Remember last year when people got all upset for a moment over the Major Lazer video for “Pon De Floor” that featured more dry humping (”daggering”) than mere mortals could possibly bare to watch? Well this video featuring Lt. Wackjob Skerrit Bwoy teaches you the ins and outs of this highly evolved art form. And you thought they were just being gross.
Rex Nettleford performing in 1965; photo by Maria LaYacona
I made the mistake of not getting this out last week, when The Hon. Rex Nettleford, OM, FIJ, OCC passed. For that, I apologize. For those unfamiliar with Rex Nettleford, and the legacy he leaves behind, see the passage below…
Jamaica lost one of its most revered cultural figures last night when Professor Rex Nettleford, vice-chancellor emeritus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) and founder of the National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC), died, just hours before he would have celebrated his 77th birthday…
…”Jamaica and the entire world have lost an intellectual and creative genius, a man whose contribution to shaping and projecting the cultural landscape of the entire Caribbean region is unquestionable,” (Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce )Golding said….
In the time since his death, numerous pieces have come up all over the net, a few of which I’ve compiled below…
A while back Omar posted some photos of skateboarding crews that were emerging in Jamaica, I was searching around to see if there was an more info or video on them to show, just the other day I stumbled on an interview from Large Up about this.
From the video you can see how the kids are being diversified with new hobbies and putting their own spin on things by merging it back into the dancehall scene.
Tonight, the Caribbean Cultural Center in conjunction with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation present a screening of When The Spirits Dance Mambo, the critically acclaimed film co-directed and produced by Bobby Shephard and Dr. Marta Moreno Vega. Check out the details below…
Tracing the role of sacred African thought and practices in the formation of Cuban society, culture and music, the documentary is a tribute to the spiritual energy that traveled form West Africa to Cuba and New York. The film was shot over a three month period in Cuba and New York. “When the Spirits Dance Mambo” documents the roots of the sacred African religion, La Regla de Ocha (known as Santeria). There will be a question and answer with Dr. Marta Moreno Vega directly following the film.
Hansborough Recreation Center
35 W 134th St
New York, NY 10037-2503
(212) 234-9603
Tonight in Harlem, Asho is bringing Cuban music and dance uptown. Check out the details below…
The Uptown Nights party continues with Yosvany Terry and his band joined by DJ ASHO, special guest emcee KOKAI, Cuban dancers, and visual artists for a night of grooving to a Latin beat. Come early for the first hour’s open bar mixer, followed by the performance and a closing DJ set.
7:30-8:30 pm DJ Asho Set (Afrobeat, AfroCuban & Latin)
8:30-10:00 pm Yosvany Terry’s Band Performs:
Special Guest DC emcee Kokai
10:00-12:00am DJ Asho Set (Afrobeat, AfroCuban & Latin)
Tickets: $15
Harlem residents received an 20% discount off the ticket.
Cynthia Oliver/COCo Dance Theatre’s Rigidigidim De Bamba De: Ruptured Calypso takes calypso in and out of the carnival context and layers it with mythology, hertory, and dance. Six women from the Caribbean diaspora explore “rupture,” or break, and discover a shared Caribbean identity across geographical, cultural and aesthetic borders. Through vibrant movement, sound and text, the performers negotiate their individual identities and cut through calypso’s melodious innuendo to reveal its political subversive truth-telling and rawness then delivers it in raucous and downright unrespectable levels….
The Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute, Raices Latin Music Museum & Harbor Conservatory for the Performing Arts are combining forces this coming weekend for a great event that traces the History of Mambo and New York City back to Cuba, Haiti, Africa and beyond. Check out the details below…
The history of Mambo and New York City: In the World Famous Palladium – Home of the Mambo and in the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, Machito and His Afro Cubans, Tito Rodriguez, Tito Puente, and others established a style, a music, a movement celebrating the beauty of our color, our bodies, our movement, our regality. Mambo, a Bantu word, traveled from Central Africa to Cuba, Haiti, and other locations. Learn the history and dance to the music of fire with Machito’s Chango Ta Veni, Babaluaye of Miguelito Valdes and much more…The Orisha and Mambo Connection!
Here is the video off of Major Lazer’s album “Guns Don’t Kill People, Lazers Do”, Pon De Floor. The video is pretty interesting has a lot of daggering in it so it’s probably NSFW. It also features deejay/dancer Skerrit Bwoy.
If you follow Usain Bolt then its no surprise that the track star likes to dance. Bolt put out a challenge for the best dancers to come up with some moves, make a video and he will judge. The winner gets to fly out to London and join him for his July 24th competition (if you win this competition cause of my post you me a ticket).
