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Fun times at Hampstead Festival – The round up

September 2, 2019July 6, 2018 by B-Better

Getting busy at Hampstead Festival

Last weekend we were invited, for the 5th consecutive year, to share what we do at Hampstead Festival. It was probably the most fun year ever!

Featuring a host of our open-class students, our professional performance company, Manifest Nation, and the Hampstead public, we shared classes, performances and Hampstead’s longest ‘Soul Train Line’!

Here are some highlights from our wonderful weekend..

We’d like to thank all those that joined us, and for more footage, check this Instagram post !

Why we love a festival

We love events like Hampstead Festival because we can really communicate with the public. Although, we put out fliers and our online presence is strong, there really is no substitute. Connecting with an audience and teaching public workshops is how to really show what we do.

Camden is rife with summer events and many can be found here. We applied for several of these and you can join us at the show!

Some times we are only permitted to perform. What’s great about performance is that our open class students can also participate. Periodically we create choreography for performance in our open classes and festivals are the ideal platform. At B-Better we appreciate that people come to learn for different reasons, and performance may be one! Although we love performing there is just as much fun to be had at..

A Workshop

Teaching the general public from the stage or at eye level has yielded amazing results for us. We take great pleasure in sharing our knowledge with a mixed audience. The joy of events like Hampstead Festival is that there is a dearth of ages and demographics. Our workshop may end in a freestyle or other participatory activity, and that’s what raises a smile.

Combining performance with interactive activity underpins our summer and we look forward to seeing YOU this season!

Have yourself a B-Better Christmas! (Tinsel limbo optional)

January 17, 2020December 23, 2017 by B-Better

B-Better Christmas cheer!

To celebrate B-Better Christmas this year and the end of an amazing season, we asked the junior dancers of our professional company, Manifest Nation, to choreograph our first Christmas video. If you’d been there, you woulda loved it!

Under the artistic direction of Damien and camera skills of Tru, the results are certain to put a smile on your face. We look forward to creating more memories in the new year and want to thank all of our students and supporters for being part of the joy.

The Process

We have a great relationship with Camden Market, so we asked for a small favour! Our monthly public dance jam, Electric Slide, was held in the market but we needed a space with a bit more personality. If you’ve ever been to Camden Market you’ll know it’s rife with interesting spaces and locations.

Our younger dancers were tasked with creating a piece of choreography for themselves and the rest of Manifest Nation. This request was met with a mix of excitement and worry initially, but they had little choice! 🙂

Internally, the object of this was to give them some responsibility and assess their sense of teamwork. M-Rain was assigned the cane choreography whilst the rest of the team, lead by Ellie and Dyal, the chorus.

The Shoot

No, not the dance of the of the same name – the actual filming process!

Fortunately, the lighting in the room needed no augmentation and the team were MOSTLY well rehearsed. Tru, Jas and Tin took turns behind the camera and directing, and the storyboard was followed closely. Total time on set was about 4 hours, and as you can see we are pretty happy with results.

Extra Footage

The ice skating scenes and restaurant scenes are from our annual trip to Alexandra Palace. This trip is open to all students, friends and family which truly reflects the spirit of the season.

Below you can finally enjoy the full video. Leave us a comment below on your favourite aspect!

Manifest Nation – 2nd at World Crew Battle!

July 27, 2019November 17, 2017 by B-Better

What is World Crew Battle? In October 2017, some of our adult dancers from our professional company, Manifest Nation, competed at the World Crew Battle event in Deptford, London. This was the London heat, sponsored by Swatch, and was unlike any other event of recent time. The winners of the event had the opportunity to … Read more

Hallowe’en with NBC Universal – A reflection

July 26, 2019November 17, 2017 by B-Better

Last month we were invited to run a hallowe’en dance activity for Comcast / NBC Universal at their London offices and great fun was had by all.

This event, for 200 select children, was an opportunity for Tru, Ryan, Damien and new-face, Kerri, to teach a revised version of Michael Jackson’s’Thriller’ routine, and a fun time was had by all.

Our booking agent, Kat at Shift London, had this to say after the event:

“You guys were absolutely superb, you absolutely stole the show. It was better than what I had imagined.”

We were moved by this account, and hope you enjoy some pictures from the occasion! Visit here to see whether we can enrich YOUR event 🙂

Following this success, we were invited back to perform again with an all new cast the next year.

From left to right: Alexandra, Ade, Tinman and Marcella.

Alexandra and Marcella are two of our Manifest Nation dancers and Ade is one of our open class teachers. The contrast of styles between our team ensured the young people enjoyed the experience.

Stay tuned to find out if we spend Hallowe’en with NBC this year 🙂

Event management hacks

Like most fun experiences, the better the plan, the more likely fun will be had. It pays to make note of the desired outcome of an experience before the planning process. Once the target is clear, timelines can be made. One timeline is for the activities at the event and the other is for tasks to complete prior.

On location, it pays to do a reconnoissance mission of the space. Entrances and exits to the experience are as important as the activity itself. The temperature and environment are also incremental in the experience of the clients.

We are going to expand on these hacks in a future post. What do you think is the hardest thing about producing an event? Give us a comment below.

Izaskun x Tinmantis – ‘Human Being’ dance video

July 12, 2019September 1, 2017 by B-Better

Izaskun with Tinman

This summer there has been a lot of activity in the ‘downtime’ at B-Better. One of the highlights is the boss’s recent trip to New York. On his travels he shot a short freestyle dance video with Spanish locking and hiphop specialist, Izaskun.

They called this collaboration, ‘Human Being’.

Catch the video here, with a little something extra for the patient viewers. Tell us in the comments which was your favourite part! Izaskun is an inspiring artist.

Find out more about Izaskun’s presence in Barcelona, check her site Funky Training. We will aim to do an interview when she comes to England in September.

More on New York

During this trip, Tin was also able to take classes with some of the greatest pioneers in the dance game. Inlcuding Mop Top family (Hiphop), Chrybaby Cozie (Lite Feet) and Jeff Selby (Hustle). This took place at the world famous EXPG studios and in the heart of Harlem (great place to visit!).

Also, as a number of dancers were in the city for ‘Step Ya Game Up’ and other events, Tin got some boys together to shoot a video. This collective of boy waacking dancers is called The Waacksons!

The video will be posted below, but for now it’s been blocked by YouTube. Ah, the magic of copyright infringement.

The Waacksons – I'm A Man from Tin Man on Vimeo.

Manifest Nation on London Live at Chinese New Year

July 28, 2019February 15, 2017 by B-Better

MN on London Live

Right after performing for Chinese New Year recently Manifest Nation were interviewed by London Live – the TV channel for our fair city. Here’s a brief excerpt of what was discussed:

We’re working on finding the FULL version to share with you all, but we hope you’ll be boosted by the progress of the group! See more images on all social media with the hashtag #ManifestNation.

Story context

London Live asked the questions which were expected, but for Manifest Nation, the show was particularly challenging. We’ll tell you why:

1) Notice

As mentioned in the video , we only had 10 days to prepare for the event, which is less than ideal. This is amplified by the fact that the audience weren’t there to see us, plus we had other projects on the boil.

Our performance the following year at the National Theatre was 3-4 months from initial meeting to opening night. This is how things should be done.

2) The Stage

The stage we were due to dance on didn’t arrive as there was a traffic incident. This meant we had to dance on the cobblestones at eye-level with the audience.

Now, the eye-level thing was fine, but the cobblestones were a REAL headache to perform on and not one of us felt comfortable. That day we vowed not to dance on cobbles again

3) The Weather

Yes, it’s London and yes, it rains here. The mixture of the cold AND rain with the other elements mentioned just made the vibe…miserable. If you watch carefully, we’re all huddled together for warmth and this was not staged!

In Conclusion

Some valuable lessons were learnt on this show, and our group is always up for performing. If you go back and watch the video knowing these points though, you may sense the bittersweet emotions.

Our involvement with The Big Dance – Thanks, Sadiq!

July 12, 2019June 14, 2016 by B-Better

Welcome to The Big Dance Bus! The Big Dance is a nationwide celebration of dance, led by the Mayor of London in partnership with People Dancing. Also, it is in it’s 10th year! All across the country this summer different professional organisations, community groups and everything in between are engaging in different activities. Here at … Read more

Spotlight on Nefeli Tsiouti and Project Breakalign

August 31, 2019March 8, 2016 by B-Better

The magic of Project Breakalign

Our girl, Nefeli, has been going from strength to strength in her journey to make training safer for dancers. Nef is nominated for a Changemaker award for her work with Project Breakalign. Stay up to date on her journey here. We are proud!

More on Nefeli and the system

Project Breakalign was created in 2013 by Nefeli sMash Tsiouti, because of the need she felt to heal her body.

It’s a method on how to train and perform properly and therefore, preventatively avoid injuries. This is geared towards bboys and other street dancers from different styles.

In our community, there hadn’t been any real guidelines on physical wellness and maintenance. You might turn up at training, train and go home. This sounds straightforward enough.. but without warm up, warm down, stretching and conditioning. Missing these things can have long term effects on the body. Project Breakalign is designed to help us evolve intelligently.

Nefeli herself had a career-threatening shoulder injury and had to take real action to preserve her body. Nefeli says:

The Breakalign Method is a conditioning programme, based on the physiological and biomechanical analysis of the demands in the art-form of Breaking.
As a dancer, you can train the Breakalign Method, to gain the knowledge for safe dance practice, for yourself. Also, to train others in a safer and preventative manner from unwanted injuries.
Nefeli Tsiouti

How can I be down?

You can apply for the Breakalign method in September 2019 by contacting Nefeli here. As one of our team we are overjoyed to see her at the heart of something which benefits our worldwide community.

Now check our Ultimate guide to Breaking in London while also finding out more about Breaking at the Olympics.

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