We celebrated the generations of Hip Hop and club dance styles in this year’s 18th annual dance parade which made its way down 6th avenue, then 8th street and St. Marks all the way to Tompkins Square park. It was a Beautiful day to march and we brought the Energy thanks to the music bumpin’ from the sound system provided by DJ Spinbad with DJKS 360 on 1’s and 2’s. Shout out to some of our OG dance family Zone TDK, Peaches, Future, Frank, who joined us. We want to thank all our partners who helped contribute to our float including All the Ladies Say, Behind the Groove, BGirl Herstory, Roundz of Flame, Bougie Cutie Boards, NXGN foundation, New York Collective, Swift Characterz, Full Circle Souljahs, 360 Flow Dance Studio and CUDA Culture. Also big thank you to the dance parade team who continue to gather us together every year to advocate and celebrate the freedom to dance in NYC.
Memorial day weekend was jam packed with events from NYC to Puerto Rico. The Vanguard flew Bgirl Infini T out to Canovanas for Time Machine Squad’s annual Express your Skillz event to judge their All Styles Battle and teach a workshop for the youth. Thank you to Full Circle for also helping to sponsor this NY/PR hip hop culture exchange for the past 3 years.
The United Hip hop Vanguard project was also able to help support a Bgirl City / Bgirl Herstory collaboration panel discussion and workshop “Womxn Leading the Culture” by providing travel support to Bgirl Resolve hailing from Buffalo, NY. The funds also helped support Baby Girl’s flight from Texas so she could host the Bgirl panel and 1v1 Bgirl battle. The documentary trailer screenings / discussion also featured the Bgirl documentary entitled All The Ladies Say taking place at the historic LPAC presented by Battle for New York.
Womxn Leading the Culture was a panel featuring Bgirls Rokafella, JK47 and Resolve moderated by Mantis from Bgirl Herstory. It was a deep discussion touching on the topic of sisterhood and ways for Bgirls to continue to connect and grow. The panel was followed by a workshop with JK47.
Day 2 of the Battle for New York produced by legendary OG dancer Speedy D included a documentary Trailer screening featuring trailers from Bam Bam Up Jump Da Boogie, Alien Ness’ Alien Ness of the MIghty Zulu Kingz, Mr. Wave You Can’t Erase Me and Rokafella’s All the Ladies Say. After the screening, attendee’s got to hear from the filmmakers about their dance histories and their experiences creating the documentary.
Thank you to all those who came to attend the discussions on both days as this culture work is important. Keeping these Hip hop histories alive and accessible to our community is the next stage in our Hip hop journey.
We are excited to refocus our energy towards our local NYC scene this year. We are looking forward to the Supreme Beings Anniversary, Roundz of Flame and KR3Ts Wellness festival in June.
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