Rickey.org found a great video of Nick Lazzarini, Danny Tidwell, and Ben Susak performing Mr. Bojangles at a dance convention.
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BuddyTV catches up with some former SYTYCD contestants.
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Choreographer Dave Scott is interviewed at AllHiphop.com in advance of the release of Step Up 2 The Streets on Feb. 14th, a sequel to Step Up, not to be confused with Bravo's upcoming Step It Up And Dance.
AllHipHop.com: How difficult was the jump from choreographing videos to full-scale movies?
Dave Scott: I love a challenge. When I do a video, I always have way more than a video can hold. So to do a movie, I get the chance to go for broke. Instead of doing 30 minutes, I have two hours. There were moments that I had blocks. I was like, “What am I going to do next?”
AllHipHop.com: How did you get passed those creative blocks?
Dave Scott: By sleeping, [laughs] I just needed to get away from it for a moment. Sometimes you need to step away and appreciate what you’ve done already. I am the biggest critic of my own work, so I always think that something is horrible. I had to step away once everything had started to look the same to me. I would also step away by getting out and going to the clubs.
AllHipHop.com: Dancing changes so much over the years. How do you stay on top of it all?
Dave Scott: I like to keep my ears to the streets and see what’s new or what’s coming out. I also like to be innovative and different from everybody else. A lot of times I go outside of the box, leave the stuff that everybody else is doing alone and come up with my own thing.
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MC Hammer has some interesting things to say about dance in this interview promoting his new dance video site, DanceJam.com:
Q: Are there ways in which environment and geography are affecting current dances?
A: The way we dance in Northern California is a lot different from the way we dance in Southern California. Up in Oakland, the styles called hyphie and turfing were born. Both of those involve "going dumb," which means just letting it all go. It's the urban African American expression of a mosh pit. To go dumb like that is a reaction to unemployment, to feeling abandoned, to feeling like there's no hope. You want to let it all go, so you just go dumb. In Los Angeles, that type of pain is expressed in a much more tribal way. Look at krumping. It looks like young men ready to go to war ... like they're fighting when they're dancing.
Q: What kinds of dance are you doing these days?
A: I'm a master dancer. A master dancer can go through all of the dances in one record. He can cha-cha and then turn around and krump. Come out of the krump and do a little turf dancing - then slide into a move from the 70s, add a little 80s cabbage patch, and then keep on going.
Q: The cha-cha? You?
A: The cha-cha is a stalwart to the West Coast African American community. No matter what else comes in or out, the cha-cha is always in.
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