All posts in: Dancing

13 Dec 2020

Blog Roundup

  • These Are the 11 Best Korean Dramas of 2020 [Hypebae]
  • Our Shared Unsharing [The Cut] The things I felt, but didn’t want to share myself
  • The Real Reason Americans Aren’t Quarantining [The Atlantic]
  • How Did Breakdancing Become an Olympic Sport? [LifeHacker]
  • The Search for the Next ‘Jeopardy’ Host [The Ringer]
  • 11 Skate Parks Around the World [Arch Daily]
  • Anime Fans Can Now Book ‘Sailor Moon’ Themed Wedding Receptions [Hypebae]
  • Chanel Miller on Slowing Down and Creating in Quarantine [Girls’ Night In]
  • Essential Things You Should Keep In Your Car [Life Hacker]
  • Major Brands Describe 2020 in One Word [Hypebeast]
  • Entertainer of the Year: BTS [TIME]
  • Everything Diners Need to Know About the Bay Area’s New Coronavirus Lockdown [SF Eater]
  • The Songs and Albums That Defined K-Pop’s Monumental Year in 2020 [TIME]
  • Twitter Will Now Let Users Share Tweets on Instagram and Snapchat [Hypebeast] Good, cause I’m tired of having to screenshot everything.

21 Mar 2020

4 Years Late on Tik Tok

I’ve never been in a position where I was looking for several things to fill my time, but that time is now. Watching television and movies can only go so far and I’ll admit, sometimes I lack the creative inspiration to always write a post. I had two options: reviving my Neopets account or creating a Tik Tok. I’ll give Tommy credit for this because he actually planted the seed of Tik Tok to me several years back. At the time, I already felt inundated with the number of applications on my phone and I still do.

On a whim, I downloaded the app. Several weeks ago, I came across a tweet of a [Tik Tok] that I couldn’t get out of my head. It had been a while since I did any kind of dancing, but I figured that would be the most appropriate route if I had an account. I started with this choreography first by watching a tutorial from a teenager. There were so many likes and views on this video I wondered if teens buy TikTok likes and follower engagement in the same way Instagram influencers do.

https://youtu.be/ZVdfszoFML0

Then I followed it up with a compilation of Tik Tok influencers that did this exact choreography with their own spin. It was impossible to not go down a rabbit hole. The first post was acceptable and while I posted it to Instagram, I thought I could do better. I redid it the next morning and deleted the original. Starting with one post, we ramped up to do two yesterday and three today. As a hobby, it’s quite consuming and addicting. It might feel nice to upload such content on a regular basis but, if there isn’t enough engagement on your post, it can be frustrating. As a headstart for anyone’s Tik Tok journey, they may Buy TikTok Followers to be motivated to make more videos.

https://youtu.be/_hGQWQtvaXg

The culture within Tik Tok is fascinating. Charli D’melio is considered a queen on the platform with 39.6 million followers at the moment. The most popular Tik Tok influencers (they all seem to be in the same age group as well) live in a house together called “Hype House” where they record Tik Tok’s all day long. Tik Tok’s are typically 15 seconds long and can span across many interests, but comedy and dancing seem to rank high at least on my feed.

Observations/Questions:

  • Sometimes the influencers re-record the same choreography multiple times and I’m not sure why.
  • Apparently, there’s a whole subculture that lives within Tik Tok called eboys. Charli happens to be dating one of those named [Chase Hudson.]
  • What happens next? I feel like a parent saying this, but what do career paths look like beyond Tik Tok? If you’re good enough, you could maybe try getting into a tiktok influencer marketing agency and earn a good amount of money.
  • There are so many different filters and effects within the app. I’m still too scared to touch any of that!
  • When I first went to my “home” feed, the default is videos that I might like based on their ranking instead of those that I follow. It took me two days to figure out how to toggle.
  • The dances are fun and short because 15 seconds, but at times can be challenging as with all choreography. Sometimes different dances use the same moves. It’s unclear to me yet if the influencers are the ones creating the original choreography.
  • Engagement is incredibly high and I’m not sure how distribution is working quite yet, but trying to figure it out.
  • In order to increase their numbers, do they engage in growth services and buy TikTok followers or something similar to it?
  • There’s a very clear demographic / audience using the app that ages me completely.
  • I now think in Tik Toks. If I hear a new song, I’ll convince myself how great it would be if it were turned into a Tik Tok choreography though I’m likely not the person to do that.
  • Why can’t you create folders for your likes or rather use a bookmark function like on Instagram?
  • It’s hard to lip sync, dance, and not make concentration face all at the same time.
  • It has been nice to just enjoy learning something new again for fun and I realized I hadn’t actually done that in a long time.
  • It’s a battery killer.
  • Since I joined, I have been able to convince two of my friends to join. The power of the platform!

At the moment, Tik Tok is the perfect amount of distraction for me. It’s unclear whether I’ll continue after shelter-in-place ends, but for the time being, it looks like we’ll dedicate a video a day at least. To end this post, I’m going to leave you with something that will get a laugh out of you.

31 Mar 2018

A Collection Part 50

On average, the process of putting together one of these posts takes about three months. To find images, I have about 10 Tumblrs that I circulate through. Each post roughly has about 50 images, but today, this one has less. I’m posting this one now though because I’m close to 50 and there won’t be any other Tumblrs that I’ll be viewing within the next couple of months. It has also been three months since I posted A Collection Part 49. I’m telling you all of this because that is the only structure I have when it comes to making these. There are no themes. I don’t spend any time re-arranging them in a certain order. The differences in size of images would normally bother me anywhere else, but not here. There are no patterns for colors. I can’t explain to you why I selected this image over that one and I don’t want to. I look at these photos so quickly and I save them in an instant the same way a normal human being would fill out one of those personality tests that you’re not supposed to think too much about it. That’s it! Since the migration, every other post before this has been skewed to the left. Starting now and with post #50, we’re going to center it. It just looks better!

Read more “A Collection Part 50”

27 Jan 2018

Gap Logo Remix Collection

Featuring SZA and Metro Boomin, the new Gap ad is a bop! I found this new commercial by them to be completely delightful and love the intention and spirit behind it even more. SZA confirmed on Instagram earlier this week that this project was a collaboration with choreographer Tanisha Scott and Tabitha Denholm of Women Under the Influence, an organization that strives to put more women behind the camera.

And the song that you’re listening to? A remix of The Thompson Twins’ “Hold Me Now.”

[Source]

09 Apr 2017

A Collection Part 47

 

The theme of this collection is minimalism. Before I left my last job, my life was very noisy. My mind was constantly racing with a million thoughts. I wasn’t always able to communicate my feelings articulately. I was stressed with needing to be two places at once, and in general my home – my sanctuary felt cluttered. The time off that I had from working made me feel well again. I felt like I could take care of myself the way I needed to and get that clear head that I was seeking. I couldn’t remember a time where I was THAT happy! And that’s why it was also challenging to get back to work after that… but more on that later. This post is a collection of things that just feel simple to me. There’s not a lot of noise in them and as you’ll notice in these photos, more space than usual. Enjoy!

Read more “A Collection Part 47”

07 Aug 2016

Monday Night Workshop

You guys, I finally did that thing that I’ve been putting off since January. A couple of weeks ago, Jessie and I finally committed to going to Monday Night Workshop – a 2 hour hip hop class in San Jose from 9:30-11:30 PM. For years, since I moved here, I started researching which places I should go to and what class might be a good fit for me. I’ve been following Monday Night Workshop on Instagram for awhile and was pretty sure that I had found the one. Lucky for me, Jessie, my co-worker had also heard about it too and had been interested in trying it out. So back in March, we put it on the calendar. But for whatever reason, kept putting it off – things kept coming up, we had to work late that night, we were lazy, it was a Monday, the excuses were never ending.

Growing up, I always wanted to take hip hop classes. It wasn’t feasible for me as a kid and when I got to college, I started going to my university’s gym where classes were being taught, but similar to now – it was hard for me to remain committed. I just wanted to get really good, but how can you be good if you stop showing up? Monday Night Workshop is late and Mondays are our busiest days so I knew it was going to be a struggle! I had nerves the morning of class and because of this – savaged my body with an Egg McMuffin and hashbrowns that morning to calm myself. I wanted to take this class for a few reasons:

  1. I wanted to get good. I wanted to continue going and work my way up towards becoming better
  2. This was the hobby that I always wanted and it wasn’t too late for me to take it on. I thought it would be both fun and relaxing
  3. Dancing isn’t easy; you need to focus and you have to pay attention to the details (things that push me every day in my work) and I wanted that challenge

So this class is no joke. Everyone here is as good as a Jabbawockee and while everyone was a 9-10, I felt like I was a 4. I probably only got every 3rd or 4th step which made me insecure at first, but then I quickly recognized that it’s not like everyone comes out of the womb being a good dancer. It took work and I’ve been out of it for years so while I can pick up some things, I shouldn’t have expected that I could go to one class after a long time and be as good as everyone else. The choreography, the song, the instructor – all met my expectations. It was exactly what I had wanted, but 9:30 PM for a start time is rough after a long working day. Everyone was so talented though and I think that’s something I enjoyed watching. This kind of dance is beautiful and mesmerizing to me. Would I go back? Probably, but I’m still a little bit shy to be doing this in front of everyone else so I think if I can make the time for it, I’d like to set up just a couple of private lessons before heading back. I’m glad we finally took the plunge!

If you’re interested in seeing the piece we learned – here is a video of our instructor Deziree doing the choreography to it at the end of class. She’s amazing. The song is PARTYNEXTDOOR – Persian Rugs.

10 Sep 2015

My Favorite Pair of Best Friends

The two of them doing the “Single Ladies” dance at the US Open. They’re really having a week and the world. is. loving. it.

https://youtu.be/1omPNEVOIaM

Also, I typically love these “History of Rap” things and they’ve always been my favorite, but this is probably my least – why so many pauses and breaks in between?!

18 Jul 2015

Song of the Day

The Internet – Dontcha

Happy Saturday loves!!! I’ve been obessed with listening to The Internet for about a week now. Funny story, my friend in LA told me that’s he’s been helping recording with Syd tha Kyd and I didn’t really have any idea who that was, but it turns out The Internet is actually her project. I’m really rusty on the music stuff these days, can you tell?

This piece of choreography below by Melissa Batesting is amazing. This is a pretty good song on its own to freestyle too and I was thinking about just hopping into a studio sometime this week or next and just seeing what we can make out of it. 15 second Instagram dance video sound good?

12 Jun 2015

Sassy Dance by 6-Year Old

I’ve been waiting all week to make the time to finally watch this and as expected, it didn’t disappoint. This sassy 6-year old completely owns this number in the best way possible. I feel bad for the two little girls that can’t keep up. 🙁

04 May 2015

Blog Roundup

– Because everyone here is obsessed with Blue Bottle’s New Orleans Iced Coffee – here’s how you can prepare your own at home! [BlueBottle] – I pretty much do the short version of this every morning at work 😉

– Our favorite Craigslist Ad of the week.

– How Slack is changing workplace culture [Slate]

– Secret shutters [Circa]

– Emily Schuman talks about how she created her successful blog [Inc.]

– Seattle start-up Tune provides for women studing computer science at UW [Geekwire]

– Kanye changes the name of his new album to “Swish” [The Fader]

– How to execute on choreographing an unforgettable music video by the choreographer who did Tinashe’s “All Hands on Deck” [The Fader]

– An acoustic performance by Lauryn Hill of “Doo Wop (That Thing)” [Pitchfork]