Hey Community!
Josh and Sophia here! Can you believe we’re already over halfway through the Move Together Program??? We're so stoked on how many community members we've been able to dance and move together with these past few months. Every day is a good dance to dance and connect with the community but on June 14, we hosted a special edition of our Dance Social event to celebrate Sophia's birthday!
Typically, Dance Social is a weekly 2-hour open dance floor for any community members who are looking for space to sweat, practice and socialize through dance. No dance experience necessary! Attendees are welcome to dance, hangout and even watch the dancers practice. We play an eclectic mix of music off of our phones and connect with one another through conversations, sharing training methodologies, and informal sharing of steps and ideas.
However, for this particular event, we were pleased to have music provided by a live DJ, the one and only DJ Ice-B. This got the party jumping with people able to really tap into a free form of Social interaction and communication through a shared love of dance and movement. We also had some special guest performers, Scndrlz Crew and Mashigeta who showcased through an exhibition battle where one member of each crew entered the stage at a time to demonstrate an improvised set of high level, high flying kicks, tricks, extensions, rotations, grooves, moves, and steps from a wide variety of styles.
Mashigeta & Scndrlz Crew Posing for a photo after their exhibition battle
On top of all of that, we're so stoked on the ways in which this weekly event and by extension the special celebration event have been able to bridge gaps between multiple communities including the Coal Harbour Community Centre and West Community Centre which we've called home this year, and many prominent figures in Vancouver's flourishing Hustle community. Every week, the Dance Social has been paired with a free Hustle 1hr lesson to teach the foundations of connection and dancing in unison with a partner.
Guest teachers Shawn Kim & Nathalie Hsiung posing for a photo with some community Hustlers
For those readers who are unfamiliar with the style of dance called Hustle, it is a partner style dance that originated in the clubs of New York in the 1970s. Pioneered by Black and Afro-Latinx youth and young partygoers, the style was originally danced to Disco and other popular music of the time. After a many decade’s dip in popularity, there was a resurgence of the dance by way of New Style Hustle, founded by Jeff Selby. This rebirth has gained global prominence and has seen hustlers dance to eclectic styles of popular music from House to Funk to RnB and more. The dance traditionally involves one lead and one follow however as the dance has evolved over the years, skilled practitioners are able to dance in groups of 3 or more with double leads, double follows and other more complicated configurations.
The Hustle Community is primarily led by the organization, Hustle at RS. A little bit about them and their History. In 2013 a small group of street dancers in Vancouver were getting swept up in the hustle revival they were seeing in events around the world. Unfortunately none of them knew anything about partner dance, so they decided to get together every Tuesday at Robson Square to swap the few things they knew. From these humble beginnings the sessions grew and the dancers learned. Some focused on traveling and connecting, some focused on learning from the founders of the style, and some jumped to fusing it with other dance forms. Only 3 things stayed consistent - a spirit of inclusivity, a strong focus on connection, and free open classes on Tuesday nights.
Six years later, the Vancouver scene is known around the world as one of the best hustle scenes. Our events attract visitors from around the world, our dancers are flexing their creative wings with this wonderful art form, and the Tuesday sessions regularly bring in over 100 people on warm summer nights.
Hustle class in session at Coal Harbour Community Centre
Should you be interested in taking more Hustle classes, connecting with the wonderful teachers we had the immense pleasure of bringing into our program such as Shawn Kim, Nathalie Hsiung, Aaron Truong, Maddy de la Rama, Shawn Cheng, Samuelle Auclair, Victor Tran, Stephanie Yip, and Chris Corpuz or just learning more about this amazing dance style, then please visit their website: hustleatrs.com or on instagram @hustleatrs
Following the Hustle class at the Dance Social Special, we were able to celebrate Sophia's birthday through a true testament of her incredible artistry and talent with what's refered to as birthday rounds. Since she was turning 29, she stepped into the arena to perform 29 back to back rounds against other dancers putting their skills and passions on the floor. You can catch a recap of all the festivities below!
On top of all the participants who joined us for this event, it was amazing to see community members on walks along the Coal Harbour seawall be so intrigued by the music emanating from the event that they took time to join in the festivities by watching or even dancing along with us. We'll continue to run our Dance Social events every week. Be on the lookout for another large scale event happening later this year!
See you soon community!
- Josh & Sophia
You can find us on Instagram @aicmovetogether
https://www.instagram.com/aicmovetogether/
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