Full Circle News: Fest Forward Review

Dance Review | 'Fest Forward: Hip-Hop Unbound': Hip-Hop Dance: Up From the Streets, and Still Spinning

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By JENNIFER DUNNING

"This first dance program in the wide-ranging "Fest Forward" festival was thought-provoking and fun."

peace fam,
it has been a long time..and we apologize for our very busy schedules.
Full Circle has had many engagements since last Fall.
our prayers go out to all the victims of hurricane katrina.. our eyes have been opened.
WE finished the year off with a performance at museo del barrio's "latinos in hip-hop" festival where we debuted the gospel version of "just begun" acapella and celebrated jaquita and bethany's first performance with FC. then we took up a residency at the Harbor School in Bushwick.. big shout to Chris who initiated the request to his assistant principal -jennifer ostrow- to have breaking as an after school program and saw it thru to the end..and even performed his freshly learned Windmills at the show.
The year kicked off with a first ever duet presentation by Kwikstep and Rokafella at Dance Theater Workshop entitled "INNAVIEWS". The lobby was in rare form with LAdy K Fever's urban themed canvases and graffiti canvases by Bom5 and UEND. This work-in -progress directed by Gamal Chasten of the Universes and dramaturged by Benji Reid was received with enthusiasm and a great Q & A segment moderated by David Sheingold. a repeated commentary was how people appreciated the honesty in the writing. big shout goes out to kathy couch who designed the lighting and marion wright who did the stage managing beautifully--there will be more opportunities to work together!!! We hope to continue to develop "innaviews" with continued support from the Hip-hop Theater Festival, DTW, New World Theater and the Painted Bride. In February we returned to regular practice sessions with the FC crew and began workshops with Urban Word. WE have to congratulate Michele Byrd MCphee who held her ladies of hip-hop event in Philly. Full Circle drove down there with a group of b girls and got caught on the way back by the blizzard. (hee hee..it was an unforgettable experience)
In March Kwikstep and Rokafella began to work with Project 2050 on the weekends. Rokafella accompanied by rolando brown visited the Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania's hip-hop event hosted by M.O.R.E organiztion through the hip-hop association and then she headed to Atlanta to participate in the first out of state B girl "Sit Down" event hosted by local B girl Vendetta and sponsored by the Ford Foundation. Needless to say, at both events the mood proved once again that Hip-hop is alive and kicking- contrary to the vibe most people are feeling about its mainstream staleness. we performed to celebrate the carribean cultural center's 30th anniversary and attended festivities at Dance theater workshop's 40th anniversary. big shouT to kr3t's for their 16 year anniversary.

towards the end of march rehearsal began to gain momentum as the heavy performance schedule approached. This time the SKirball Center would host us as we shared the bill with brooklyn's "Decadance" during their hip-hop festival. big shout goes out to wiley and tommy and the staff at the skirball for being so pleasant to work with. big shout to mach3 who returned to the FC cast line up and to arsin who traveled from florida to join the cast as well. big shout to kevin who has completed a year as road manager for full circle and continues to provide his priceless services. another shout goes out to martin rios who has also completed a year of performing with us and got his name in the ny times-- at last!! speaking of last.. the last night at nyu had the full circle women rushing from one stage to another one..yes.. Rokafella choreographed a sexy bgirl segment to a song by mos def to which "The blak diamonds"-tiffany theianna, jaquita and tomomi -did their thing in their pin stripe suits for the bronx burlesque at joe's pub. Pepatian hosted the evening and celebrated the talents of noemi segarra, elizabeth marrero, rhina valentine, arthur aviles, and many more including its founder merian soto!! that following sunday the gears would switch up to prepare for the next show on tuesday evening. the carnvale at club avalon was a great gathering as we enjoyed kr3t's and montazh cameos in our show. The b boys rocked in suits and so did the girls. we were happy to represent breakers with a range of character. big shout to Tifany and theianna represented at kool herc's anniversary party in harlem.
as we head to the kennedy center in washington d.c. for a week residency, we are excited and honored to share our passion with the community and audiences of all ages. Kwikstep, rocism, ken fury- our newest member- and mach 3 are being flown to France to represent the best of nyc-usa at "the blockparty- 3 on 3 competition . we wish them all the best breaks!!
we'd like to thank our board and our friends jane gabriels, michelle rhone-collins, kenneth jones, wesley montgomery, sara rosen, yvonne mendez, monica williams, tino diaz and dwayne oxford who we count on for ever present support and wisdom.

we welcome all of our new team members and want you to know even your smallest participation is of gigantic consequence and we could not exist without it.
Kwikstep has put his blood sweat and tears into fc music/ artistic production and rokafella has crossed the t's and dotted the I's so this organization can set the example of strength during stormy weather. we hope to see you all at Full Circle's upcoming Ten Year Anniversary at the Alvin Ailey Citigroup theater - yeah the new building!! --on may 26th ..the friday of Memorial Day Weekend .. so if you aint going to the hamptons.. please join us as we commemorate the past and rock into the future..
may 26 '06-may 26 '07 a year of celebration!! stay tuned for more about fc shows, the anniversary, and full circle b girl "sit downs" scheduled for late spring and summer as well as the b girl be" summit haps...
all praises due to the almighty creator-....a--che!