CITYSCAPES: HOME of SF BAY AREA TURF DANCING 2004-2016
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Oakland Breakers Get Wet Rat Pack Dummy Squad Positive St. Krew Nunulife Ent We Are They Triple Jointed BA Turfin 24/7 SF Breakers Kidd's Playground Urban Soul For 12 years (2004-2016) CITYSCAPES documented the incredibly creative Turf dancers in the Bay Area including the dozen groups listed above. Thousands of images and some videos are on this site as posted on the same day of the events.
I didn’t fully understand what I was witnessing or what drove these young people to work so hard honing their moves and competing publicly, but I was drawn to what these largely ignored street performers were doing. Their photos, which I posted on this CITYSCAPES website, were shared with the dancers and admirers with a cell phone throughout the Bay Area. I soon became known as CITYSCAPES.
Over the years, my respect for what I observed and photographed only increased when I documented well-advertised free public 'battles' in which dancers were judged by their peers for the quality of their performance and not their race, gender or class and that was perhaps more than many of them were used to from society in general. Is it any wonder why they ralied to these battles in droves. We even flew with three of the best dancers to New York City to battle with champion locals in a bar just off Times Square.
In recent years, the scene shifted to Oakland which has always been the source of the Bay Area's Turf dance energy. In 2012, Johnny Lopez created Turf Inc. He not only organized the dancers as had GET WET ENT earlier in San Francisco, but he was able to obtain funding for competitions both from local non-profits and city agencies in Oakland. That was an important step forward in recognizing these young men for what they had already been doing for many years. Several of today's TURF stars like idummy once danced in the City and were photographed and video-taped by CITYSCAPES. Another star dancer whom we also took with GET WET ENT to battle and win in the Big Apple is Alonzo "Turf"Jones, a finalist in America's Got Talent Season Seven.
Btw, Sk8brd pics are also featured on this site.
ENJOY! -BIRON aka CITYSCAPES!
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