Watch the third season trailer here.
New Season Schedule
Washington DC: Beat Ya Feet
May 5, 2020
John “Crazy Legz” Pearson, founder of battle league Who Got Moves Battle League, is breathing life back into a street dance scene many believed to be dying off. At the heart of Beat Ya Feet dance style is the music: Go-Go, a call-and-response genre of funk and Afro-Latin rhythms, ubiquitous in DC's black neighborhoods. When #DontMuteDC went viral last year, Legz and his crew helped build the momentum to make sure black culture doesn’t get erased. The activism led to new legislation, making Go-Go the official sound of the city.
San Francisco: Chicanx/Latinx Tap Dancing (Zapatap)
May 19, 2020
In this episode, all-female rhythm ensemble La Mezcla performs dynamic tap choreography in front of iconic San Francisco Mission murals and landmarks, then bring us back to the 1940s West Coast Zoot Suit era, a moment when young Mexican American women proudly repped their Chicana identities. Rocking big hair and flashy zoot suits, the women of La Mezcla reclaim this early history, combining tap with Son Jarocho
San Juan, Puerto Rico: Bomba
June 2, 2020
The origins of Bomba lie in the African diaspora and evolved to include indigenous Taîno and Spanish influences. Despite being marginalized for years, the dance, which celebrates resistance and survival, was never lost. In this episode, meet Mar and Maria Cruz of Se Baila Bomba, who continue the vital tradition of Bomba dance and Afropuertorriqueño culture in San Juan and Loiza
Albuquerque: Native American Contemporary
June 16, 2020
In Albuquerque, see how an intertribal generation creates sacred spaces through dance. Meet Raven Bright and Anne Pesata, two dancers who weave hip-hop and indigenous traditions into a new dance form rooted in their community. Then meet Randy B, an elder of the Native hip-hop dance community who uses dance to bring urban indigenous youth together.
Houston: Zydeco
June 30, 2020
Travel to Houston, Texas, home to a thriving Zydeco dance scene. Follow dancer Alexis Chavis, granddaughter of legendary zydeco musician, Wilford Chavis, into Houston’s popular culture of trail-riding and outdoor dances. Then learn how Afro-Caribbean, French Acadian and Indigenous rhythms evolved to create the unique accordion-based and washboard-driven sound, and see how this joyful partner dance has evolved with the infusion of R&B and hip-hop energy.
Interactive Features
Additionally, KQED will also offer special interactive features including how-to dance videos, curated music playlists and interactive maps of each city visited. Audiences can find interactive features online at kqed.org/arts in our individual episode write-ups and all of our video content on YouTube and IGTV.
KQED is also collaborating with roughly a dozen dancers (including Atlanta-based Jalaiah Harmon, creator of the viral TikTok dance Renegade) across the country to create a dance “chain letter” of movement artists who are using this time to “shelter in dance”; that will appear in the next week on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.
About KQED
KQED serves the people of Northern California with a public-supported alternative to commercial media. An NPR and PBS affiliate based in San Francisco, KQED is home to one of the most listened-to public radio stations in the nation, one of the highest-rated public television services and an award-winning education program helping students and educators thrive in 21st-century classrooms. A trusted news source and leader and innovator in interactive technology, KQED takes people of all ages on journeys of exploration — exposing them to new people, places and ideas. www.kqed.org
