Galleries

Manifest Nation at ‘Two Two Steps’

September 2, 2019June 7, 2019 by B-Better

Young bloods get busy at Two Two Steps!

Last month our Junior dancers from Manifest Nation performed at The Urban Dance School show, ‘Two Two Steps’! For five of them, it was their first show for MN and they definitely impressed. Company director, Damien, hosted the show, and it was a great occasion to reunited with one of our long-time partner companies. Enjoy these shots from the event!

An evolution for Manifest Nation

This show was special for our junior dancers as 5 of the 6 of them had never performed for Manifest Nation before. We’d held auditions only 4 weeks prior and the opportunity to perform was a great way to sharpen minds.

The training in the lead up to this event was a bit of a baptism of fire for some of our young artists. Some had never performed before and some had no real knowledge of hiphop form. A couple of our youngsters initially felt that training was like any other dance class, but it was important to straighten that idea quickly, ha.

We used a mix of choreography which included the piece from their audition, a piece from a competition earlier this year and some other new and old material. It was important for us that the youngsters performed pieces with different energetic feelings and moods.

This experience at Two Two steps became a springboard for a summer of events for our young artists. With most going on to secondary school in September, we plan to be a solid part of their evolution. While undergoing a lot of changes, it’s important for us they can take comfort from their experience with MN. Growing up as a teen in this era is harder than ever, so we are fortunate to have dance. Stay tuned to Manifest Nation page here on our website to to stay up to date of where we’re appearing next.

Archie Burnett Old Way Vogue Workshop – In Pictures

September 2, 2019February 15, 2019 by B-Better

Archie’s Workshop

Last month we hosted a workshop with Grandfather of The Iconic House of Ninja in Old Way voguing. Here are some pictures from the evening with Archie Burnett! Archie’s workshop was co-curated with Nik from Sports Promotions.

There are not many pictures or public videos from Archie’s workshop as the man has strict rules. He requires that the artists are present in mind AND body when at his class. This ensures higher engagement with the theories presented and prevents Youtube dancers from thinking they can learn from video. We fully credit Uncle Archie for this stance. *Applauds*

Thank you all for joining us, and stay tuned for our upcoming workshops later this year, where we plan to go bigger!

Thoughts on workshops

Something we have observed from personal experience is losing what is learnt at a workshop. Even with an amazing dancer and teacher like Archie, it’s important to try and retain information learnt in class. Often we can get caught up in the hype of training with iconic teachers, but we must remember what we can gain

A method to address is this is, instead of socialising after the event, video yourself doing all the techniques that you can remember. This way, the things that resonated will show up best on the video.

Another way is to keep a dance book. Any small notepad with some organisation and hand-drawn diagrams will help train more effectively.

We will expand on these theories and more in a special post about effective training, but at least this is food for thought. The benefits of attending Archie’s workshop were that you got to dance with a truly knowledgable artist. Artists like Archie have learned a LOT in their time, and luckily, we don’t have to live all those years to gain the knowledge. In an era such as this where we can actually meet our icons and contact them more easily than before, it pays to have a plan.

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!

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.