HOUSE DANCE CONFERENCE IS BACK IN THE BAY!

A weekend of good House Dance culture!

JOIN US THIS WEEKEND IN A BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION OF LONG TIME BAY AREA HOUSE HEAD COFLO (Soulshifters, Circle of Fire, FLO-ology)

IF you don’t like House Music, that sucks…but if you like Coflo come out and party! If you don’t like Coflo, that also sucks, but if you like parties … come out and PARTY!!!! WOOO!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Friday April 5th (Evening) ~~~~~~~~~~~~

House Dance Workshop with Mai Lê (France – Sourpatch)

LOCATION: MVMNT STUDIO 2973 Sacramento St Berkeley, CA
PRICE: $15
TIME: 8pm-9:30pm

This one is for the ladies of house, Mai Lê is simply a beast. Come join her and get your early house dance on as she instructs the normal time slot of Coflo at MVMNT Studio.

http://maileho.com/

~~~~~~~~~ Saturday April 6th (Day/Early Evening) ~~~~~~~~

LOCATION: MVMNT STUDIO 2973 Sacramento St Berkeley, CA
PRICE: $5 (All Ages)
TIME: 3pm-8pm
Registration: 3pm-4:30pm(Preliminary round starts at 5pm)

The ABYSS: A House Dance Experience

Twelve Dancers.
One Hour of Uninterrupted Cypher Exchanges.
No Excuses.

For detailed info please see the bottom section of the event info on this page – labeled “DETAILED ABYSS INFO”.

The winner is crowned House Dance Conference Oakland 2013 Champion and is flown to compete in the Abyss finals in DC – http://www.facebook.com/events/436485603084092

Official HDC Oakland 2013 DJ – Tomahawk Bang (Arizona – Soulshifters, Sourpatch)

Special Guests:

Junious “House” Brickhouse (DC) , Jeff Selby (Selby Bros, NY) & Robyn Baltzer (NY), Tomahawk Bang, Brice Professor Lock Johnson, Mai Lê, Versa Style, Soulshifters, Circle of Fire, Sourpatch, Threat of Physics and many more to be revealed…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ April 6th (NIGHT) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ATM’s Deeper Side of Soul HDC Oakland After Party

LOCATION: La Estrellita – 446 East 12th Street, Oakland, Ca
PRICE: Free before 11pm – $5 after (21+)
TIME: 930pm-2am

DJ’s:

w/ special guest from Arizona – TOMAHAWK BANG!

~ ERIC GROOVE (About The Music, Grooves-In-The-Park)
~ KINCAID (Grooves-In-The-Park, About The Music)
~ TOMAHAWK BANG (Soulshifters, Sourpatch)

All info here! https://www.facebook.com/events/309899932471096/

Check out ATM’s public page… http://www.facebook.com/pages/About-The-Music-Oakland/172314662910874

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sunday April 7th (Day) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*House Music Inspired Dance Workshops!*

LOCATION: MVMNT STUDIO 2973 Sacramento St Berkeley, CA
PRICE(s): $20 per class (Locking and House), $25 for New Style Hustle (2 hour workshop).

$5 off each class when you take more than 1 class – example: take locking and house, each class will be $15. Take locking and new style hustle, locking will be $15 and new style hustle will be $20. If you take all three, locking is $15, house is $15 and new style hustle is $20. If that doesn’t make sense just bring hella cash with you and support the dancers…ok.. thanks 😉

1pm – 2:30 PM => Locking House Newish with Brice “Professor Lock” Johnson (Philly)

2:30pm – 4pm => House with Junious “House” Brickhouse (DC – Urban Artistry, Assassins)

4pm – 6pm => New Style Hustle with Jeff Selby (The Selby Bros) and Robyn Baltzer (NY)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sunday April 7th (Evening) ~~~~~~~~~~~~

Church…… *FREE*

6pm until…..and so on.

Music provided by Tomahawk Bang, Coflo and maybe Angelo The Sour One Paulos (Soulshifters)

Open dance session for all. Come, chill and get down. A closing cypher to a fantastic weekend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DETAILED ABYSS INFO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More about Saturday’s competition format.

The ABYSS: A House Dance Experience
On the other side of Darkness, there is always Light; How deep are You willing to Search?

The ABYSS, presented by Assassins DC and Urban Artistry, offers a new perspective on producing house dance experiences, by focusing on and honoring the most essential elements of house dance culture: the human spirit and cypher participation. We will be conducting qualifiers in cities around the United States culminating in the final ABYSS cypher session at the International Soul Society Festival in Washington DC on May 11, 2013. In the process, we hope to inspire a culture of honesty, integrity, self-discovery, and fearlessness, along every participant’s journey to evolved artistry.

THE CONCEPT

“It is true. Fear of trying, hurts more than failure.
In trying and falling short, there is at least something to correct toward eventual success. Vilifying the possible outcomes, keeps you right where you started… at wanting. Get up friends… your life has no pecking order, only a time limit.”
–Junious Lee Brickhouse

“Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.” –Brené Brown

At the foundation of the house dance experience are the layers within house music, and these layers lead to free expression in the cypher environment. Often, a darkness arises in all of these layers—a darkness made up of doubt, insecurity, fear, and longing. But the human spirit’s ability to overcome these inner walls, obstacles, and layers is inevitable if you trust yourself. The ABYSS celebrates the cypher as the ultimate space to explore these layers, share these layers, and create more layers, within ourselves and with each other. And so, the ABYSS calls upon Warriors of Light—dancers willing to go deep, to trust their guts, and explore the depths of the layers in and out of the cypher.

THE FORMAT

>> Pre-selection
The pre-selection round will consist of 1-on-1 showcases, with each participant getting one, un-timed run.
Both dancers, one dancer, or neither dancer will advance.
An Advisory Committee will choose 12 dancers total to advance to the cypher session.

>> The Cypher Session
The cypher session will be a one-hour cypher of uninterrupted exchanges between the chosen dozen from pre-selection.

>> ”Judging”
The chosen dozen will choose a winner amongst themselves. Each dancer will have one vote, and cannot vote for him/herself.
The dancer with a majority of the votes will be the winner. Should there be a tie(s), those receiving the highest number of votes will continue to cypher for 30 minutes until all concede to one winner. If, after the 30 minutes, there is still no winner, the Advisory Committee will choose a winner from those remaining based on execution and artistry.

>> Final ABYSS cypher session and Recognition
The winner from each qualifier will win a trip to the International Soul Society Festival, taking place May 8-12, 2013, in Washington DC. The winners will compete in the final ABYSS cypher session on May 11th.
The final winner will win a $1000 cash prize and the ABYSS champion award.
All ABYSS contestants’ artistic contributions will be recognized with an ABYSS adornment.

THE STORY:
When I started this journey in House Dance Culture(circa 1985/before YouTube and “The Infamous 1 Minute Battle”), Cyphers were such a sacred space, that also served as our dance schools and our stages. However, The cypher was a place where we could chase/find that inner space, deeper than our artistic surface.

Frankly, I am grateful for those experiences and often long for the sincerity, authenticity and opportunity for personal growth that these cyphers presented.

Most of all, I am grateful the for the communities that kept our cyphers healthy…so fear was never an issue.

The Abyss… is for those of you who feel the same way… or who just want to overcome that nervous ache that cyphers give you; whatever the reason.

Let’s take our original traditions with us as we make new ones. Eight Dancers. One Hour of Uninterrupted Cypher Exchanges. No Excuses.

-Junious “HOUSE” Brickhouse