April 22nd, 2010 by soullldiva

If you’ve ever heard the opening piano riff from Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock ‘n’ Roll” then surely the picture that comes to mind is of a stringy high school kid on the verge of manhood, sliding across the living room floor in his button down shirt and tightie-whities. Yes, I speak of Mr. Tom Cruise in the 1983 film Risky Business. “Princeton could use a guy like Joel.” Amen.

To continue where I left off with Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, I adore when dance is used in a non-dance movie. It’s just so real-life. When you are so excited you can’t contain yourself, you do a little jig. When you are completely alone and want to let loose, you pull out your hairbrush and sing “I Will Survive” at the top of your lungs while gyrating in front of the mirror. When you need to step in for your best friend to do a skit, you dance to “Canned Heat” (uh, what).

Here’s the original, that stands the test of time:

As all iconic images do, they spawn copies, spoofs and tributes. Here’s a quick one from the TV show “Scrubs”:

And another from “The Nanny”:

Here’s the sexiest version I’ve ever seen:

Wow, bazoombas…

How about a bunch of athletes? Kobe, don’t you think those shorts are a little long for tightie-whities??

Gotta love it. Thanks Tom, for the original.

March 24th, 2010 by soullldiva

Found this really fun video from Jon M. Chu (of LXD fame) on my Twitter list. They are busy busy busy shooting Step Up 3D (I really liked the first two movies, this should be interesting).

Sometimes when you’re on a set at all hours of the night (and have gotten no sleep on your 8 hours off) thinks get kinda weird, wooly and wild.

What better thing to do than freestyle?

Dija see B-Boy Legacy poke his lil’ face in there? Sweet. Thanks for the vid Jon!

March 16th, 2010 by soullldiva

I’ve been tuning in here and there on America’s Best Dance Crew and seen some pretty nice stuff. Crew dancing is not usually my bag (although the kids are certainly talented), so I don’t normally jump up and down about it.

But last week was Disco Week on ABDC, and first that made me perk up. The crews were going to be given a disco song, and they had to incorporate some movement from the song/video clip AND put in a disco dance lift. Easy peasy, right? Well, just tell that to the Heavy Impact Crew who are just that–heavy. AND sooooo much fun to watch!! Just look at these guys. They embrace their differences, rub the bellies and just get to work. Sincerely, although there were great things about all the dances that night, I don’t think I enjoyed any group as much as Heavy Impact. Plus their song was “You Should Be Dancing” by the Bee Gees. Nuff said.

Just watch them tear up the dance floor. That is passion, enthusiasm, and love for dance:

I HEART me some Heavy Impact boys.

March 8th, 2010 by soullldiva

I read a couple of reviews of the Oscars performance last night, and I don’t agree with all of them. There are a bit of naysayers about the hosting, the dancing, the choice to honor John Hughes (as opposed to other Honorary awards recipients), having “NPH” sing for the opening, etc. etc.

I thought it was a good show. For gawd’s sake, people, it’s nearly four hours of awards and presentations! How is Mr. Adam Shankman (director of the Oscars show) going to please everybody, all the time? He’s not, so there.

I thought two hosts, especially such as Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin was a super idea. Hey guys, I loved Chris Rock even more and I’m sure they paid Shankman NOT to hire him again. His first choice was actually Sacha Baron Cohen–a revelation even beyond Chris Rock. But they pulled back on the idea, thinking that it would just be too much for most of the people in the room (much less the rest of the US, who are quite more conservative than us here in Hollywood) to handle. Darn.

But Steve and Alec did a great job. Steve’s quip about both himself and “Gabby” Sidibe’s first starring movie roles were as a “poor black child” made me roll. Too young to know what he’s talking about? Check out Steve Martin in The Jerk,it’s a comedy classic. This was still when Steve was a “wild and crazy guy.”

Now, I do get the protests about honoring John Hughes instead of one or more of the Honorary Awards recipients (lovely Lauren Bacall, bigger than life Roger Corman and outstanding cinematographer Gordon Willis). But, as a child of the 80′s, it was really great to look back at all his films and really know that he knew who I was as a teenager. He knew and was able to display it, with charm, humor, grace and humility, for those of us suffering from teenage-itis to share. He was a great filmmaker and I’m so sad that he had to depart too soon.

And then there’s Adam’s choice to have the John M. Chu’s Legion of Extraordinary Dancers perform to each of the movie score nominees. Popping and locking to the theme from a war movie??–was the protest I heard.

Look. I get it that it was a bit different than your usual fare. But doncha get it? Music–any and all music–inspires movement. And that can be any movement of any kind. So yes, music from a movie about the war in the middle east can inspire LXD to move. And that they did amazingly well. And actually, the piece to “The Hurt Locker” score was my favorite of all of them (and the stunts done for the “Avatar” score were crazy good). Face it, naysayers. Popping, locking, b-boying, breakdancing, hip-hop, krumping, freestyle. It’s all here to stay and they are ALL legitimate art forms.

Yea for Dance! And Yea for a great Oscars night!

February 11th, 2010 by soullldiva

MOMO, a writer colleague of mine on the So You Think You Can Dance Social found this gem and I couldn’t help but pass it on.

Soul Train used to be some strange show to me that used to come on after all the cartoons were over on Saturday morning/early afternoon. Strange and…intriguing…as the intro started with that psychedelic cartoon of a train running on the tracks (and turning into the “Soul Train” logo), and the voice calling out “It’s the Sooooooooooul Train!”

I would watch young people in outrageous clothing shake their hips and wave their arms. It was odd to me and not odd. I can’t explain it. All I know is that years later I would learn to sing by attempting to imitate Aretha Franklin (not truly succeeding but not unsuccessful either, as I am from Kansas and severely Caucasian), I would be fronting my own 8 piece soul/R&B/Blues band and singing the very song in this video (Aretha Franklin’s “Rock Steady” is one of the best soul songs out there). Oh, and also shaking my hips (pretty nicely, I might add). If I ever scan in the pictures and convert the VHS tape to DVD I’ll show it to you sometime. Me, in leopard skin pants!

Soul Train is a jewel of American culture, created in 1965 on a UHF channel in Chicago, and Don Cornelius (and his fab hexagon spectacles) pretty much invented the line dance–and I don’t mean country dancing. I mean everyone lines up in two lines facing each other, then take turns in twos going down the row and struttin’ your stuff. Plus they had amazing soul acts on the show: The O Jays, Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, Tower of Power and Gladys Knight and the Pips.

Anyway, enough nostalgic-ness, enjoy the video!