Streetdance 3D - a few words on writing a bad review

I'm sleeping with one eye open tonight. I wrote the review for Streetdance 3D the other day having watched the film twice - I'm the only critic that will put myself watching a film twice before I  know I'm happy with my opinion - and a little bit of me is afraid I'll lose all the friends and contacts I've spent the past two years trying to accumulate!

That's why I asked Kymberlee Jay, someone in dance in the position to provide an opinion, to accompany me to one of the screenings... but she was busy.

There are so many dancers in the film, either as main cast, supporting groups (dancing in the background or used for routine shots) or as extras. It was choreographed by the best choreographers in the country (Will Tuckett, Kenrick Sandy, Kate Prince - you'll recognise the latter two from their choreography credits for Pied Piper and Into the Hoods, as well as So You Think You Can Dance).

Lots of dancers were excited about seeing themselves in it. Fair do, those people are now part of UK film history and walked up the red carpet at Leicester Square, greeted by a crowd of paparazzi. But regardless of what the feeling is inside the community of street dance, I still think critics will pan it, and that's what worries me... you guys will hate me for being honest!

It's difficult when you're part of a project so big, so unique, to see its faults. All of the groups are hyped about being part of it, the press interviews features dancers smiling and talking about how fortunate they are to be involved in the project, but Streetdance 3D still manages to fall under the category of cheesy teenage romance bundled in street credibility and marketed at teenagers. If it wasn't, then why does is it all centred around a soundtrack featuring N-Dubz, Chipmunk and, wait for it... Pixie Lott?

Worried about coming across wrongly, I had the review proof read to make sure it didn't get too personal. Y'all know our dancers look dope - the dance scenes were what the film was all about! My problem with it isn't the people in it, but the way it's been produced and scripted (Jane English, the films writer is the write for Channel 4's Sugar Rush). As the flagship for UK street dance films, it should have done better. Maybe then it'll fare against Step Up 3D when it's released.

I asked what Simeon Qsyea who appeared in the film as himself and is founder and choreographer of Birdgang with Ukweli 'Quails' Roach who plays the part of Jay (do you remember him from Blaze?), what he thought. Having read the script months before the film went into production he said it was exactly what he expected.

I've one key person in street dance on my side. Out of many. It still leaves me avoid eye contact answering dancers who were involved in the film what they though!
I know the review I wrote for Streetdance 3D might not be everyone's cup of tea, but you have to remember, for dancers making the transition to the mainstream you're playing by someone else's rules.

I'd love to hear what you think. You can leave your comments about Streetdance 3D using the comments box below

#waacking The Waacktitioners at April's Throwdown: Throw It Down and Waack It Up!

By Waacktitioner Princess Scribbles 

At the end of the first day of the year that actually felt like spring, came April’s Throwdown. The change in season brought with it a little more skin from host/'teaboy' Charlie Blue, and a new addition to a line-up which in the past has featured battles and showcases from graffiti artists, beatboxers and all manner of dancers from breakers, poppers and even pole-dancers. This Thursday’s Throwdown welcomed The Waacktitioners.

As a member of The Waacktitioners, I am aware of and trying hard not to get swept up by the hype that has suddenly surrounded waacking. There’s no denying we stand out - as we arrived on Thursday night while it was still quiet and the b-boys were warming up, it was easy to pick each of us out in our shiny leggings and killer heels, as if the cast from Fame got lost in Brixton.

However, waacking is a funk dance, a club dance created in the 70s alongside locking and popping - it belongs on dance floors, and in circles in venues like Plan B (although not on the lino - they had to take that up lest we puncture it with our shoes!). It’s great to be a part of the waacking whirlwind, the word is very definitely spreading and an invite to Throwdown, where urban authenticity is maintained and celebrated (even the barman can do a flare) is a mark of the recognition it’s gathering.

Rumour has it that even Madonna wants a waack-attack: amongst those summoned to audition for her privately last week were The Waackers from LA and The Waacktitioners’ own Rhimes, aka Roxy 7.

Thursday night’s Throwdown line-up was characteristically entertaining with a warm up from percussionist Kwake of the Speakers’ Corner Quartet: a unique brand of live acoustic drums over a sample pad. More performances punctuated the night as he accumulated more members of the classically trained foursome including flutist ‘Biscuit’ and Emcee Huntley Brown creating a melodic, atmospheric twist on straightforward hip hop. Kwake calls it a tribute to producers, it’s like a DJ set but even more live and improvised.

You can catch them on 14th April at Charlie Wrights, 45 Pitfield Street, London N1.

The battles began with the beatboxers who were very well received, judging from the number of phones in the air, it’ll be all over Youtube.

The b-boy battle was massively oversubscribed with 26 b-boys and one b-girl showcasing to get on the grid, the crowd was five-deep and the dancers came hard. The final came down to Manny, Spin and ADF, after three rounds each, the judges still needed one more round to choose between Manny and Spin of La Familia Crew, finally awarding the bragging rights to Spin.

'Track from the hat' rounded off the show nicely with UK locking champion, 'Rowdy' making her debut on the wheels of steel and serving up funkstyle tracks that would otherwise never make it onto the lino; the musical lucky dip included Cotton Eye Joe, No Limit, Firestarter and I’m Too Sexy.


The Waacktitioners’ showcase, despite a couple of musical hitches, delivered our brand of bespangled disco groove. A friend of mine, when asked for her honest feedback wondered whether the Throwdown audience was ready for sequins and funk and perhaps that will remain to be seen.

Were you there? What do you think? You can comment below

Blaze Streetdance Sensation Press Night

The editor mingles with the social elite
After a week of advanced previews, Wednesday was the press night for Blaze. We were all there. The Guardian, probably. Time Out, that could have been likely. You Magazine? For some reason they were there too, abandoning their rubbish as they left. That's how I know - they left their press ticket envelopes discarded on the floor. And of course, I was there - read our review of Blaze here

But paparazzi? Are you sure? Did someone inform the tabloids I had a hair cut? There was a good photographer huddle outside the doors of the Peacock Theatre. What's this all about?

Incidentally there was no red carpet laid out, just cold, hard concrete to stroll across.

"Ah yes, now I remember," I thought. "Lizzie Gough and Tommy Franzén from So You Think You Can Dance are in the cast. Those two dancers that were dancing professionally before the show anyway!"

Now, I'm down with inviting people with whom the dancers might have worked with in the past, but letting the paps know of your whereabouts when you're on a leisurely trip to the theatre just blows it a little out of proportion.

This is street dance, where dancers are used to going for a Nando's after a show than eating stuffed olives. 

Then again, when Arlene Phillips and Louise Redknapp (above) walked up and the cameras started flashing, what did I do? I stood in the background and held up a TooMuchFlavour flyer! With any luck I'll have scored some free advertising in today's Evening Standard!

It's interesting to see how the media seems to be more interested in the runners up of So You Think You Can Dance than its actual winner. Through the hustle and bustle of the Peacock Theatre's packed space I didn't happen to see Charlie Bruce. Winning clearly isn't everything.

The show was also a sell out, although two seats were quite obviously not filled right in front of me.

What annoyed me the most is the fact that afterwards dancers I could have spoken to at any dance jam were out of reach from the general public, despite being just across the room, cordened off in a VIP section while a paparazzi snapped pictures of Louise for their magazine. Worth sticking around for? I think not!

Hmm. Is it me, or will too much media interest in street dance distort the dancer's perception of normality when the hype dies down?

Incidentally a discussion on the direction of street dance and its relationship with the media will take place at Collabo '10 at Stratford Circus this Friday and Saturday (19-20 March), and Tommy Franzén and Mark Calape (Animaineax) will both have a seat on the panel.

If you're interested in being part of the discussion, and also want to see a dance show click here for more information.

What do you think? Street dance and celebrity going too far? You can comment below!

Dance2HelpHaiti Fundraiser demonstrates hip hop's sense of community

I said it before in my report and I'll say it again - Dance2HelpHaiti was an event that should be remembered for being turned around the in the shortest time - and it showed the community that hip hop holds.

Off their own backs (with the support of Sadler's Wells), Zoonation and Impact Dance set up a fundraising day for the victims of Haiti earthquake, and hundreds of people turned up.
So many turned up, in fact, that the total amount raised stands at £2,458 (if you include those who donated online).

What's more, the choreographers involved, namely Kate Prince, Simeon Qsyea and Kenrick Sandy, took time out of choreographing for next week's So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD) to be there at such short notice.

Choreographers, when commissioned for big jobs such as SYTYCD, won't usually have a lot of time on their hands, considering the time they need to travel, teach and rehearse. Yet after a few phone calls appointments had been moved around and all were able to make the time to do the fundraiser.

It made me think back to the Mr Wiggles Pioneers lectures where Wiggles and Billy Bizzness talked about this sense of 'community' in hip hop - well last Sunday was just that! Which is why I decided to ask: did Dance2HelpHaiti show the unity of hip hop dance today?

"The fact that we had hundreds of people pass through today shows what it's all about," said Hakeem to us afterwards. "It shows you can fall back on the community. There is a community, they (you) can tap into it, it shows that people do care about other people."

Check out Kate Prince and Hakeem talking about the unity of hip hop (from 2min, 54sec):


Further credit must be given to the dancer from Unity (and that's not a pun on the topic of this blog) who even reached out to our writer, Archie, who was watching as I took a class, and asked her how she was. It's stuff like that that brightens a person's day and shows how accepting people in hip hop are.

After leaving were were discussing this and she said to me "Even stuff like today brings people together and shows community - asking a complete stranger how they are."

I said "That's not just being polite. That's hip hop."

If your hip hop or street dance teacher isn't teaching you about the hip hop community or its history, find a new class.

Read the Dance2HelpHaiti report here.

You can comment below!

Ballet Boyz N Da Hood - Rite of Spring Review

"Ballet Boyz's Rite of Spring: Extraordinary blend of breakdancing, contemporary fusions, ballroom and poledancing. Splendiforous!"

That's what I would write, but in doing so lose all credibility for running TooMuchFlavour, let alone being able to comment on dance. It was really ballet in gimp costume... No, not really, I'm playing. But not far off.

This is great news to me. A week of Move Like Michael Jackson, then more dance on the Beeb with Ballet Boyz! It's a shame, because it wasn't that memorable after watching it.

Stravinsky: classical composer. Rite of Spring: Classically controversial. So the Ballet Boyz (with a 'Z,' gaining them mad credibility in our book!) decided to bring it back with a contemporary twist. They gathered dancers of different and contrasting styles. And they recruited the help of the Soul Mavericks. Step out of the woodwork, haters! They even met up with them at their London Bridge training sessions too. But didn't show the McDonald's the training studio is above!

In October we met up with Soul Mavericks for the UK B-Boy Championships, watch our interview below

"Stravinsky?" Kevin (aka DJ Renegade) answered when he heard the first few bars of music. Damn, after years on the b-boy scene he even knows his classical composers? "That's easy."

Funny how they can commission a piece of classical music for the programme, but had to use a licensed generic break to dub over for the training session...

So Renegade and the Mavericks get on with choreographing. Quite a challenge, as the piece of music is intricate and detailed with no set rhythm to follow, with climaxes and relaxed moments, but nothing is too hard when you're the crew representing the UK in several breaking competitions.

Then that's all you see of them for a bit. A little rehearsal footage midway in the programme at Laban before performance. You don't even get to see the bit where they slipped B-Boy Junior into the cast. Junior who? 13m views on YouTube Junior...



The producers seemed to have forgotten putting in that minor detail. Of course if you put Junior's style in your piece people will clap, the man defies gravity using his arms to propel him! It did look dope though, although for them to dance on beat when there are no obvious marks in the music isn't worth the criticism; the concept for when they moved and why was there.

It's just a shame that considering there were several different styles of dance here, most of the story of the documentary was spent on meeting the dancers rather than watching the pieces develop. I didn't just want to see DJ Renegade go "We're gonna do an eight there, then you guys do an eight when that bit is done." Whoopee-doo. I wanted to see how our b-boys adapted to the unfamiliar music, then how the contemporary dancers and the poledancers got along together with everyone else to pull the final performance together.

Give me drama dammit, I know what dancers are like, so watch dancers from one style argue with the another that does a different style!

It's not like it's the first time b-boying has been set to classical music. It works, and it works well - check this video. But if you're going to broadcast a show that adapts a controversial ballet, and does so with different styles, show us how it all came together!

Post your comments below

(Rumoured) Diversity Flash Mob routine for Sky 1's "Got To Dance?"

This is (supposedly?) the choreography video for the flashmob, set to take place with with Diversity today at Westfield, London.

First impressions of it aren't very high - T-Mobile flashmob it ain't. Music is cut up left right and centre - nine songs in 90 seconds - with the longest cut being 20 seconds of Michael Jackson.

Choreography is obviously intended to be commercial, looking like it was influenced by Michael Jackson's Wanna Be Starting Something video, but some moves look dated rather than fresh, and even bemusing, such as a random head turn at 52 seconds - there's a free Into The Hoods poster for the first person who can explain why.

Although it's only rehearsal footage, I hate to say it, but even Diversity could merk it.


Update: Here's a link to the flashmob video - Got To Dance - Amazing Diversity Flashmob
Also an interview with the choreographer talking about the flashmob and footage of rehearsals.

Comments are welcome, use the form below

Give it up for the family: Why La Familia's efforts will pay off soon

It's like waging war against yourself. Rather than Regional Conflict, you could call the finals of the world qualifiers 'civil conflict.' For the entire Soul Mavericks clan it looks like they are their own rivals. How can you be the best when you only have yourself to battle?

For myself, my predictions remained the same as every battle event Soul Mavericks enter, they would be the finalists. Why not, they're dope?

But at some point in the semi finals, the (figurative) angel and devil popped up on my shoulder to cop some of the action, and my support went out to the underdogs. If ever an 'underdog' becomes classified as a breed of canine it would be an aggressive beast with teeth bared and the scent of victory up its nose. Round its neck would be a collar with the name "La Familia" on it.

La Familia battle with a passion every time bringing creative and energetic routines to the floor only to have victory snatched from them at the very end, often by the Mavericks. It's happened twice this year (at events TooMuchFlavour has covered) including Breakin' Boundaries in March, and in the southern qualifers last month.

Perhaps it was the size of the venue for Regional Conflict South (the qualifiers) that gave a different atmosphere making me feel less engaged with the action, but some of the crews hoping to qualify didn't look up to the standard of the world's best crews they'll have to face in October at Brixton Academy.

My concern now is with only themselves to compete with, Soul Mavericks will get comfortable with their victories and relax. It's like running a race and slowing down as you reach the finish line only to be overtaken. Frustratingly, it's a mentality hard to override - every time England score a goal in the world up they relax, only to concede one because they thought the rival team wasn't on their level.

Best of luck to Soul Mavericks and Mavericks X aka Fresh 2 Death. Just remember, La Familia are always hot on your heels!


Also check out:
Soul Mavericks qualify for UK B-Boy Championships
News: Regional Conflict Finals UK 2009 (B-BoyChampionships.com)