Friday, January 31, 2014

This' the way we dance, dance, dance...

The dance sequence of the Maestro documentary. Several dancers from the Wreckin' Shop (Live From Brooklyn) film who paved the way and united the Hip Hop and House dance culture, can be seen in this clip, like Ejoe Wilson and Caleaf Sellers (older, wiser, and more experienced). Ejoe and Caleaf were more dedicated to the House community back then than Hip Hop and are now iconic figures on the scene today, traveling the world, dancing, and teaching.

To name a few; Shannon, TeNofQuad (California), and a few others I can't remember are in this clip as well.

To be honest, the environment was much more pleasant, the people were (and still are) incredibly humble, and the experiences memorable. My first house club deterred me from going to Hip Hop clubs infrequently. Nowadays, it's a once or twice a year old school or underground Hip Hop event, at venues like Santos Party House and The Paper Box among others, to reminisce with friends.

This statement was well said by Pluggedin2u, giving a brief history on the origins of the House music culture in NY: "Before it was popularly called "House" we referred to it simply as "free style". The term "House" came about 79 or 80 because a good amount of the music we listened to in the underground clubs could only be heard "in house" meaning only at the at the club. Sometimes we referred to it as "acid house" because most of the dancers were on acid. It was truly underground at the time and relatively unknown until House music and dancing became mainstream later in the mid 80's and 90's."

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