The first Afrikan Hip Hop Caravan cruises through Jozi

I never thought, one day, that I would call myself a scholar, let alone a Hip Hop scholar and Hip Hop activist as well.

Well, this I have become, as I found myself as a presenter at the first Afrikan Hip Hop Caravan, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Zubz The Last Letta and Mic Crenshaw.

The caravan was conceived by a group of people in Cape Town and Khayalitsha, in the hope of engaging, in each city in which they stop, with like minded Hip Hop activists and so spread the notion of conscious Hip Hop throughout the African continent.

Hip Hop is an umbrella term, a movement, a cultural movement of like minded people, that consists of four elements:
- Rap/MCing
- Street dance: break dancing, pop 'n locking, electric jive etcetera
- DJing
- Graffiti

Hip Hop began as a means of social activism, even if the original cats were unaware of this. In the Bronx in the 1980s, young not white people were, by race and monetary backgrounds, unable to go to the upmarket clubs in New York. There were no provisions for clubs in the Bronx. And thus the social activism began.

Young people wanted to party. And so they developed the concept of a block party - some young people with boom boxes gathered in and around a block and partied together, claiming their rights to have a good time, even if a city block is not a "suitable" space. These young people also converted empty and/or abandoned parking lots and buildings into dance halls, often illegally attaching their power supply to a city connection, once again claiming their rights to party as young people. Young people brought their own music and started playing with scratching and mixing songs. The MC/rap element developed in response to the the need for a person to keep control of the crowd and the DJs. The DJs started experimenting with their songs, looping instrumental 'breaks' in songs to the hype of the dancers so started innovating interesting and never seen dance moves in response to the crazy sounds of the DJs.

Where people have nothing to gain or loose, this is where the heart of innovation lies. And thus Hop hop was born. Graffiti became a way to mark territories of party spaces, of gangs and a means to voice the socio-political ideas that passed around at these parties.

Now with record labels panting after rappers and hip hopers, clothing labels producing "hip hop" clothes and where money comes into play, singers these days have lost their hunger for innovation and instead stick with what makes and money - sick beats with little relevance to the message they are conveying.

And so the Hip Hop Caravan is an attempt to engage with Hip Hop activists on a conscious level to keep the flame of the movement alive; that is, providing a space for young people to engage with global issues without having to fear being "wrong".

Mic Crenshaw - USA

What I realised in this day long symposium of discussion, conscious rap and dance, is the vital roll this movement can play in development. In an Anthropology lecture I had attended the day before the symposium, we had broached the question: where can we talk about male and female interactions? Maybe it is in a rap cypher where men and women challenge each other in lyrics. Or possibly the dancing cyper, where men and women mock each other on a physical level, breaking down the barriers of treating women different to men, accepting each other as another dancer as opposed to a social construct of what a man or woman should be.

I sometimes wonder if us humans take ourselves far to seriously... Maybe we need to mock the other dancers "big dick" or lack thereof in the dance battle, and then afterwards, realise that it is all just in jest and that such things are not that important for the development of young people into whole people. Or mock a woman's breasts bouncing around in the dance battle and then acknowledge her when she beats you in the battle.

All this is obviously relying on the fact that the participants in these battles are conscious of the politics of "gender".

Great rhyme schemes (ie that are not lazy in their construction - for rappers are after all poets), great engagement with language and message and most importantly, great messages - this is what makes great rap.

Innovative dance and ways of engaging with the physical body as a 'text' to portray messages and challenge stereotypes - this is what makes great street dance.

Innovative engagement with music and beats, realising that this element holds the whole movement together - this is what makes for great music.

Education, understanding of all of the arguments and the plights facing young people, embracing freedom of artistic expression - this is what makes great graffiti.

As Zubz (pictured above) said, he likes a warm microphone, a mic that is used often, to engage with issues on a conscious level, to keep the warmth of Hip Hop alive in spaces in which it can make the most difference.

#42

Puma Social Club

Before I make any sort of review, take note: getting to this spot any time past 8pm means standing in line outside for up to two hours before being able to get into the club. Be forewarned.

Puma Social Club - epitome of sports, fashion and arts entertainment. Entered into from an obscure door in a wall along De Korte Street (a door that blends into the plaster around it) it is found only by the queue that extends around the block and the two bulky bouncers guarding the door.

And the luminous purple lights glowing above.

Each Friday night you will walk into a different crime scene - House Head, Ghetto Gangsters, Hip Hoppers, Alternative Hipsters, RnB Soulsters and such. Live music, table tennis, photo booth.

Tip: arrive at 6, party til morning

Everything ends

It's true you know. The only certainly in life is change, and with change comes the ending of phases in your life. And the beginning of new and wonderful opportunities.

This weekend marks major ends in my life. None of them sole and complete, never to surface again. But there is still sadness.

You know, no matter how much you want that promotion, that new job, that bigger house in the better part of town or what what, there is always an element of sadness at what you are leaving behind, no matter how small that element is... or how big...

And so no matter that I needed more challenge and mental stimulation from my current job, the people and the place was very good to me and they will be sorely missed.

No matter how excited I am about moving to Joburg, to be closer to my 'mini gang' of friends in Joburg, I am leaving behind some super incredibly important people in Pretoria. The most significant group of people in one space that I am saying goodbye to is my capoeira crew, Capoeira Meia Lua (Half Moon). One of our instructors and my dear friend is moving to Cape Town, and my other instructor, and dear friend, feels he cannot carry on on his own - plus he wants to focus more on his spiritual life. I completely understand him. The other kids are all getting super busy, I am moving to Joburg, and well there is just not enough of us together to continue the group.

And so with hugely heavy hearts and sadness, we had out last class on Thursday. And then it hit me on Friday. It is going to be a long time before we are all together again. And this was a group of wonderful people whom I saw twice a week for two and a half hours each time. They were like my anti-depressants. Closer that friends. Capoeira is my religion, they are my support structures within my religion.

There is a saying that there is nothing that a good roda of capoeira cannot fix. However, I want to add that while this may be so, there is nothing that thirty minutes with the kids at Meia Lua cannot fix. Even if there is no capoeira involved.

So while this month is a month of re-birth, it is bitter sweet, for an much as I gain, I am saying many goodbyes, even though they are not final. Even though none of us are dying and we are all still in the same province (except one) and maybe a 30 minute drive from each other, this weekend is a time of celebration and sadness.

And so, I suppose this is a letter to say thank you to Chris and Kyla - teachers are more important in life than they are given credit for. They mentor, guide, encourage their students to grow. And honestly, the world would never have got to where we are, in religion, spirituality, ballet, dance, sports, capoeira, without the guidance of teachers.

Imho, Luntu, Charlise and Jocshi, Gabe, Annamart (aka Annamom) Carin, Ac, Wehan and Kylene, my capoeira family of amazingness, good training, sweating and partying together!

To Debbie, Salim, Aletta, Levercia, Bobby and Nqobile, my work family, relationship counselors and clowns of amazingness.

To Pretoria, I never thought I would miss you but I might, just a little bit. You have been good to me this year.

To my people here is Pretoria who have been here since forever and whom are too numerous to mention (ballet, Botswana, horse riding, school, etc etc etc).

It's a big goodbye, albeit temporary.

And so I wish you all, all of you wonderful lights in my life, até que nós ver outra vez:

"I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.

I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.

I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.

I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger.

I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.

I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.

I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye."

Dancing in public spaces

So my mission is as follows:

a) To get hold of Joburg City Parks, Sappi or any other body corporate (such as Sappi, who does 'community outreach' by looking after some of the city parks)

b) to get some form of permission/go ahead/yes yes, we know you will be there so we don't get arrested to start playing capoeira in the CBD.

Sigh... permissions... I am tempted not to even bother... But me getting in trouble is one thing; the whole of Case da Capoeira getting in trouble is probably not the best decision to make in my life at the moment.

My target parks are the following:

- Joubert Park
- the park outside Joburg Theatre
- Pieter Roos Park
- the park along Rissik Street

There is already one dormant inner city capoeira project; the kids used to train in the Hillbrow Theatre. Hmmmmm, so the concept of capoeira is not completely foreign to all the city residents. At least I know this for sure, even if I know nothing else at the start of this project.

I will be posting the link to the project website shortly. This will also form part of my MA. I want to see the extent of website and blog interaction throughout an ethnographic study and if it in anyway affects the process.

My core question is this:

~To investigate the use of space in a city block in Johannesburg, with specific reference as to how the use of space influences and is influenced by the inhabitants of the space. This investigation will also look at the role of urban dance in public spaces in creating an identity for this city space and how this further affects the identity of the users of the public and private city space.~

I will be looking specifically for the extent to which dance is or is not visible in the city spaces. I will be running, concurrent to the theoretical research, experimentation into spaces in the city that could be used for public displays of dance. Hmmm, public displays of dance - PDD. PD2. P2D. This could get catchy!

Peace out public dancers of all shapes, ages and forms

#44

Arts of Main Rooftop Salsa

Ah my gosh! If I was doing a count down to the number one place to dance in Gauteng, this would most definitely be the top. Well, I am jumping ahead of the other 44 places still to be discovered - so it would be in the top of the top selection at least.

On the roof top, on the top of Johannesburg, in the sun, with a cold beer and the hip swaying rhythms of salsa tunes getting your feet a-jiving.

Every Sunday from 12noon until about 5pm. Before this you can browse through the Arts of Main market from 10am, drinking Ethiopian coffee, eating hard bitter sweet Ecuadorian chocolate and, to line your stomach before the beer arrives, Indian curry, schwarmas or Ethiopian Injera.

Here is a link to one of the videos of the salsa afternoon sessions:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpV4ThCgi-g&feature=youtu.be

~Where there is dance, there is life~

A walk on the lighter side of life. And Jo'burg

In the streets of Johannesburg...

Fig. 1: insert ballet barres, ballet rehearsal space.

I went for a walk the other day, a walk through Braamfontein. I had taken the Gautrain from Centurion to Park Station and I was on my way to a meeting with my supervisor-to-be at Wits (I'm starting my MA there next year 2013).

My project is going to deal with public urban space, how it is used, how it can be adapted and reclaimed.

I went for a walk the other day, a walk through Braamfontein and I saw so much public space that can be used to fill the city with little pockets of vibrant activity.

Fig 2: break dancing?

Fig 3: Parkour/urban freerunning

Fig 4: parkour and break dancing. Maybe even capoeira?

Fig 5: The roof, the roof, what can be done on the roof? Ballet, capoeira, break dancing.

Fig 6: ballet, capoeira, break dancing

Fig 7: capoeira, capoeira, capoeira

Fig 8: using public space; true space

Street Talent

I wish I could give yall more but camera went on the blink so I don't have any of my own material... So here are two videos of the Red Bull Beat Battle(credit redbull.co.za)

http://www.redbull.co.za/cs/Satellite/en_ZA/Video/From-the-Streets-to-the-Stage--Video--021243215966544

http://www.redbull.co.za/cs/Satellite/en_ZA/Video/Red-Bull-Beat-Battle-Some-lights,-few-cameras-and-021243217507767

Word.

Red Bull Beat Battle

 I have never been to a dance battle.

I have watched them on television. I have seen them in movies. I am a dancer and in our small inexperienced ways, my friends and I have had dance battles. I have played imaginary dance battles across my closed eyes at night, trying to feel what it must feel like to be in the space.

Never before, however, have I actually been in the cypha[1], cheering, watching and appreciating the dancers in front of us. 

On the 26^th of May 2012 I went to my first dance battle. And like the first ballet that I ever watched, the catalyst for me to study dance, I will remember it always – the emotions, the colours, the sounds, the dancers names, the feeling of being their physically and emotionally.

I have studied dance, I have theorised dance, and I have written a thesis on break dancing, the body and the use of the body to identify oneself as an entity. No words however, can really do justice to what the body does when confronted with music. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI), the winners of last year’s battle, took to the stage to defend their title. Added to the mix, Vintage (semi-finalists on eTV’s Step Up or Step Out), Phly Nation (the only All-bgirl/freestyle crew and the only representation from Pretoria), Ninja Turtles (old skool bboy’s from Cape Town), two Patsula crews representing old skool Mzanzi, iSbujwa and many other freesyle, krumping, pop ‘n locking and hip hop. There were eight crews in total, battling for one prize – the top crew, and a spot in the Red Bull Beat Battle finals in Brazil.

Not at any moment throughout the night was the audience disappointed, or bored, or uninvolved with the event. Crews brought their A-game, with Vintage knocking AI out of the running for this year’s title. Reptilz, fairly consistent in their performances, blew the roof off in the final. Or it could have been the fairly disappointing  performance of Vintage. Strong throughout the battle, Vintage gave it their all in their battle against AI, yet their final piece could not hold against Reptilz. In the end it was “Reptilz!” that was being chanted by the crowd. 

MC for the night, AKA, kept the crowd entertained during and between rounds, and the various DJs and performers, including Pro, had us dance, dance, dancing to their sounds. After the show, who takes over the stage but TKZEE, keeping us jamming until long into the early morning.

The next step? Brazil!

I could not have asked for a better first dance battle experience as I got that night.

---

[1] The Hip Hop/street/dance work for a circle of people who form around either a dance battle or a beat/rap battle.

 PS - pictures to follow shortly, thanks for all the interest and demand to see the pics - camera malfunction soon to be remedied.

Attention all lovers of dance: this is a link to watch a video of the night - take a gander, it gives you a good idea of the vibe of the night, and then talent of the dancers:
 
http://mg.co.za/multimedia/2012-05-31-centre-stage-urban-beats

#44

Baseline

Well this one is a bit of a cheat but it can count none-the-less.


I went to a dance battle called Red Bull Beat Battle, held at Baseline in Newtown. So we were spoilt not only with the amazing dancing, we also had A.K.A as MC, Pro and other amazing SA acts (I can't remember off hand who was all there) and then after the show, Tkzee performed.

In between dance rounds we danced, danced, danced to the beats of great rappers and DJs.




As a friend told me, "Any event at Baseline is a good event".

So get yourself there.

Footnote** Baseline is found in the Newtown Precinct, one of the spaces in Johannesburg CBD that was redone as part of the urban rejuvenation project of Jo'burg City Council. The statue outside Baseline is of Brenda Fassie, also known as Ma Brrrr - Kwaito diva extrodinairre of South Africa who died of a drug overdose in her thirties.

All across Newtown you will see similar public art sculptures in memory of great South African artists.

#45

Great Danes

Bar-cum-dance hall-cum-hipster hangout, this is a well nice place to hang out with friends. Whiskey is cheep(ish), music is good(ish) and much fun can be had. It is next door to Kitcheners. But you have to pay entrance at Kitcheners

Plus it stays open later that 2am - the time most bars and clubs seem to close in Gauteng.

For Rhodents, it is like Friars but with class.

For the rest of you, it is in Braamforntein, not Newtown, so it is a different vibe and different music. If I understand correctly, the vibe changes with each new concert or event held there - as each event brings with it different music.

Also, there is a password that you need to be able to enter. It changes all the time. When we went it was Bobocop.

The Midrand Creative Base

The new project begins...with a Face Book page. Honestly though, how easy is it to create a web presence for yourself without having to register domains or set up websites?

So I am beginning to create a web presence for the Midrand Freelancer's Creative Base. Maybe the name is too long. Brownie points to anyone who can come up with a better name? Seriously, we will have a plaque with your name on it installed in the building...?

So I am asking a question or three...

The urban space have three important functions:

1. a source of community
2. a source of economic opportunities
3. a way to link people across countries
 

1) what makes a community strong, 2) give old and new ways of embracing these economic opportunities and 3) how can a city inspire us and keep us linked?

If you feel inclined to answer here you may. Or email me info@easyofficesuites.co.za. or better yet, join the Face Book Page and join the conversation... https://www.facebook.com/groups/254684527969836/

 Or read this blog, don't do anything and the world will continue on its merry way.

 But I dare you to participate. To borrow from a Checkers advert - "It may not change the world. But it may change the way we live in it."

 And in my view,that will change the world. 

 

Johannesburg CBD

  Old and New - Juta Street

 City of Gold Urban Arts festival 2012 - Cape Town artist (Braamfontein)

 City of Gold 2012 - Solo1, England (Braamfontein)

 Johannesburg Crew - City of Gold 2012 (Braamfontein)

 Commissioned graffiti mural and commissioned wooded heads (Newtown cultural precinct)

 Once again, the commissioned wooden heads in Newtown. There are 500 head all around city centre, all commissioned by the Municipality as part of urban space regeneration. 

It is said that one should not wait until a space is clean and then install urban art; one should instal urban art and then watch as the space becomes clean.

Some old urban art, on the steps up to Museum Africa.

If you find yourself in the centre of Johannesburg, take a stroll and watch the space around you. See the the city as text and begin to understand the people living there.

#50

Ko'spotong...
...hip hop, Kwaito, house, RnB, rock, drum and base, dubstep. All in the arty farty space of Newtown. Do yo'self a favour and go dancing there at least once.

http://blogs.timeslive.co.za/pendock/2010/06/30/strongbow-synchronicity/

Shall we get entertained in the city?

The second edition of the City of Gold street art festival is rolling closer and I am going to be having some fun this time.

The festival and a fantastic blog called http://1000awesomethings.com have inspired me to do something mind-blowing and un-put-downable with my blog.

I want to count down the top 50 dance places in the greater Gauteng.

Sound undoable? Maybe a bit of a long shot, can there really be 50 of the top in Gauteng? There is only one way to find out and that is to get started.........

PS keep glued for other non-top-50-dance-paces related posts.
Awe! 

Credit: Ballerina Project NYC