California Dancing

California Dancing by Rachel Levin

Introduction to the "California Dancing" column.

A short biography of Rachel Levin.

Articles

High Five for The Chocolate Bar - 9/20/2002

Café Danssa - Brazilian and Balkan Folk dance club. 9/13/2002

DanceSpot Review: Firecracker - Indoor/outdoor Hip Hop party in LA's Chinatown. 8/29/2002.

DanceSpot Review: Zabumba - Brazilian dance in LA 4/1/2002.

DanceSpot Review: El Alebrije. 11/12/2001.

DanceSpot Review: A Changed View of the World: Dancing Atop Los Angeles at 360° 9/26/2001.

Pop Life and Afterlife: Madonna and Aaliyah as Dancers. 9/4/2001.

Dancers versus Cheerleaders: Bring It On. 8/22/2001.

DanceSpot Review: Sacrifice

A Night at the Chocolate Bar @ Gabah. 6/13/2001.

Dance in Film: Once Again Center Stage. 3/28/2001.

DanceSpot Review: Rudolpho's. 9/3/2000.

Introduction to "California Dancing"

California is an American dance mecca. A great majority of American dance images have been and continue to be manufactured here on the lots of Hollywood studios, from the Golden Era of the film musical to the current and seemingly endless stream of music videos. South-Central Los Angeles and Oakland are homes to African-American communities that, along with New York and Atlanta, are the nerve centers of hip-hop music and dance. California is a gateway for many immigrants to enter the nation, and each culture brings its own unique forms of dance and movement. The state's proximity to the Mexican border ensures that a variety of Latin dance forms from Central and South America flourishes here including salsa, merengue, cumbia, mambo, and samba. A portal to the Pacific Rim, California is home to large numbers of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Thai immigrants. Cultures collide as Asian hip-hop clubs pop up in L.A.'s Koreatown, and Madonna incorporates traditional Chinese dance and martial arts into her concert electronica. On the more traditional side, let's not forget the refined grace of the San Francisco Ballet, the sunshine-drenched cheerleaders of San Diego suburbia, or the style of The Derby in Los Feliz, which, with the release of the movie Swingers, helped touch off a swing and lindy-hop craze across the nation. Basically, if a type of dance exists somewhere in the world, chances are you can find it in California.

This column is intended to capture the dancing energy of a state which is, literally and figuratively, always on the move. Though much of the column will be devoted to Los Angeles events and venues and Hollywood media (since that is where I reside), I will also try when possible to cover goings-on in San Francisco and San Diego and everywhere in between. If you have any questions or comments on "California Dancing," please e-mail me at RachelBLevin@aol.com.

A short biography of Rachel Levin

Rachel Levin is a writer and dancer in Hollywood, CA. Raised and educated in California on tap, jazz, ballet, cotillion, and (gasp!) cheerleading, she now studies mainly salsa and hip-hop. Currently, she is teaching a beginning hip-hop class at the Hollywood Dance Center (323-467-0825), writing for the Beverly Hills Weekly, and contemplating dissertation topics for her Ph.D. in English (film and culture specialization).

California Dancing by Rachel Levin

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