Spring has arrived. And you know what that means? It’s prom season. The night all lowerclassmen wait for, the night the upperclassmen enjoy, and the night all parents worry about. All in all, it is a night that can change your high school life. Prom is something you do not want to miss out on.
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Since I was 11 years old, dancing has meant a lot to me. Dancing is my passion. I like to use my body movements to express myself. It takes total control of my body. It’s my everyday responsibility. If I don’t dance, I don’t feel like myself. I want to entertain the audience and to lure them to the craziness and intensity I’m giving out.
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In preparation for the spookiest night of the year, zombies from all over the world will rise from the dead... and get down to Michael Jackson’s "Thriller." That’s right. “Thrill the World” - the annual worldwide simultaneous execution of MJ's famous “Thriller” dance takes place on October 23.
Last year, the Thrill the World event broke the world record for the most people simultaneously dancing to "Thriller" (see video below). This year, creator Ines Markelle wants one million dancers to participate. Markelle began Thrill the World in Canada, and it has spread all over the world. According to the Thrill the World website, Markelle began dancing to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" at age three.
Amada Anderson started the Thrill the World New York City team in April, 2009. She stumbled upon the event through a YouTube video. “Last year in January, I wanted to do an exercise regime," she said. "I decided I was going to learn Thriller after I saw the movie ‘Thirteen Going on Thirty.' So I started searching on YouTube for a video of the dance. I found a video made by this girl in Canada, Ines Markelle, who organizes Thrill the World. I ordered the DVD that she created and I started learning the dance.”
After that, Amada’s interest was thoroughly peaked. “Eventually I registered with Ines, so that I could start my own Thrill the World event in NYC. I recruited volunteers from Facebook and Craigslist. I quickly learned the ropes of New York City permits, and began getting sponsorship from Halloween stores.”
Last year, Anderson held Thrill the World NYC in Astoria, Queens. Because it was their first time, they ran into a few difficulties. “It was pouring rain!” said Anderson. “We only had about 100 dancers, and I ended up paying a lot of money out of pocket.” But, worldwide, Thrill the World raised about $50,000 for charity.
After that, Anderson began designing a website and getting sponsorships from dance studios in New York. Everyone pays $20 to register their event, and they have the choice of directing the money they raise towards a charity.
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Another dance sensation has become a hit on YouTube, Dougie. This dance has the potential—if not already—to top Jerkin’s popularity. People are posting their “teach me how to Dougie” videos and getting thousands of hits. Even Chris Brown is going around teaching people how to Dougie.
The Inglewood group, Cali Swag District, is getting major play at clubs with their first single, which has reached Number 1 on Billboard Heatseekers. The dance move is not difficult. All you have to do is put your arms in front and lean side-to-side. But if you still aren’t sure how to Dougie, check out the videos below. Also, check out an exclusive interview with the group on All Day Play
According to a recent NPR story, young people are reviving this style of folk dance that originally began as a 17th century French court dance. 16-year-old Kathleen Fownes said in the NPR interview, "You move up and down the line in sync with the music, which is in eight-beat phrases, and the caller tells you like, which moves to do and how to do them. It's just amazingly fun." Today, you can find hybrid forms of Contra Dance, like techno-contra and hip hop contra. Read more...
Do you jerk or do you do the reject? A lot of people think by doing the reject they're jerkin, but in fact, the reject is one of four steps that make up the famous jerkin dance. The reject is a dance that you do with your feet. The logistics of it basically consist of stepping forward and stepping back—but it looks more elegant than that. The New Boyz joined forces with Hot Topic to create Jerk 101, a video that teaches the four steps to jerkin.
If you're going to join the jerkin movement make sure you've got the following steps locked down.
1) The Jerk
2) The Reject
3) The Dip
4) The Spin Drop
Once you've mastered these four steps you can successfully say you're jerkin
Previously:
- Jerking: The L.A. Summer Dance Craze
- "Super Jerkin" [VIDEO]
- Audio Push "Teach Me How To Jerk" [VIDEO]
On Saturday, March 27th, the KUNM Youth Radio Project attended the Cesar Chavez march in the South Valley of New Mexico. KUNM Youth Radio members, interviewed several people in the community who attended the march to find out what Cesar Chavez meant to them. In this video, Abby Magnus interviews fourteen-year-old Andres Barboa and finds out more about his thoughts on Cesar Chavez and his role during the celebration.
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I used to be in the dance emphasis at Oakland School for the Arts. One of my friends is still in the dance emphasis and she has been very depressed lately. In the dance emphasis there are two groups, dance troop and foundation troop. These two groups are separated from the okay and the really good. All the people in dance wants to be in dance troop because it is a huge challenge, but it is even more difficult and more drama. The dancers usually don’t talk to anyone else except the people in their group. There is always drama and someone is always critiquing or talking bad about someone. The drama usually occurs when a performance is coming up. Read more...
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This story was produced as part of the Introduction to Radio Production class at the Department of Television and Radio at Brooklyn College.
AUDIO STORY BY Jenna Romany
The Caribbean is known for many things; beautiful beaches, calypso music and dances like the conga line. But now, there’s a new dance that’s sweeping the region.
That dance? Daggering-- which takes dirty dancing to brand new, uh, heights. Forget your tangos and even your lambadas, daggering is straight to the point as the titles to daggering songs like "Bend Over" and "Up In Her Belly" proove.
Jenna Romany thinks this takes the partying reputation of her Caribbean culture to an unnecessary extreme.
A transcript of the audio story is available after the jump...
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It seems as though a lot of current artists have run out of new ideas. Nowadays, you hear silly songs that rhyme about the simplest things and somehow make it big in the charts. A few years back, Lil Mama created a hip hop sensation with her single "Lip Gloss," which goes into the psychological depths of how her lip cosmetic of choice is so cool and how it will make all the boys chase her after school. Soulja Boy had tweens across the country singing about a comic book hero-inspired sexual act with his hit single, “Crank that (Soulja Boy).” And most recently, the New Boyz have got youth all over my neighborhood calling each other jerks with a track that they first recorded in a closet. A lot of people argue that what these songs lack in lyrics, they make up for in the toe-tapping beats and and hip-shaking dance moves that they introduce into youth culture. This phenomenon makes me wonder about what creates musical success: the song or the dance?
It seems that dancing is key and that the internet has something to do with it. Soulja Boy’s instructional dance video for “Crank That” is the most watched viral entertainment online, but is now vying against Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” for that spot. I think that only in the age of the internet, when anyone can be a star on YouTube, could the “King of Pop” have to compete with the jesters of that genre.
