If Cities Could Dance

Inspired by James Brown and the Black Panthers, the Black Resurgents are one of the dance crews who pioneered Oakland's boogaloo dance, the foundation of many other funk styles. However, their cultural contributions are little-known outside of the Bay. Meet these veteran dancers passing on their tradition to a new a generation, bridging the gap between boogaloo, pop-locking and turf dancing.

Dancer Amit Patel is reinventing Bollywood dance and making space for queer expression in the South Asian community. At 10, he began Bollywood dance training with Mona Khan Company and later started contemporary dance. He realized he could express himself outside of Bollywood’s traditional male roles. Today, he teaches "Bollywood Heels," a mix of Kathak gestures and jazz performed in 5-inch heels.

J-Sette dancers bring energy, precision, and stunts to the floor and the Dance Champz of Atlanta want to take this underground LGBTQ+ art form to the next level. J-Setting’s roots are from Jackson State University’s Prancing J-Settes who added African American and jazz dance styles in majorette dancing. Leland Thorpe and his team’s mission is for J-setting to be taken seriously in the dance world.

In Houston, Zydeco brings joy. In this episode, we explore Zydeco’s deep roots in Creole culture and music. Once known as La-la, it became Zydeco in Houston with Clifton Chenier’s rise, the ‘King of Zydeco’. Zydeco thrives in Houston, reaching a broader audience around trail-riding clubs who dance together. Zydeco has grown popular worldwide, but it still brings communities together in Houston.

Described as “Indigenous futurism,” Albuquerque’s hip-hop and freestyle dance scene is driven by Indigenous dancers from many tribes, Pueblos and communities. A strong sense of solidarity holds it together, say dancers Anne Pesata (Jicarilla Apache) & Raven Bright (Diné). Randy L. Barton, a dancer, DJ & artist (Navajo) created The Sacred Cypher, an event where Indigenous art forms & hip-hop link.

Sixteen dancers from across the country, representing a range of dance styles, move as one being, with each dancer's moves flowing naturally into the next. Poet Chinaka Hodge narrates each dancer’s steps from all around the United States as we shelter-in-place. Inspired by Mitchell Rose's Exquisite Corps chain letter, each dancer begins in the last pose of the dancer before passing the movement.

Witness the unstoppable joy of dancing bomba, Puerto Rico’s Afro-Puerto Rican dance of resistance. Meet sisters Mar and María Cruz who are dedicated to the dance and its legacy of survival, and trace some of the communities where bomba is at its most vibrant, from the Santurce area of San Juan, to Loíza, the bastion of Afro-Puerto Rican culture across the Rio Grande.

La Mezcla dance company, founded and led by Vanessa Sanchez, uses dance and song to tell stories of Chicana history, culture and resistance. Blending tap dance and son jarocho zapateado (traditional footwork from Veracruz, Mexico) Sanchez describes this unique dance style as “zapatap.” Watch these dancers perform dynamic choreography in front of iconic Mission District murals and landmarks.

John “Crazy Legz” Pearson, founder of the Who Got Moves Battle League, is breathing life back into Beat Ya Feet -- the bouncy, fast-moving dance found in the streets, backyards and go-go clubs of Black D.C. At the heart of the dance style is the music: go-go, a blend of funk, call-and-response and Afro-Latin rhythms, ubiquitous in D.C.'s Black neighborhoods.