All Asia Waacking Festival Singapore- Fashion Edit

What happens when you combine a fashion parade with a dance battle? Well, it wasn’t an official fashion parade per se. But when it comes to a waacking battle, you’re in for a fashionistic treat!

Happened just last weekend, All Asia Waacking festival- Singapore selection crowned Melissa “Catlady” the champion to represent Singapore at the Asia finals happening in Osaka in April.

First up, Mel is not just another cool cat who is fly af in the style of waacking, but she’s quite the fashionista herself (having being featured in several local publications, and being a finalist in some fashion contest in SG). Check out her instagram (@meowissathecatlady) to see her dope style!

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A post shared by Melissa Meow Lim (@meowthecatlady)

So as I mentioned, almost EVERY waacking battle is as good as a fashion parade. I mean, the style of dance has been closely tied with fashion since its beginnings- because it’s all about being a divaaaaa~ So what’s a diva without his/her style?

(Here’s PanPan “Pagina Heels” from Thailand. I can say he is the epitome of Waacking fashion i swear)

Hence most of the time, every dancer is dressed to the nines; even the most basic styles have some fashion element in it. Let’s see what these cats wore to AAWF this year!

(All images credits to Melissalcl Photography. Check out her FB page here for more of her photography work!)

1. Yellow is the new Gold

For the longest time ever, black/gold seemed to be the uniform of a waacking costume. But now everyone seemed to be exploring new colors and the yellow/black combi looks way more modern than its processor.

2. Shades of Red

How else to add some fierceness into that oufit but to add some red hues into it!

That flexibility though…

3. Black, is still the new black

I’ve gotta admit, I’m never much of a fashionista when it comes to my battle outfit- I prefer functionality over design when I dance (lol) But seriously, you can NEVER go wrong with black. Plus, it helps to “lengthen” your body lines

Sorry but not sorry, I did say I prefer function over design when i dance haha

4. Sexy in Mesh and Lace

Nothing is as sexy as mesh and lace gets- less is more ain’t it?

I don’t know bout you but he definitely has his sexy back o.O

5. Bling Bling Bling

Disco + bling = full-on Diva power!

6. Get vested

Long vest, short vest, formal, avant garde- no matter; but it seemed to be the prime choice of outerwear amongst waackers

7. Print explosion

For the bolder ones, print is their game.

Nobody wears a VINTAGE VERSACE to dance…except for mel. Seriously girl!!

And here we have the Best Dressed Male, How Sun, in his furry glory . Boy how you’d you dance in this!?

So there we have it! Fashion edit for the first waacking event of the year is done! What’s in store for Singapore’s dance scene after this and what are the dancers wearing to it? Stay tuned!

The Day Singaporeans Will Change The Way They See Streetdance

Today marks the end of The DanceFloor 2015, the competition series in search for Singapore’s best dance crew. AND INDEED THEY HAVE! I can’t be more elated and emotional about the results because the winners of the competition are friends of mine, as well as dancers that I have a lot respect for.

CONGRATULATIONS SCRACH MARCS!

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I’m not only happy for them that they won because they are my friends, but I believe many dancers would agree with me that this win in a commercialised competition means a lot to streetdancers.  I mean, when non-dancers look at our different dance styles, they only associate them to pop/lock/breaking (bboy) / hiphop; and it’s always a messed-up jumble anyways. It also doesn’t help when national media don’t report the right facts, confusing the public even further.

Sorry CNA. But seriously, the media NEED to stop going “popping and locking” when they see a funk style performance -_____-

But anyways, taking popping as an example, most people  will associate popping as the “robotic dance”. But I think Rachel and Marcus have done an extraordinary job in showing Singapore that popping is not just that.

If you’ve seen my previous post on them about how their performances always  transcended how you would typically see a popping performance, tonight at the finals was no exception. Taking a contemporary approach to popping,  the final piece was so emotional (Rach teared when they finished their item) that it left me with goosebumps and I too teared from it (cos it kindda hit home y’all know). And I really want to believe that their performances had won the hearts of the public, since the competition was based on 100% voting.

So really, dance across all genres tells a story and even if it’s a streetdance genre, it too can make you emotional. Hopefully after this, more people will become more open and interested in learning streetdances!

[ And if you want to learn from ScRach Marcs, Marcus is teaching Hiphop (THU 7-8pm / SUN 6-7pm) and Popping ( SAT 5-6pm) at Kulture Studios at Kallang Wave Mall. Rachel is teaching Popping (TUE 7-8pm) at Converge Studios.]

Rach remember how you always take our unglam pictures and send us lol. Love you all the same!!

Thank you ScRach Marcs for representing SG Streetdance so well ! Can’t be more proud of the two of you. And mad props for all the dancers who participated in the competition. It’s no easy feat considering the commitment needed for this competition. And the weekly mind-busting themes; mad respect for each and every one of you. Check out the opening act by all 10 finalist groups.

*Mad props to Bill for attempting popping woots!*

Stay tuned for ScRach Marcs’ winning piece! For now, you can watch the results show, which include dope-af performance by Lia Kim and Koharu HERE ( I went crazy when Funky Lia is back with a short popping showcase omg)

 

Support Your Local Street Dancers – ScRach Marcs

By now, i’m sure most Singaporeans are aware of this new show on Channel 5 called “The Dance Floor”.

The finalist groups are given a theme each week and they have to come up with a choreography to showcase their interpretation of the theme. Of course, the groups come from different background and specialisation of dance styles. But I’ll like to bring your attention to the group ScRach Marcs. Here’s their piece for the final-selection show.

ScRach Marcs consist of 2 dancers, Rachel and Marcus, who are best known for their specialisation in the dance style of Popping. If you have no idea what’s popping, stay tuned for my upcoming post – Streetdance deciphered for Non-dancers (something like that)

What I love about them is, they don’t just do popping in their pieces. But they injected their creativity into concepts and deliver them through their dance. So you’re not just watching moves, but you can actually see a story in their choreography. Which I think works very well for them because for non-dancers watching the show, they will be able to understand what ScRach Marcs are trying to say even though they may not understand the dance.

Plus points when they don’t play into the clinches of the theme. E.g. the first theme was “Back in time”. Most of the teams presented the retro era, using music of that time in their pieces. I’m not saying they’re not good but ScRach Marcs and 55 were the ones who went for a slightly different route. Heard of the infamous outlaws Bonnie and Cylde?

(Yassss EDM for real~!)

Not forgetting their seamless chemistry that translates through their dance (Yes, they are a couple. In fact they are getting married soon!). Here’s their most recent piece on their interpretation on the movie “UP”, specifically the love story you watch at the beginning of the movie.

I don’t know about you but I had goosebumps after watching this (eyes got watery too). But you see what I mean when they tell a story through their dance right?

So like how all competitions of this model goes, the fate of the groups are determined by public voting. If you like what you see by ScRach Marcs, vote for them HERE! 

Also because they are my friends la! But you have to agree they ARE DOPE right! Vote for them to keep them in the competition and I promise they will surprise you with even more creative concepts.

Meanwhile, follow them on instagram too

A video posted by Scrach Marcs (“scratch marks”) (@scrachmarcs) on Oct 22, 2015 at 11:33pm PDT

Balmain X H&M AD- Kendall Jenner Impressive Dance?

I’m sure everyone has seen this Balmain x H&M ad featuring Kendall Jenner and a group of dancers “battle” it out on a subway for the campaign. You know, I can’t be happier that there are more and more fashion x street dance collaborations over  the years *woohoo* and it’s times like this I hope the public have become more open to see and learn about the different dance styles- instead of just generalising everything as “Hip Hop”. I’ll assure you that there is no popping, locking, nor breakdancing (correct term: breaking) in the video. In fact, the dance styles you’ve seen in the video are mainly (1) Flexing and (2) Voguing

Flexing

“Also called Bone Breaking, is a style of street dance from Brooklyn, New York that is characterized by rhythmic contortionist movement combined with waving, tutting, and gliding. Flexing is primarily performed to hip-hop music but it did not come from hip-hop dance or hip-hop culture. It evolved from a Jamaican style of street dance called bruk-up which is performed to dancehall and reggae music.”

Yeap, flexing is a legit dance genre, not just an act of contorting stunts. It’s a relatively young dance style but had gain much public exposure in the recent years because of the media. Flexors had joined shows such as America’s Best Dance Crew and America Got Talent to showcase their style. Check out the vid below to see 2 of Brooklyn’s renown flexors

Voguing

As you can tell from the name, this dance style was inspired by the poses models do in VOGUE magazines- characterized by model-like poses integrated with angular, linear, and rigid arm, leg, and body movements. It arose from the  early 1960s from Harlem Ballrooms of the African American. Over time voguing developed and evolved as an established dance form that is practiced in the gay ballroom scene and clubs in major cities throughout the United States—mainly New York City. Note- not to be confused with Waacking.

If you’re still confused, here’s a performance by the Legandary House Of Ninja- with Benny Ninja and Javier Ninja. Yes, in case if you’re wondering why Benny Ninja sounded so familiar, he was invited to be a posing coach on American’s Next Top Model

My thoughts on the campaign? I think it’s a bummer that nobody is actually interested to know who the dancers were. Because if you search “Dancers in Balmain x H&M campaign”, all the search results focus on “Kendall Jenner shows of impressive dance moves”.

Sorry guys, but Kendall can’t dance to save her life in there. It’s the truth! I mean she’s a great model and I do adore her for that but she wasn’t dancing in that video (cancel out all the editing. Really, you have to give credit to the dancers because they fed the energy of the whole concept of the video. But I do appreciate that the AD credited the dancers at the start but they’re really underground because you can’t seem to find them on youtube o.O!

Moving on, I do hope that the Singapore fashion scene and music scene will have more opportunities to work collaboratively with the local dance scene. Music, dance and fashion have been influencing each other through the eras! For all you know, with the right dance and music, it could elevate the show quality of the runway show.

Some waackers for the more feminie labels? credit: melissalcl photography

Explosive & highly energetic bboys for the streetwear brands. credit: melissalcl photography

Even poppers for the more preppy menswear line. credit: melissalcl photography

(Btw, MelissaLCL is one of the amazing photographers in the dance scene that I really love. Click on the images and check out the rest of her work on her page)

With that said, I hope the right dancers will be sought for appropriately. There are some commercial dance agencies in Singapore but honestly speaking, if you want dancers from specialised street styles- hiphop, bboy, popping, locking, waacking, voguing, you have to look to the streets.

Well maybe agency dancers COULD do the genres, but they will never be as good as the street dancers who understand the true essence of the dance. (some people are gonna hate me for saying this but even you have to admit it’s true).

The problem with contacting street dancers is, you don’t know where to find us, right? We could be anywhere. So if you ever need contacts, check out Dancemeets.com .

They are not a dance company or anything commercialised. But a humble group of dancers with the passion to push the streetdance scene in Singapore. So basically, they know almost everybody in the scene (or at least who to contact) and they’re more likely to give you a better recommendation for dancers than anywhere else.

But honestly, what do you think about fashion and dance coming together?

Waack x Vogue x Fashion

Here’s a clip of my practise video yesterday…

https://www.facebook.com/mianbao.steph/videos/10152918718321194/?l=2713551851068265993

This is style of dance is called “Waacking’, and i’m actually experimenting with ‘vogueing’ too.

Did you know that Vogueing is a dance inspired by fashion models? That’s why it’s more posey, and hence the name “Vogue”, like i.e. the magazine.

As for waacking, it goes way back to the 60s, the disco era. The dance emulates the divas of that era, that’s why this dance speaks a lot of character. Butb y now, because of how music evolved, the dance style has also changed and most dancers are becoming more fancy with their moves.

It’s just so happened that these 2 styles are so closely related to fashion; dancers would go to Studio 54 to party and dance (the hottest club in NYC back then where all the A-list fashionistas go to, including YSL and Anna Wintour), the dancers are always well dressed etc. So I would say I’m quite lucky the 2 things I’m most passionate are so related ^^.

And by the way, I kindda hope that one day the waacking/vogue scene in Singapore will get to collaborate with the local fashion scene. Whether it’s a runway show or collection launch, it’ll be interesting, no? Watch this then!

https://youtu.be/HnWbu4Y3rZE?t=23s

Hire us next time please =X haha