On Thursday night, August 6th, Lincoln Center Out of Doors opened its second night of free performances with “Hip Hop Generation Next.” This event featured martial arts, hip hop dance, bboying, live music, and everything in between. Despite forecasted rain, it was actually a nice warm night that attracted a capacity crowd. Construction had finished on the Damrosch Park Bandshell so the stage was much nicer than last year. However, there isn’t a good vantage point anywhere for photographers but I made do with standing on a chair right up against the front corner of the stage.

Before the event started, a community cypher was held at the Josie Robertson Plaza (it’s right behind the famous “fountain” that is currently under construction) from 6 to 6:45PM. It was hosted by Brandon “Peace” Albright and Illstyle & Peace Productions. I caught the end of it but apparently a lot of people in the audience were jumping in and there were some performances as well. A cypher is basically a circle of people who watch one person dancing in the middle and then people take turns being in the middle. It was a slightly different setup here but a lot of people stopped to watch because it was very interesting to see. I thought it really contrasted with the buildings around it that are famous for opera, ballet, and music (among other things).

The event kicked off at around 7:30PM with the Chinese American Arts Council Martial Arts Society and featured several weapons, forms, and some sparring. The audience was very receptive and you could feel the energy from the performers as they responded to the crowd. Here’s the list of the performances on the program:

Martial Arts Society - “From Chinatown with Love - Iron Fist”
FootworKINGz - “Juke Sumthin’”
Last for One - “Soul of Asia”
Lee in Soo Dance Project - “Move On”
Martial Arts Society - “From Chinatown with Love - Dao, Qing, Jian, Ji”
Last for One - “One Dream”
FootworKINGz - “The Cross-Over”
Full Circle Productions featuring RPM, Full Circle Souljahs & The Alliance - “In the Beginning”
Bajah and The Dry Eye Crew (Bajah, A-Klazz, & Dovy) - “Kings of Salone”

FootworKINGz is a dance crew from Chicago and they did amazing things with footwork. It’s hard to describe, you kind of have to see it. Lee in Soo Dance Project was more of an experimental/lyrical dance style that was different from the other performers but you could tell that the dancers were really talented.

The highlight for me was Last for One. If that rings a bell, it’s because they won the 2005 International Battle of the Year and were featured in the documentary Planet B-Boy! Winning this competition basically means you are the best breakdancing crew in the world. They are from Seoul, Korea and currently have 19 members but only about 11 were at Lincoln Center. Since winning the BOTY, they have performed all around the world and it was pretty amazing to see them perform live. They had 2 really good poppers who were just great to watch even though it’s hard to show in a picture. (Popping is when you isolate different parts of your body and can move them separately, kind of like ‘the robot’.) I wish I had that amount of coordination and dedication to practice. Also in attendance that night was filmmaker Benson Lee who directed Planet B-Boy and I think he was taking some pictures as well. Overall, Last for One put on a great show and I wished they could perform longer.

During intermission they opened up the barricade near one side of the stage and people in the audience could meet the performers. There were a lot of fans for the different groups but I think Last for One was kept the busiest. I’m not as familiar with the individual members but the ones I spoke with were really nice and I even recognized some from the documentary. Then Full Circle Productions performed and it was like a mix of music and dancing. They had musicians forming a half-circle and dancers in the middle. They also had a little boy who was probably around 10 years old who got everyone’s attention with his breaking abilities. Spinning on his head also helped.

Last to go was Bajah and The Dry Eye Crew all the way from Sierra Leone, West Africa. They spoke about growing up with a civil war and how that has influenced their lives and their music. With a large live band and excellent performers, they were able to get the audience up and dancing for a few of the songs. Special guests The Retro Kidz also made an appearance. For the last song they invited the other performers onto the stage to dance with them and it was really a mix of different cultures all on one stage. It was very nice to see and a great free event to go to. If you are in New York City between now and August 23rd I recommend you visit Lincoln Center Out of Doors and check it out!

Lastly, courtesy of Last for One, we have 3 free shirts to give out to Ningin users. The two black shirts are Adult Large and the white one is Adult Medium. The white shirt has been signed by members of Last for One! We’ll get into the contest details later.

Peace out, Ningin!