>> From the Library of
Congress in Washington DC.
[silence]
>> BETSY PETERSON:
I'm Betsy Peterson,
the Director of the American
Folklife Center here at the Library
of Congress and on behalf of the
entire staff at the Folklife Center,
I want to welcome you all today
to the first concert in 2017
of the Homegrown Concert series.
We've got four great dance battles.
Today, for you all from
dancers from Urban Artistry,
but just a little bit
about the Homegrown series.
The Homegrown Concert
series is a tool
for the American Folklife Center
and an opportunity for us to be able
to work with folklorists,
ethnomusicologists,
cultural specialist, cultural
organizations throughout the entire
country to help us identify
and bring the best artists
and musicians, dancers, and artists
in narrative arts to come here
to Washington DC to share
their talents with all of you.
Our performance today is going
to be webcast for the collections
of the American Folklife Center
and it will eventually make
its way on to the website.
Bit, with that said, if
you have a cell phone on
or any electronic device,
please turn it off now.
And now I just simply want to turn
things over to Michelle Stefano
who is a Folklife Specialist on
the American Folklife Center staff
and I'm happy to say, I think the
almost the newest member of the AFC.
She's had the good fortune to work
extensively with Urban Artistry
who hails from Maryland
while she was working
in Maryland for Maryland traditions.
So, please give a warm
welcome to Michelle Stefano.
[applause]
>> MICHELLE STEFANO: Thank you
Betsy and a special thank you
to Thea Austen for making
today run so smoothly.
And thank you to you all
for spending your precious
lunch hour here in the Coolidge.
So, as Betsy mentioned,
before joining the
American Folklife Center,
I worked for the Folklife
Program of Maryland.
And it was there that I was
fortunate to meet and work
with my fellow folklorist, or as he
likes to say, citizen folklorist,
Junious Brickhouse and the
mind-blowingly talented dancers,
artist instructors of Urban
Artistry whom I'll introduce
in just a moment.
But, first I'm curious,
who here is familiar
with Urban Dance traditions?
Maybe such as bugaloo or
popping, locking, breaking?
Ok. That's very polite.
We are in the Library.
I appreciate that.
But, when the music starts up
again and the battling begins,
you'll have to be a
whole lot more rowdier.
And I'll explain.
But, for those who aren't
familiar with those traditions,
of course you'll be
learning in just a moment.
But, these are expressions
of movement and community
that are intimately tied to musical
traditions over decades from cities
and suburbs across the
country and of course
from musical club there in.
And this is exactly what
Urban Artistry specializes in.
Founded in 2005 by
Junious Brickhouse
who is not just a researcher,
but also a dancer, choreographer,
educator, and executive director.
Urban Artistry is a nonprofit
organization based in Silver Spring,
Maryland dedicated to research,
documentation, teaching,
and safeguarding urban dance
and musical traditions as well
as supporting their respective
cultural communities throughout the
DC region and far beyond.
Through Urban Artistry's classes in
locking, breaking, Memphis duking,
and popping, among many others
including a musical production
and DJing, students not only learn
dance forms but gain deep insight
into their histories and meanings.
As shaped in the neighborhoods
and longtime clubs found
across the U.S. and
indeed, the world.
Junious notes that Urban Artistry's
performing artists from beginner
to expert, are cultural ambassadors
for communities who
are often unsung.
Through their well-known educational
programs such as "Funk in Focus,"
"The House that Jack Built,"
"Mainline," and "Methods,"
as well as the International
Soul Society Festival,
which this year's is
coming up in June.
As well as theater productions,
they seek to amplify a whole range
of traditional dance- culture
and expressions as capital A art.
They also aim to safeguard sensitive
cultural exchange, community,
rootedness, legacy, and place
that seek and help to foster,
keep vitalize these forms for
the future as well as evolving.
So, I certainly recommend that
you check out Urban Artistry
and their many events each year.
You can visit their website
at urbanartistry.org.
Ok, so Michelle, what's
going on today, right?
You're all asking.
So, the Urban Artistry dancers
will be coming out in just a moment
and they'll take us through
a couple of rounds of one
on one dance battles
or competitions,
showcasing the wide ranging
styles of urban dance.
And Junious, our MC will
pause things here and there
to explain the importance of
battling within urban dance culture
as well as the many styles
that you'll be seeing.
And I guess you can call
that dance-splaining.
And this where you come in.
You are getting a little
more rowdy, good.
This is where you come in- in order
for the dancers to move and advance
from the quarter finals to the
finals as much as we can fit
in an hour, they must
receive the loudest
and noisiest applause from you.
So are you ready for that?
>> AUDIENCE: Yeah!
[applause]
>> MICHELLE STEFANO: All right.
And one last component
I need to mention
and you've already been treated to
his beats- DJ Barronhawk Poitier,
a dancer, artist, educator, budding
DJ as well as the artistic director
for Urban Artistry will
be choosing the beats
to which the dancers
respond making the music work
for them and not against them.
So, without further ado, I welcome
to the stage, Junious Brickhouse
and DJ Barronhawk Poitier.
[applause]
>> JUNIOUS BRICKHOUSE:
Hello everyone.
My name is Junious
Brickhouse and I'm so glad
that you guys can join
us this afternoon.
You guys are ready for some music?
Some dance?
So, as Michelle said,
I'm the Founder
and Executive Director
of Urban Artistry, Inc.
and today we're just going to show
you guys a little bit of who we are
and what it is that we do.
So, when people talk
about Urban dance culture-
when you hear me say that, most
say, "you know what is that about?"
So, to us, urban dance
culture is the types of dances
that are inspired by the urban
experience- plain and simple.
So, by name, we're talking
about dance styles like hip hop,
like b-boying an b-girling
or breaking, like popping,
like locking, like Memphis Duking.
We're talking about a lot
of different types of dance.
And all of these communities
are different, but what we have
in common is that we come
together and we celebrate our art
in ways that are familiar to us.
So, today, we're going to show you
one of those methods and that type
of festival is called
battling or competing.
Ok? So, your part in this is
that you guys are gonna
serve as our judges.
So, when I ask you to decide
or to give your thoughts
on who you feel gave
the best performance,
you're going to make some
noise for me, alright?
We have a meter over here
that's counting that.
So, by looking at that meter,
I will know and I'll also hear
who got the most applause
or most screams, alright?
So, does everybody got that,
you thing we can handle that?
[applause]
>> Now we got a lot of
wonderful dancers for you today,
but mostly we have
wonderful people- people
who consider themselves tradition
bearers who are very passionate
about what it is that they do,
so please give them your
full support and yeah.
I think before we get started, one
thing that I do want to say is that,
we do this for a lot of
different reasons, right.
But, I think our goal in what we
want to leave with you today is
that the way we express
ourselves today is how we preserve
our culture.
We all come from communities
of practice so we all come
from communities that
sometimes struggle for money,
but dance has always been free for
us and it's given us an opportunity
to be on this stage
today and also be
around the world doing
different things.
But, it's important that we remember
this that this is cultural dance too
and that we're just honored to be
able to share it with you today.
So, why don't we get
this thing going?
[applause]
>> So, first I'd like to
welcome to the stage Juwan Hill.
[applause]
>> Juwan Hill is from "Pull it
to the Floor" in Alexandria,
Virginia and we have Diana Webby.
[applause]
>> Diana is from Copenhagen,
Denmark visiting us out here today
and they're both going to
be doing a style of dance
and the first one is hip hop.
So, the way this is going to work
is that every round we're going
to have a different
style of dance, ok?
Each dancer will dance one minute
twice and after that, we will vote.
Ya'll with me?
Alright. DJ Barronhawk Poitier.
[music]
>> JUNIOUS BRICKHOUSE: Nice.
Ya'll give it up for Barronhawk
Poitier ya'll with the sounds.
Ok, this is our first time up.
Now, if you believe that Juann
had the strongest performance make
some noise.
[applause]
>> Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Now, if you believe Diana had
the strongest performance,
judges make some noise.
[applause] Juann is our winner.
[applause] Thank you
very much Diana.
[applause]
>> Now, just that simple.
That wasn't difficult was it?
Next up, the style we're
going to cover is locking, ok?
And first person up- Rashad Pierson.
Rashad Pierson.
[applause]
>> Rashad is originally
from New York City.
[applause]
>> Rashad is also my lead Artistic
Director at Urban Artistry.
Wonderful guy, wonderful artist.
And he will be going toe to toe
with Vince "Funky Van Go" Johnson
from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
[applause]
>> So, would one of you guys like
to tell us a little about the style
of dance that you're going to do?
>> RASHAD: How you guys feeling?
Nice. So, I'll explain a little bit
about the locking style
and its traditions.
So, originally it starts
in Southern California,
specifically in LA County, In Watts.
And the story goes that a gentleman
by the name of Don Campbellock kind
of sparked this new dance
post-civil rights movement
to funk music specifically
a lot of James Brown and Sly
and the Family Stone
and so on and so on.
He was really trying to do a lot
of the social dances of the time
and fell upon a movement that
worked a lot better for him.
He was really charismatic
and you know, around a bunch
of other people, groups like
the Go Go Brothers and so on
and basically everyone started
to add movement to the style.
It's a really dynamic, open,
spread out, like in your face,
over exaggerated African
American character of that time.
I think that's probably the best
way I can explain it right now
without talking your ear off.
So, Vince and me are going to
show you a little of what we got.
Cool?
>> [music]
>> JUNIOUS BRICKHOUSE: Ya'll give
it up for Rashad and Vince yo.
[applause]
>>Now, judges if you feel that
Vince had the strongest performance,
make some noise.
[applause]
>>Thank you very much.
If you feel like Rashad had
the strongest performance,
make some noise.
[applause]
>>That was pretty close.
We're going to have to
do that one more time.
Do we need one more
round from these two?
Is that what we need?
Ok, let's do one more round.
[music]
>> JUNIOUS BRICKHOUSE: Give
it up for these two guys.
[applause]
>> Nice stuff there.
Working hard for you up there.
So, judges, Vince Funky Van Go.
[applause]
>> Rashad Pierson.
[applause.]
>> Rashad Pierson is our winner.
[applause]
>> JUNIOUS BRICKHOUSE:
I didn't plan that.
Next up the style of dance
that we have is break-it.
Otherwise known as
b-boying and b-girling.
First up, I want to call
out Russell Campbell,
B-boy Iron Man, Russell Campbell.
Russell Campbell is from Cab
Crew in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Did I say that right?
And next up, we have Mean 187
from New York representing TOK.
So, a little bit of
background on these two guys.
They know each other well.
They've met each other a
couple of times in competition
and some exhibition battles
and it's been monumental.
So, it's actually a pleasure
to have them here on stage.
Would either of you like to talk
a little bit about the style?
>> MEAN 187: I have like a hard,
an apparently hard New York
Latin accent, so I'm going to try
to tone it down for you a bit,
so I can tell you the story
about breaking a little
bit, is that ok?
Alright, here we go.
Breaking is not just
flipping and power moves
and spinning on your head.
Breaking is dancing.
In the beginning, this was it.
This was it.
You might get the floor
for a second,
you can hold a drink,
talk to a woman.
Hey, how ya doing?
That's my boy.
I'm breaking right
now, breaking on you.
But, once someone hit
the floor and stayed
on the floor, that
changed everything.
People go to the floor and stay
down like 10, maybe 15 seconds,
never seen it before,
never heard it before.
It changed everything and then
someone decided they were going
to spin and just keep spinning
and they keep spinning.
And they just kept spinning and
they're probably still spinning.
But, the most important
part of breaking,
in my opinion, is the music.
You've got to know the music and
if it wasn't for James Brown,
Jimmy Cast a bunch, we wouldn't
be doing what we're doing.
The most important part
of dance is the music.
And one thing I can give
to myself and Iron Man.
Sorry, this is Iron
Man, not just Russell.
We dance to the music.
If you can appreciate that,
you'll appreciate our dance.
You can grow with it,
you can learn with it.
And you know, we might spin
on our heads a little bit too
if you'd like to see that.
>> JUNIOUS BRICKHOUSE:
Thank you, Mean.
Barronhawk Poitier, are you ready?
[music]
>> JUNIOUS BRICKHOUSE: Ya'll
give it up for Mean and Iron Man.
[applause]
>> That's the niceness right there.
So, judges the difficult part.
If you feel that Iron Man had
the strongest presentation,
make some noise.
[applause]
>> I can't with this guy.
If you feel that Mean had
the strongest presentation,
make some noise.
[applause]
>> B-boy Iron Man is our winner.
[applause]
>> Blessings.
Give it up for these two guys.
[applause]
>> JUNIOUS BRICKHOUSE: I feel like
that's going to happen a lot today.
Just saying.
Next up we have House dance.
First out, I'd like to
welcome Latasha Barnes,
Urban Artistry Assassin's crew.
Originally from Richmond, Virginia
and I'd like to welcome out Kyle
"Just So" Clarke from Philly
y'all- originally from Baltimore.
We've got love for him here
too, We got love for ya.
So, we're going to go ahead and
we're going to get into this thing.
You guys ready?
Barron Hawk are you ready?
Hit em.
[music]
>> JUNIOUS BRICKHOUSE:
That was poetic.
That was beautiful.
Ya'll give it up for
Barronhawk Poitier.
[applause]
>> Brought bangers to
the Library of Congress.
You ought to be ashamed of yourself.
Ya'll are going to be getting
complaints for the next month.
If you feel that Just So had
the strongest performance,
make some noise.
[applause]
>> If you feel like Latasha had the
best performance, make some noise.
[applause]
>> Latasha is our winner.
[applause]
>> Ya'all give it up for Just So.
[applause]
>> JUNIOUS BRICKHOUSE: So, that
is our quarter final round.
We're moving on to our semi-finals.
All of our winners will advance
and now they will compete
against each other.
Ok? So, the turn of
events is such as this.
They will no longer be dancing
within the styles they
just presented.
Now we go into all styles- so
it's an open style category.
So, what that means is that Barron
Hawk is going to play an assortment
of music and they're going to
respond to it accordingly, ok?
Everybody got that?
Alright, so why don't
we get this started?
Right now we have Juann
versus Rishad.
[applause]
>> So, without further
delay, Barronhawk.
[music]
>> JUNIOUS BRICKHOUSE:
Give it up for these two.
That was awesome.
[applause]
>> And without further ado.
If you feel like Rashad had
the strongest performance,
make some noise.
[applause]
>> If you feel that Juwan had
the strongest performance,
make some noise.
[applause]
>> Rashad is our winner.
Make some noise for Rashad.
Thanks very much Juwan.
[applause]
>> Picked the right
door, great job Rashad.
Coming back we have Russell
Campbell against Latasha Barnes.
[music]
>> Give it up for these two dancers.
[applause]
>> Love it, love it, love it.
Esteemed judges, B-boy Iron Man.
[applause]
>> Thank you very much.
Latasha Barnes.
[applause]
>> Latasha Barnes is our winner.
Give it up for Iron Man ya'll.
[applause]
>> JUNIOUS BRICKHOUSE:
So, we are tracking
and we are going into our Finals so.
So we can give Latasha
a moment to rest,
we're going to have a
performance for you all.
You like that?
Performances on top of performances.
I'd like to welcome Ryan
"Future" Webb to the stage.
Future? [applause]
>> Ryan is Urban Artistry's
Director of Education.
He's one of my right hand people
and we put in a lot of work trying
to build curriculum
and trying to make sure
that we're providing the services
to marginalized communities
that they deserve.
Yeah, I'll let you guys see
this guy- he's pretty good.
[music]
>> Ryan "Future" Webb.
[applause]
>> JUNIOUS BRICKHOUSE:
That's what we call
in the culture, the business.
That just happened.
Our Finals.
Latasha Barnes.
Could you please come to the
stage and Rashad Pierson.
[music]
>> Give it up for Rashad
and Latasha ya'll.
[applause]
>> Good stuff.
Now the tough part.
While they're sweating,
you guys get the screen.
Isn't that a good trade off?
So, if you feel that Rashad
had the strongest performance,
make some noise for Rashad.
[applause]
>> If you feel that Latasha
had the strongest performance,
make some noise.
[applause]
>> That was close.
So, let's try this one more time.
They're about to kick us out of
the Library of Congress ya'll.
Ya'll know that right?
They went over their time.
It's time for them to go.
Let's try it one more time.
Rashad. [applause]
>> Thank you very much.
Latasha. [applause]
>> Rashad is our winner.
Ya'll give it up for Latasha Barnes.
[applause]
>> Give it up for Barronhawk
Poitier ladies and Gentlemen.
[applause]
>> Can I have all of the artists
come out to the stage please.
All of the artists
come out to the stage.
[applause]
>> Give it up for the dancers guys.
[applause]
>> JUNIOUS BRICKHOUSE:
I just want to close out
and say just a few words.
I want to say thank you
to everybody who showed
up today to dance with us.
This collaboration and these people
coming together is part of something
that we do all the time
in our communities.
I think a lot of times
people think we're dancing
because we're competing
or we're competing
because we don't have a connection
that's deeper than let's see
who can get the most moves
and who can get the most
Facebook likes, right?
But there is a bond between all
of us that is unbreakable and all
of these people stand
here as tradition bearers,
as community activists,
as mothers and fathers,
as business professionals as well.
So I want to thank them and I'd
like to quote David Mancuso said,
"if we can dance together,
we can live together."
[applause]
>> So, with that my esteemed judges,
I want to thank you for your time
and your energy and your
claps and your yells.
We appreciate you.
>> BETSY: And Junious Brickhouse.
Thank you.
[applause]
>> So, thank you all and let's have
another big hand for our dancers.
[applause]
>> They were fabulous.
Thank you so much for coming today.
Look for our next concert
on April 19th.
It will be on our website
soon- Sheila Kate Adams.
So thank you very much for coming.
[applause]
>> This has been a presentation
of the Library of Congress.
Visit us at loc dot gov.