Tracing Steps

Three incredibly funky dutch sisters have taken social media by storm and we are here for it. In this episode, we talk about friendship as an engine for dancing and the time-tested tradition of making up dances in your living room with your 'sisters', biological or otherwise. We talk about these gals make us wanna Lock; we get excited about these young adults developing their own style of Locking, updated, playful, hard-hitting, and feminine. We touch on the trouble with learning hip-hop in suburban dance-studios as a persevering American problem. We originally recorded this episode in early summer of 2021 but had some technical difficulties with our edits. Forgive us; it's a little rough around the edges. But we're glad to be back!

Three Girls Dancing the World Alight, Africa Global News

Norah Yarah Rosa on The Ellen Show, the iPhone incident

Ghetto Funk Collective of The Nederlands

Juste Debout, Paris

The Hood Lockers, Philadelphia

Photo source:   "Three Dutch Sisters take James Brown Classic to Another Level"

We get INTO IT! Our discussion of the film Dark City: Beneath the Beat gets into the history of Baltimore Club, the differences between Baltimore, Philly, and Jersey club styles, the problems with grant funding in the arts, and the importance of having multiple sources, especially when it comes to dance teachers. Our attitudes collectively shifted as we really get into the nitty gritty of the movie. We're excited about how TT the Artist, who produced the film, is experimenting with the film medium, as a choreographer and musician, as well as a film maker.

WE GOT A THEME SONG. Big thanks to beloved Philly DJ Lil' Dave for hooking us up. Check out his soundcloud or his awesome music history podcast Excellent Reception.

For more on the connection between Baltimore Club, Miami Bass, and Brazilian Baile Funk, check out bonus content on our Patreon.

Sources & Shout Outs:
Dark City: Beneath the Beat, available on Netflix
BlackStar Film Festival. Based in Philly,  BlackStar celebrates and provides platforms for visionary Black, Brown, and Indigenous artists.
Baltimore Where You At? A 2014 documentary about Baltimore Club music, by French director, Tim Moreau.
"You Think You Know But You Have No Idea: The Difference Between Baltimore, Philly, and Jersey Club" Adam Schwartz, Vice Magazine, 2015.
"Keep The Beat: Baltimore Club-style dance persists past its peak with support of local dancers, organizers." Brittany Britto, Baltimore Sun, 2017.
Sanchel Brown,  multi-disciplinary artist and dancer, connecting dance styles from Philly, Baltimore, and Senegal. 
Jip the Ruler, Philly club dancer and performer for Rennie Harris Pure Movement
Danita Clark and Just Sole, Philly based house dance ensemble.
Sway Explores Baltimore Club Scene, MTV Interview with K-Swift, legendary Bmore Club DJ.

Music in this Podcast:
Dark City: Beneath the Beat,  Original Motion Picture Soundtrack on Spotify.
Hands Up Thumbs Down, K-Swift
Land of a Thousand Dances, Wilson Pickett

Our second episode continues our Sister Series; we get down with Cindy Campbell, best known for throwing the first ever Hip Hop party. In 1973, Campbell wrangled her older brother, Kool Herc, into showing off his DJ skills on their father's stereo equipment in the local rec room.  We talk about the elements of a good party, and how, at age fourteen, Campbell put them all into effect.  Campbell went on to help manage Herc's career and continues to stay involved in the hip hop game to this day. This episode does ont come to play: we talk about the movie Beat Street, The Source magazine, Harry Belafonte, touch on the pros and cons of "entrepreneurship," scrape the surface of how neo-liberal economics affected NYC in the 70's, and revel in the creative capacity of young people.
Plus: Some slight improvements to our audio, and the very obvious reality that we need a theme song !

Cindy Campbell interviewed by Davey D. June 2014.
Recorded at Hip-Hop Association (H2A) and New York University Center for Multicultural Education and Programs Womanhood Passage Fundraiser.

The Real Story Behind The Party that Birthed Hip Hop. Rock the Bells,

"40 years on from the party where hip hop was born." BBC Online. October 2014. 

"Cindy Campbell is Fresh, Bold, and So Def." Hip Hop Education Center.

"DJ Kool Herc & Sister Cindy “The First Lady Of Hip-Hop” Look To Open Hip-Hop Museum In Jamaica." Hip Hop Wired. February 2020.

Chilling Out on Rap Flash. Time Magazine. March, 1983. 

The Cross Bronx Expressway and The Ruination of the Bronx. Real Archeology Blog, Vassar College. November, 2019. 

"Sisters are doin' it for themselves!" We're busting into the world of podcasting with a mini-series about SISTERS who shaped the history of social dance, but don't always make the history books.  In our first ever episode, we dig into  the Whitman Sisters. We talk about out what-the-hell vaudeville was, and consider the savvy of The Whitman Sisters as business owners, in particular, their work as black women who dominated the early phase of America's entertainment industry. We consider what their singing, dancing, wise-cracking revue might have looked like: including drag performances and flipping the script on racial expectations. Shout out to scholar Nadine George Graves; much of what we know about the fabulous Mabel, Essie, Bert and Alice  is thanks to her work.

Nadine George Graves. The Royalty of Negro Vaudeville: The Whitman Sisters and the Negotiation of Race, Gender and Class in African American Theatre 1900-1940. St. Martin's Press (2000).

Performing Arts Encyclopedia, Tap Dance America, Library of Congress

The Whitman Sisters: Why We May Never Silence Them. No Depression: The Journal of Roots Music.  Sep 2012.

Newspaper advertisement for The Whitman Sisters at The Pekin Theater. The Montgomery Advertiser. 08 Jan 1933,