What is What

My dance family in NYC has been on the forefront of merging house dance and bboying flavors in dynamic and ever shifting ways since the 90's. It saddens me to share with you, my fans and followers that recently we lost one of our members B-Ill. Ths is a dancer who I had featured in a stage production called "Sketchy". The Fénz family gathered for Sketchy were veteran Step-Fénz and the next generation of the crew The X-Fénz. B-Ill represented the cutting edge of a new breakin style called "circus style" for Sketchy. B-Ill was also a featured dancer during a Maker Faire presentation in NYC I gave last year. In both events he delivered crowd pleasing and astounding moves. This video shows B-Ill presenting his "Circus Style" of dance in a rare backstage look at cast of Sketchy. I remember these days of building with the crew fondly and I always will. RIP B-Ill it was an honor to work with you.

ABOVE: Video footage of B-Ill participating in my stage production Sketchy featuring multiple generations of the Fénz Family

CLICK ON IMAGE ABOVE TO READ MY INTERVIEW ON VEGANSKATEBLOG.COM

ABOVE: Custom Skateboard Paintjob @ Parade Starting Point /Photo by THOS

NYC DANCE PARADE 2012 was a fun and exhausting affair. I danced every block two or three times using my skateboard to exhibit my Step-N-Roll Flavor. I cannot really decide on how to title the form. Is it Stepping-Roll, Steppin-Roll or Step-N-Roll .. These are the kind of decisions I am not very good at making. Tons more images after the jump

Greetings dear Readers. It has been far too long since I have last posted here. If you have been with me since the beginning then you are well aware that I do have these long breaks between posts. This site is not really a bloggers site, in the blogger sense of blogging daily, but rather an artist's site that starts and stops and starts again with a regular irregularity.

ABOVE: "Keep Dancing" Intaglio Ink Print on Archival Paper 8x10 2012

ABOVE: The crowded floor of Sullivan Room opens up just enough for me to squeeze in a few choice steps but the powder on the floor makes the crutch tips slide around so much that I would lose control. For those of you following my blog you may remember a previous post about Juste Debout France plastic floor with seams.

There will always be those select house dancers that love to throw down their powder and get their groove on, slipping and sliding around with an extra touch of smoothness coming from the baby powder dusted floor surface. While recently out on the town in NYC I went to hear the amazingly talented Ian Friday spin at Sullivan Room as part of the long running Thursday Night Global Soul Dance Party, Libations. While hanging out warming up and just enjoying the music I felt the amount of powder on the floor was making it a bit dangerous for me to do anything beyond the most conservative two step. In the pictoral sequence after the jump you will see my solution to this powder floor problem as taken from ramp skaters who mopped their entire ramps with a coke/water mix to get the masonite dust out of their kinetic equation. While I too have applied the same idea to entire stages when too dusty for a show a club is a bit different in that you might get kicked out if you are caught dousing the floor in Jack and Cokes. Thus for clubs I switch out mopping the entire dance floor with a coke/water mix to making a small area of the floor my tip and shoe sticky zone by pouring the liquid onto a napkin in an out of the way location that doesnt get cleaned up too quickly.

ABOVE: "In-Saddle Float" performed Traveling ( as oppposed to single position circular ) from The Shannon Technique

I am posting up this image of me performing an In-Saddle-Float on single point crutches to make the point that my dancing came from within my heart and spiritual connection to music and the "urbanity" of my form prior to attaining and evolving the rocker bottom crutch design.So many kind people have written to me about how they want to dance on crutches but need to find a rockerbottom set to get started. My response is just start moving.

 

ABOVE: Dance Delight Magazine Cover Shot 1999 This came out right when I was first hitting New York hip-hop and jungle clubs. Basically I went wherever the circle was alive. Eventually I discovered how crazy the Club Shelter Circles were under Robbie Promoter with Timmy and many other stellar house Dj's. Up until Shelter I was never that much into house music but progressive vocal house was a whole new world. So danceable and Funky.

click thru for the interview

THISISWHATISWHATIS

 

 

---

 

ABOVE: interview in Japanese

THISISWHATISWHAT

ABOVE: original notebook scan. Illustrated Notes on Cultural Phenomenology; The Condition Arriving and notions of invisibility within its context. I have posted this same image in the 2D section of this site but it is cleaned up of all the writing.

ABOVE: an excerpt from Traffic: Chicago. "my left foot" means for the bus to speed up..

This text about Traffic I have cut and pasted from a grant proposal and modified slightly -after the jump-

THISISWHATIS "Traffic"

ABOVE: A Sweeper-Kickout Crossed-Up Heel-Hold No-Handed Rotation performed in Helsinki in the year 2002. A highly technical combination move that is near impossible to pull off beyond a 360. A progression from Sweepers combined with the kickout and heel-hold moves.

ABOVE: A video laying out the basics of Shannon Technique recorded around 5 years ago. I need to upres this on Vimeo but in the meantime its really all about the content.

Credits:

Concept: Bill Shannon, Production Bevis Evans-Teush, Camera Dave Burns, Production Assistant Clyde Jones
Special Thanks: Heather Lynch, Leah Lizarondo and Iffith

ABOVE: A video of The Sweeper-Spin (starts at :09) edited to show progression from Standard Sweeper. ( see Introduction to Shannon Technique for context )  The move reflects technical progression by way of physical limitation. For more writing about this lopsided progression of my dance Clik " read more" below.

ABOVE: I know I have posted several versions of this video work however I am preparing a new shoot and am editing it in different ways to try and figure out the best strategy for the live shoot. Some lighting issues and the slight jiggle of the rig are two problems that will be solved in the next version of this series ( as opposed to the next edit of the existing series) Hang on to the end for some extras and B-Roll stuff.

ABOVE: POLAND a quick pic of the Warsaw Center City. I am performing at www.cialoumysl.pl with DJ Brian Coxx

I was sent these images by VIDF with no information about the photographer. photos by Chris Randle. ChrisRandle.com.  The stills are from my performance of Spatial Theory at the Vancouver International Dance Festival. I performed the evening length work two nights. I believe these stills are from the first night because the audience was so interactive and one of them threw me a bottle to have a drink during the section of the show where I keep crashing. Anyway I will update the site with the photographers name when I find out.

I am very excited about the new content. Still editing the video to get the right look and choice speeds. using Adobe AfterEffects to enhance my Final Cut.. a world of difference.  This image  is a good indication of the fractured multi-angle reimagination of the dance that the work inhabits. its a shape shifting as if looking through a prism reimagination of the body. editing the Crik footy now. thanks to Douz and Mille and DNA

ABOVE: Artist and Dancer, "Cricket" performing in front of the capture rig at Dance New Amsterdam for a new untitled video installation work in progress

ABOVE: Classic "Wall Stall "  executed in a Falling Style   Shannon Technique 2010 photo : BC

The basic trick sequence involved in the "Wall Stall" from Shannon Technique is to plant the vertical 
oriented crutch ahead of your body and lift into it as you are also dropping the horizontal crutch down. 
Holding onto the horizontal crutch with your armpit tightly is essential because it will be bearing weight 
of the freeze which wants to push the crutch saddle out of its hold. Once your armpit is tight on the 
horizontal crutch you can drop your weight into it with a hip hold or a lobar toe thread.  While you are
placing the horizontal crutch you are also dropping weight out of the lift into your vertical crutch. Your 
arm over the vertical crutch should immeidately slide out of the saddle position and into an elbow saddle 
hold as the horizontal crutch is now in place to take the weight. Once your hip is rested on the 

ABOVE: Classic "Wall Stall "  executed in a Bboy Uprock Style   Shannon Technique 2010 photo : BC 


horizontal crutch and your elbow saddle hold is in position on the vertical crutch you can tweak the 
freeze variations while using your weight against the wall to stay secure. Here is where you grimace or
go no-handed no-footed etc. .. This holding of the freeze will be fun until your armpits bleed and the inside 
of your elbow is bruised real good. all dancing hurts a little doesnt it?  NEVER QUIT  To exit out of a "wall 
stall" you have what I call a" rewind"  in which you simply pull your weight back up into the vertical crutch to