Videos

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!

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.

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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