2015-year edition, check my other blog post. That year, the organisers got luckier with the weather, so more people attended the event. I was also able to take more pictures and film more performances. So, enjoy!

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Belgian Hip-Hop History Exhibition and Festival 2017 in Brussels

Belgian Hip-Hop History Exhibition

Before heading off for a few days in Brussels, Belgium, I did a bit of research about what was on during my stay. I fell upon the following PDF article from Bozar and visit.Brussels about a Belgian Hip-Hop History Exhibition and Festival 2017.

That article teased my curiosity and 👀 I decided to check Bozar’s website further. When you visit their homepage, you will be given the option to select between French (FR), English (EN) or Dutch (NL) languages before landing on the programme page.

If you are interested in Hip Hop history from the very beginnings in the USA to its export and expansion in Belgium, you’ll be enjoying this post!

The hip-hop festival organisers enabled online booking. Online ticket bookings entitled you to:

• a free coffee upon order of a pastry
• a free glass of wine or a meal.

However, if you were not around for that period of time, don’t worry, I will take you through the exhibition by sharing with you few pictures and videos. 😉 (I can’t talk about the other programmed events, though).

DANCE VIDEO TUTORIALS

When I entered the Centre for Fine Arts, there was a screen showing a b-boy doing few moves. It was also providing visitors with dance tutorials on basic b-boying steps. Take a look at some of the video snippets filmed with Snapchat!

 

 

DANCE COMPETITION

After that, I walked up the stairs to enter the exhibition area, which was a mix of audio, visuals, and videos explaining the hip-hop movement history. There was a big screen displaying a film of all world b-boying dance competitions.

HIP-HOP IN ALL ITS FORMS: MUSIC, ARTS AND DANCE

Then, the exhibition went through the hip-hop evolution in all its forms, i.e music, arts and dance.

Again, the exhibition was in French, Dutch, and English. Please note however that for some of the pieces, I couldn’t get the whole translated text in pictures.

Remember that you can pause each picture in the slideshow to read the information. You will find 2 short videos below this slideshow showcasing:

• B-girls dancing,
• Stromae singing
• Rab djing.

 

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At the very end of the exhibition, they had a 360 degrees screen showing different clips simultaneously.

I have recorded few bits of the main ones:

I hope you learnt a few things about the hip-hop evolution.

Any of you want to volunteer to translate into English the few pieces that do not have a translation?

 

 

 

 

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.

Street School Dance Battles organised by Vigozone in Hamburg (2015)

STREET SCHOOL DANCE

While planning a holiday trip in Hamburg (Germany), I researched any interesting hip-hop dance events in the city.

I came across the street school dance battles event. I received a free ticket for the dance live performances.

The street school dancers were teenagers of different ages with one common goal: giving the best performance they could to the audience.

And what a show! I felt the dance level was pretty high! I watched incredible crew choreography and battles from all styles, such as:

• new style hip-hop,
• locking,
• popping,
• b-boying
• k-pop,
• dancehall,
• afrobeat
• salsa.

STREET SCHOOL DANCE EVENT STAKEHOLDERS

The host himself was pretty good at dancing. He was also very entertaining. 🎉

One of the judges and his dance partner performed their duet choreography.

If you’d like to know more about the stakeholders at this event, check their Facebook event page.

Now, impatient to see what it looked like? Please find below a small slide show.

I filmed:

• 4 battles,
• 5 crew/duet choreography
• 2 dance demonstrations from the presenter.

To watch them, I invite you to subscribe to my YouTube Channel!

If you encounter country restriction issues (blocked videos), I recommend you to download ‘youtube unblocker’ for Firefox and Google Chrome.

“Step Up 5” aka “Step Up All In” upcoming film and its soundtrack (2014)

STEP UP ALL IN

Hello, my dance fans!

First of all, here is the ‘Step Up All In‘ film we have all been waiting for!

FILM CAST and trailers

Secondly, the main dance characters from this film consist of the previous Step Up all-stars:

• Hair (Chris Scott)
• Vladd (Chadd Smith)
• Monster (Luis Rosado)
• Jenny Kido (Mari Koda)
• Andie West (Briana Evigan)
• Sean (Ryan Guzman).

ABOUT RYAN GUZMAN

Ryan Guzman was born in Texas, USA and relocated as a child to San Francisco, California.

He is a dancer and actor known for his roles in Step Up Revolution and April Rain amongst other non-dancing films.

About Chris Scott

Christopher Scott was born in Wheaton, Maryland.

He is a dancer, choreographer, actor and producer. He has acted and danced in many other well-known dance films such as:

• The LXD: The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers
• all the step up films
• Glee
• Alvin and the Chipmunks…

ABOUT Chadd Smith

Chadd Smith was born in Ventura, California.

He is a street dancer and actor specialised in robotic movements (street dance called ‘popping’). He appeared in Step Up 3D, Step Up Revolution and Step Up All In and in the web series The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers (LXD).

ABOUT Luis Rosado

Luis Rosado was born in Germany, grew up in Italy until 7 years old, who relocated to Florida and finally to Los Angeles.

He is a competitive dancer best known as a member of the crew Skill Methodz and also portrayed the character of Monster in the Step Up film franchise. He took part in The LXD as well.

ABOUT Mari Koda

Mari Koda was born in Japan.

She is an actress and dancer who is best known for her role as Jenny Kido in all the Step Up films. She also appeared in Timbaland and Missy Elliot’s music video “Cop That Disc” as a soloist.

If you’d like to watch film trailers, check this article.

FILM PLOT

Thirdly, the plot is like for all dance films, focused on the dance rather than the actual story.

Indeed, it’s the story of Sean, a street dancer from Los Angeles who is trying hard with his crew to succeed. Unfortunately, after several unsuccessful gigs, the crew leaves him. He feels like his dreams have vanished until he discovers an elaborate Vegas dance competition called the Vortex, being organized by VH1. For the purpose of the event, he sets up a new crew and they end up winning the battles.

Additionally, if you would like to know more about the plot details, read this film review.

FILM SOUNDTRACK

Finally, for those who have already watched it and really enjoyed its soundtrack, check these music tracks.

So, are you going to watch it? Leave us your comments about the film below, once you’ve seen it!

Hip-Hop dance cult series, history and worldwide championships

HIP-HOP Dance History 

First of all, hip-hop dance refers to street dance styles primarily performed to hip-hop music or that have evolved as part of hip-hop culture.

It includes a wide range of styles primarily:

• breaking
• locking
• popping.

These hip-hop dance styles were created in the 1970s and made popular by dance crews in the United States.

Hip-HOp Dance cult series

Secondly, the 1980s saw the emergence of hip-hop dance cult series, films and shows.

Indeed, the television show Soul Train and the 1980s films Breakin’, Beat Street, and Wildstyle showcased these crews and dancing styles in their early stages. Therefore, it gave hip-hop mainstream exposure.

Furthermore, the dance industry responded with a commercial, studio-based version of hip-hop (called new style). This new hip-hop style influenced the jazz dance style called jazz-funk. Classically trained dancers develop these studio styles, in order to create choreography from the hip-hop dances seen on the street. Because of this development, hip-hop dance is practised in both dance studios and outdoor spaces.

Then, the commercialization of hip-hop dance continues into the 1990s and 2000s with the production of several other television shows and films such as:

• The Grind
• Planet B-Boy
• Rize
• StreetDance 3D
• America’s Best Dance Crew
• Saigon Electric
• Step Up film series
• The LXD web series.

I personally discovered this B-Girl film that may not be cult series but is also very cool.

As for these LXD (Legion of Extraordinary Dancers) hip-hop dance cult series, they show strong similarities with the story plot from the Diversity Digital Tour 2013. You will also find in this film a diversity of dance styles reminding you the last Step Up series.

Check out “The LXD: the uprising begins’ now:

The EVOLUTION

Although the dance is established in entertainment, it maintains a strong presence in urban neighbourhoods. This led to the creation of street dance derivatives such as:

• turfing
• krumping
• and jerkin’.

The television shows and the Internet have contributed to introducing hip-hop dance outside of the USA.

Here is a good example of turfing dance “Turf Feinz RipD Rich Dancing in the Rain Oakland Street (California)”:

Additionally, what distinguishes hip-hop dance from other forms of dance is its freestyle (improvisational) in nature. Crews often engage in freestyle dance competitions, referred to as battles. Crews, freestyling, and battles are identifiers of this style.

Finally, since its exposure, educational opportunities and competitions have helped to maintain its presence abroad. Europe host several international hip-hop dance competitions such as:

• UK B-Boy Championships
• Juste Debout
• EuroBattle.

Lastly, you will find several videos of Juste Debout World Championships (All styles 2013 -2014):

https://www.youtube.com/user/emelinej1/videos

Upcoming “Battle of the year” 3D breakdance film

For any fans of breakdance, this is a film that you’ll want to watch!

Battle of the Year (3D) is an upcoming 3D dance film directed by Benson Lee.The film will star Josh Holloway, Chris Brown, Laz Alonso, and Josh Peck. Battle of the Year is based upon Lee’s documentary about the b-boying competition of the same name.

The story plot is very simple. It follows Dante and Derrek as they try to put together a B-boy team that will win the upcoming Battle of the Year under the belief that proper coaching can take any teams to victory.

The film has been released in September 2013 in the USA. For the other countries, check out the release dates here:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1532958/releaseinfo

If you are crazy about Chris Brown as a dancer, check out this little interview about his physical preparation for this film:

http://hollywoodlife.com/2013/07/27/chris-brown-battle-of-the-year-dancing-movie-challenge/

Now, for a little hint about how the film will look like, check out the below trailer and dance clip:

http://www.imdb.com/rg/s/4/title/tt1532958/#lb-vi2702812697

http://youtu.be/RpxZWXpoHOk

Are you going to watch it?

Hip Hop and Michael Jackson dance choreography by Chris Dylus

This video has been filmed by a member of the audience watching the show a few years ago.

For fans of Michael Jackson (first and last choreography) and hip hop, have a look at this video!

A little reminder for those living around Dublin (Ireland), Michael Jackson dance classes will be re-starting on Saturdays in September 2013 (3.15 – 4.15pm) at Dun Laoghaire Theatre of Ireland. For more information, please look into my blog’s archive from November 2012 for the titled post “Michael Jackson dance classes with Chris Dylus”.