Dancing in the Netherlands
Most people know me know that I lead a secret double life as a dancer. (the secret is now out).
More specifically, I do bboying, commonly known as breakdancing - if you are not aware what breakdancing is, picture any street dance/breakdance movie you have seen. IT IS EXACTLY LIKE THAT, except for the movies' emphasis on choreographed routines over freestyling, the apparent conflict between ballet and street dancing, the need to either be a minority or a white kid from a broken home, the community centers that can only be saved by winning the local competition, the vandalism and trespassing always performed by the street dancer at some point in the movie, and the evil crew that has just stolen their best moves, only to be beaten in the end. Aside from those few differences, the movies pretty much have it right. In Michigan I am a member of the Grand Rapids Crew 61syx technique, and regularly practice and compete in the michigan area. It's lots'o'fun.
below: Me spinning around on the floor.
Photo by David Ribbens of
Since I've been in Amsterdam, I've gotten the the chance to practice 3 or 4 times a week with dutch bboys. This has been a great way to meet dutch people (real dutch people!), continue practicing, and check out a lot of the city - the location for practice is different for each day of the week, so I bike all over en route to the spots. The scene here is a lot bigger than in Grand Rapids, and most of the dancers here have at least a few years of dancing, whereas many of the dancers in Grand Rapids are just starting - the GR scene is growing really quickly. The upside to the large amount of experienced dancers here is that the knowledge base is a lot larger, which makes it much easier to learn new moves.
One of the top items on my study abroad list was go to a few local competitions, so when a friend told me about Raw Circles, a 2v2 competition going on in Antwerp, Belgium, I jumped on the opportunity. My plan was to travel to Antwerp early in the morning, be a tourist around Antwerp during the morning and early afternoon, then go to the jam for the rest of the afternoon and the evening, and catch the last train back to Amsterdam that night.
This was the plan, and it mostly worked out. Next post is going to be more about my trip, and the crazy turns it took. Cliffhangers!
Entirely unrelated song post:
Indie rapper Slug of Atmosphere, performing over some acoustic guitar. It seems pretty divergent from his normal style, but I really like it.
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