Archive for the ‘Dance’ Category
“Dancing flashmob riot in Berkeley” (from History is made at night)
Reposted from History is made at night: The politics of dancing and musicking
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Dancing flashmob riot in Berkeley
Last week in Berkeley, California, a flashmob dance party on the University ended up in a riot as students protesting against cuts in education funding took their party off the campus and into the streets.
According to Occupy California: ‘In Sproul Plaza of UC Berkeley, hundreds gathered for a dance party that began around 10pm on Thursday, February 25. At the peak of the party (around 12am) the 250 people dancing surrounded the loudspeakers as together they moved farther into campus’.
After temporarily occupying a vacant University building, the mobile party moved off campus and into surrounding streets: ‘Some 500 people were present, a combination of observers and protesters. The dance party continued to rage on as more and more people took the intersection, by now at least three hundred. Then without a clear reason, the police began to descend on the people in the streets. Some ran to the sidewalks to observe from a distance, others stood their ground, refusing to move. The police pushed people with their batons, the protesters pushed back and some were caught in the middle. Then an officer grabbed a woman at random and smashed her head to the ground… What had started as a dance party and occupation quickly turned into a direct confrontation with the police, whom had been following the protesters through out the night’. Shop windows were smashed and some bins set alight.
The context is an ongoing movement of student occupations and demonstrations across California prompted by cuts in education funding and increases in tuition fees.
Dancing in the kitchen (from History is made at night)
Nice little photo piece from the History is Made at Night (the politics of dancing) blog. As anyone who’s been to a house party knows, the communal hub / party center is the kitchen.
Monday, February 01, 2010
I like the places where the night does not mean an endwhere smiles break free and surprise is your friendand dancing goes on in the kitchen until dawnto my favorite song that has no end(Bonny Prince Billy, You remind me of something)
Deciphering Culture
Deciphering Culture 