Woah....let me just say that this was the hardest class for me. So challenging but yet so rewarding! I have been longing to get into house more, I think it is a beautiful style and I think my problem is I think about it too much instead of just doing it. :) This is the second time I have had the opportunity to take Brian's class but Red Bull really allowed us to interact and talk more with the instructors opposed to just taking a class and leaving, we had time to ask questions and talk with them about the styles outside of the classroom environment which makes a huge difference.

Brian broke down the beat ..plain and simple. We had to clap out our own beat and then dance to it...and if you were off, then he made you start over, or he would say "what happened..I thought you were dancing to x x xxxx...not xxx xxx x ...LOL.

He also went over some basic ..footwork steps and then we combined them all at the end. I looked like I just jumped in the pool when I was done we worked so hard. When he grabbed me to demonstrate I said..."Brian, I don't know what I am doing, he said you don't have to just dance." I thought that was one of the dopest quotes of the week.

Thank you so much to Brian, you are an amazing teacher and I have been trying to practice everything that you taught us, but most of all I am going to be getting more into the music first and foremost because that is where it all comes from :) Thank you for an incredibly inspiring class.

Hope to see you again soon!

Kat
bgirlkatastrophe@bellsouth.net

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MANE!! HOLD UP!!
This is Mario from Havikoro, pleased to blog on dis piece. I want to apologize for not blogging sooner, but out here in the BOON DOCKS, internet is a luxury and for our connection, well there really wasn't any. LOL. But we got so connection now, so here it goes. The BEAT RIDERS has been in full effect since Monday night…Everyday we are taking classes from the legends. The people that know the foundation and the history of the game. We wake up eat, go to class, eat, go to class, then eat again, then practice and then sleep. And then we wake up and do it all over again. It's like a dancers dream. By the third day, we were all sore and hurt and basically all beat up like. (Beat Up Riders).

So far, I have learned from legs and fever (bboying), Shooga Pop (locking), Gymnastics, Phazo (Struting), Rocko (Rocking), Ken Swift (Breakin), Brotha (Freestyle) and tomorrow is Quickstep (Power) and Brian Green (House). YAY.

At night, it's hard to go to sleep cuz I miss my girl and I'm used to going to sleep with her burried in my back. So what I do is…Crack jokes all night until I get tired and go to sleep. Basically, I fall asleep laughing, cuz I'm a lil homesick.

But I am learning a WHOLE LOT. Dam, I can't even explain how much I picked up and how much history I've learned. I want to share it with my crew and my dancer friends.

So anyway, for my peeps in CABIN 7A - this is sompthen fo yo MIND. NAH AH MEAN. It's that coal mining shizzle - crack it open and find a diamond.

I just wanna put it out there - CABIN 7A is the freshest and the livest cabin up in this piece!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FO YO MIND.

Tonight we had a dance session that Red Bull recorded. It started at 7pm. I took a nap and woke up at 7pm, and I was like OH SNAP!!!! I ran like a cheetah to the session. I had a hard time warming up, since I had just woke up. But running at cheetah speed kinda helped. It was more like a showcase throwdown, finally I threw down and as soon as I did…It freakin turned into a battle. I am happy to say my side was the freshest, almost as tight as CABIN 7A. Then the lil gymnastics girls walked in (lil 8 yr olds training for the super dooper olympics) then it turned into a school show/outreach/battle. It was cool. Aight, i'm tired and I need to call my lady before she has a heart attack cuz she hasn't heard my voice. Don't hate…Cuz my lady loves me more than a fat boy loves chocolate birthday cake. Xzavian (My 5yr old son) - I miss you and when I get back we gonna go to the park, practice some dancin and play HUG JAIL!!!!!

P.S. MIKEY DISCO is so freakin hot!!!


P.S.S. He told me to type that…He needs help with the ladies. So if there is any single ladies out there that like lil house dancers with big black glasses and funny jokes - MICKEY DISCO from the bay area is ya man!!!! hit that nikka up!!!

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We had Ken Swift's Class on Wednesday Morning....LOVED IT!

Kenny taught us some serious history and really got into a lot of material that I have had questions on. He taught us a lot about hand placements and doubling up on certain tops and adding poses in. He taught us a lot about musicality and broke down the movements with such clarity that you could leave the class knowing that you absorbed everything he taught. If anyone who hasn't had the opportunity to train with him and does get the chance, take it immediately! Kenny is an amazing teacher..teaching in itself is an art.

He picked out things out of my footwork that I would have never even thought of that I needed to clean up and forced me to practice the things that I have been avoiding. Just the smallest details matter so much. Thank you so much Kenny for all of your help and insight and for showing me the smaller things that I really needed to pay attention to. It is crazy how much it can change your style if you pay attention to details. It was a pleasure and an honor to train with you again.

Katastrophe
bgirlkatastrophe@bellsouth.net


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So, 5 days of this project are gone and 2 to go. It's time to let the world know what we think about it, isn't it?

As far as it belongs to me we are having a great time out here. Dancing, learning and hanging around together with more than 30 great dancers from all over the United States and Europe is an awesome experience.

The dancing masterclasses are without equal and the knowledge dropped by the pioneers of this game helps me so much understanding what build our urban dance forms and what are the thoughts behind them. I did know that this project would affect me and my way of dancing a lot but in fact I think it will turn everything inside out.

For myself, the best part of the project are the lectures and the conversations which we have with the faculty guys or our fellow riders. We get input from the source, from people who built this. Additional there are lectures regarding business and profesionalism. This is the stuff I won't get at home. So I appreciate this most.

That's it so far.
I'll keep you posted.
Peace

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YES!! Let me just say I was so excited when I heard that Fayzo was going to be teaching at Beat Riders! I took his class out in L.A. at Bboy Summit X and I got home and could barely remember the things he taught me and was so sad! I signed up for his class before I went to L.A. and had no idea what the style "Filmore" was, but I figured that would be a good reason to take the class. So excited is an understatement when I heard he would be here.

At Beat Riders Fayzo taught us Filmore and Strutting. Filmore is the solo form of strutting. Strutting is a group dance of two or more. (I confused the two before he explained them) The Filmore is so interesting because it is the same concepts of directing traffic with a combination of shuffling your feet and hands.

I LOVE this style and am really focused on training on it more. Escoe is from Atlanta so hopefully when he heads back out this way to visit he will train with me on the Filmore more.

Fayzo thank you so much for your always interesting class, the Strutting lines were soooo much fun, I really allowed myself to let go and get into it completely which was a great release!

Thanks and I look forward to working with you again soon!

Kat

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