October 2011
2 posts
3 tags
Judges for Competitions
How about liquid competitions with judges who are unbiased in relationships and maybe more in tune with what inspires outsiders and potential newcomers? Imagine a liquid contest with a popper, a house dancer, and a random raver for judges. Really high-level liquid dancers could participate without worrying about having to judge or being judged by their peers, and high level dance is always...
Liquid and the Soul
I remember the first time someone showed me what would become the foundation for my hand flow. I was 15, sitting in the back of the school bus and talking to a friend. She said, “Here, do this.” I had no idea what she had just demonstrated to me. A couple of years later, also on the school bus, a different friend showed me digits. Again, I had no idea what I had just seen. That I had witnessed...
September 2011
2 posts
Change of Focus
With less to say but a desire to listen, I have decided to change the focus and title of this blog. This blog now gives exposure to opinions in liquid dance via anonymous submissions. I want to hear and give voice to ideas, not identities.
Click the Submit link at the top to submit. All submissions will be edited to minimize identifying marks and writing styles as well as for readability. Include...
3 tags
What Flow Is
I haven’t posted for a while, mostly because I’ve taken a step back from serious dance but also because I ran out of stuff to say. The two are probably related, since I’ve never been short of thoughts when I was steeped in the dance. Now I’m old and lazy, but I did have a thought a while back that I’ve shared with a few friends.
Liquid flow was always a favorite...
December 2010
5 posts
3 tags
Flow 101: Round Flow (online class) - TODAY! 10 PM...
http://tinychat.com/floasis
5 tags
Flow 101: Round Flow (online class) - Thursday,...
This class will cover the basics of what I classify as “round” (as opposed to “angular”) flow: orbital and helical. This would probably be geared toward newer members, but of course older heads are welcome. There are some finer points in these styles that aren’t really touched on that I feel should be common liquid knowledge.
Thursday, December 16 10 PM...
3 tags
Code Red Interview
This is an interview I did with Code Red back in 2004 for a site that is now defunct:
How did you get into electronic music?
I had this girlfriend back in high school, and she coaxed me into going to the Tunnel in ‘98. She basically was like, “Let’s go to a club!” I was like, “No, I don’t want to,” because I thought it was retarded and stupid and whatever. She finally made me go, and I didn’t...
2 tags
Somebody's been busy...
First came the profile, then came group, along with the obligatory twitter, all capped off by a ustream.
So far Eric has hosted viewings of a house music documentary and previously unreleased LPC footage, accompanied by a group chat and discussion. What more is to come? We can only wait and see…
12-4-10: Join the Online Cypher Now! →
November 2010
5 posts
Join the Online Cypher Now! →
Online Cypher Now! →
2 tags
Online Cyphers
The good people at Floasis have been having online cyphers in the evenings via Tokbox. Each night, members log onto tokbox and post the URL in this thread. Join in on the fun!*
*clothing optional
3 tags
2010 Liquid Conference Footage Torrent
For everyone that couldn’t make the 2010 Liquid Conference in Chicago, Floasis member Phedhex has put up a torrent of all the footage that he shot. You can find the torrent at Pirate Bay: http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/5934047.
If you don’t know how to download via torrent, you can learn everything you need to know here: http://www.utorrent.com/documentation/beginners-guide.
4 tags
R.I.P. Rob Vreeland
From kai at Floasis:
I come to the community today as the bearer of tragic news. One of our own members, Rob Vreeland also known as Dirty Harry, passed away Saturday night.
Rob had come into the floasis family not long ago seeking artistic inspiration by combining our love for dance and his love for photography. Not long after, it was clear that the dance bug had bitten him hard. Over the next...
October 2010
1 post
2 tags
2010 Liquid Conference, Chicago, IL, TODAY!
Details at Floasis.
September 2010
11 posts
1 tag
Clip of the Day
I received an unexpected opportunity to make good on my only big regret in life (ie, not having recorded an album w/my band). I’m on dance hiatus to dedicate myself to this project, which will take up my spare time for a while. I’ll still be bumbling around on Floasis and updating this blog, just no longer practicing and striving to achieve greater skill levels, for at least a year.
I...
1 tag
2010 Liquid Conference Update
A few developments have occurred since the last update on this one-of-a-kind event. Below are the latest details:
Location: Chicago, IL
Friday, October 29
Meet and Greet @ The Basement, 1415 N. Asland Ave, 6 PM to midnight, Food provided by Portillo’s; dance performances by D-Skreet and Dancing Dave of the Groovefellas, Tiny Love, LPEric, and Icon; live art by Joe Condon; and...
2 tags
Clip of the Day: Relic Digit Session
Today’s clip features a new clip of Relic, formerly of LPC, doing his unique mix of folds, digitz, and robot.
Science of Dance →
A friend passed this link to me. Interesting reading. If you want to attract the opposite sex with your dance, be sure to accentuate your core (ie, chest and hips) and neck (ie, head)!
1 tag
Body Flow #6
Having exhausted all of the techniques that I know of for creating a full-body flow illusion in previous articles, today’s article will touch on next-level areas.
This article might be premature, given the lack of practitioners of full-body liquid, but it would be silly to write this only after a dozen people become proficient at full-body liquid, something that might never happen. If...
1 tag
Body Flow #5
The body flow articles up until this point have been focused on the actual technique involved with creating body flow, but one of the advantages of a full body approach is the potential for adding a soulful groove to your liquid dance. This soulful groove provides character and emotion, expression beyond “that looks trippy.” We will explore how to implement soul in liquid by observing...
1 tag
Body Flow #4
Now that we have established a foundation to create flow with our body (see previous articles), we will explore two other techniques for involving the body in flow: contours and threads. These two techniques actually make up a large part of Skywalker’s foundation.
Contours
This is a very simple way to involve the body in flow. Here is a clip of Floasis captain Kai performing contours:
...
1 tag
Body Flow #3
With Body Flow articles 1 and 2, we looked at how flow can be approached in terms of shapes. The most recent Foundation Fridays article showed techniques for creating shapes through body rolls. Today, we will put this all in a liquid context.
In Foundation Fridays: Rolls, we left off with an exercise Continuous Rolls. There are some great series of continuous rolls in this clip. This exercise is...
6 tags
Foundation Fridays #3: Rolls
Today’s article explores a bit of the practical side of body flow. Yesterday’s article analyzed how a flow of shape can be created with boogaloo roll techniques, so this Foundation Friday is dedicated to the boogaloo roll.
Youtube has a ton of boogaloo roll tutorials, and I would encourage anyone with the motivation to look at them as many of them as needed to observe variations in...
1 tag
Body Flow #2
In the last article, I touched on viewing liquid flow not only as connections from hands interacting but as implied shapes as well. I provided an example of handflow with this approach in mind. In today’s article, we will expand this idea into other areas of the body.
In the picture above, we have a poorly photoshopped image of Boogaloo Sam. The yellow, blue, and teal areas in the...
1 tag
Body Flow #1
Not too much has been written on body flow, so I’m going to try and tackle this subject with my own approach, which of course is one of many. As an aside, I am not even sure people see what I see with respect to body flow. To people not thinking to look for what I see, it may just look like some smooth wave-y dancing. Hopefully, this is not the case and the body flow illusion is intuitive.
...
August 2010
19 posts
Leave of Absence
I’m in a hotel room right now and the Internet connection is too crap to make a substantial update. The Liquid Digest will resume on Tuesday, August 31.
3 tags
Liquid Pop Eric Interview
This is an interview I did with LPEric back in 2004 for a site that is now defunct.
How did you get into electronic music?
I first got into electronic music like anybody else. Electronic drum machines and synthesizers just started making their way into pop music. Disco was always electronic, but it was more of an underground gay thing. It wasn’t really accepted. The backlash towards it in the...
6 tags
Foundation Fridays #2: Footwork
This weekly feature will be dedicated to building a complete liquid dancer.
The second foundational element of liquid that is most often ignored by beginners is footwork. Footwork is really how you can get from one place to another, and that movement allows for more variations in liquid paths. Footwork is crucial in using the space around you and being a dynamic dancer.
Up until recently,...
6 tags
Clip of the Day: Ekido Liquid Sessions
Right around the time the LPC broke up, Fu Man Chu considered starting a new liquid site Ekido. The site itself never came to fruition, but we were fortunately left with a kickin’ rad promo clip, featuring the pioneers of the more technical side of liquid.
In order of appearance:
Ben Grimm
Frequency
Fu Man Chu
Relic
3 tags
Clip of the Day: MKG at Starscape 2006
Before I got married, I had something of a “bachelor” party at Starscape 2006. It wasn’t a bachelor party in the traditional sense, no coke or hookers, just an excuse to get out and have some fun with my liquid buddies. The rain was torrential and I didn’t make it past 3 AM due to crashing on caffeine pills, but it was still a good time.
This clip was shot in the car on...
15 tags
Clip of the Day: DEMF 2010
Today’s clip features Floasis and friends getting down at the Detroit Electronic Music Festival, put together by Kai. This is arguably the best edited dance clip to date. Impressively, Kai was able to do this only after a couple weeks of familiarity with the editing software. Here’s to hoping more clips of this level or better are just around the corner. Do yourself a favor and watch...
1 tag
Floasis Blog
Another week, another Underground Sound, another blog! Floasis now has an official blog through which you can stay up to date on 2010 Liquid Conference Developments, Floasis meetups, and other general site news. RSS subscribe now, and receive a free gift!*
*Free gift not applicable for US residents or non-residents.
6 tags
Foundation Fridays #1: Posture
This weekly feature will be dedicated to building a complete liquid dancer.
The first foundational element of liquid that is most often ignored by beginners is posture. Yet, it is one of the most important elements in presenting the dance to the audience. Your posture lets people know that you’re about to do something amazing, that you know what you’re doing, and that your body is...
4 tags
Clip of the Day: Skywalker on Detours
This clip was taken from an older out-of-print DVD called Detours, the video that put David Elsewhere on the dance map before Kollaboration 2001 put him on the pop culture map.
OK, technically Skywalker may not be liquid, but damned if he doesn’t look like liquid is flowing around him. Using concepts of waving, tracing, threading, contours, and tuts, Skywalker creates an abstract flow that...
5 tags
Meetup: Overflow, Chicago IL – 8/20/10
If you are from the Midwest, it might be too late for you to consider going to Underground Sound 6, depending on your level of spontaneity and cash flow. Fear not, flow-y friend! You can still attend a Midwest liquid meetup this month in Chicago, IL!
Overflow is a fundraiser party for the upcoming 2010 Liquid Conference. From the Facebook event page:
Time: August 20, 9:00 PM – 4:00 AM
...
5 tags
Clip of the Day: Houdoken at Underground Sound
In honor of Houdoken’s homecoming to the Midwest this week for Underground Sound 6, today’s clip features Houdoken performing some mind-boggling digitz for the Floasis camp at Underground Sound 3.
When this clip was first released in 2007, very few had seen or experimented with many of these concepts that Houdoken so effortlessly manipulated — the walking fingers, the threads, the...
4 tags
Guest Article: shiftedShapes Talks Liquid
Today’s guest article was submitted by shiftedShapes and originally appeared as a post on Floasis. It presents his analysis on the underlying structure of the liquid illusion, what skillsets are required to achieve the illusion, and how the illusion can be enhanced.
shiftedShapes is a practitioner of tutting, botting, waving, liquid, and more. He can be found on the West Coast Poppin...
6 tags
Clip of the Day: The Liquid Down Under
Today’s clip features an international favorite, SiFi from Australia.
Trademark SiFi style includes increases in hand distances that give way to deeper splits. This allows for a transition into larger cohesive flow maintained by contours and tracing rather than traditional flow paths, in turn enabling him to incorporate more of the body into the illusion. Sifi also boasts a background in...
9 tags
2010 Liquid Conference in Chicago, IL
The 2010 Liquid Conference is upon us and it even has a new trailer video! Here are the tentative details thus far:
Location: Chicago, IL
Friday, October 29
Meet and Greet, food provided, times, location, and cover charge TBA
Dance at The Kinetic Playground, artists and cover charge TBA
Saturday, October 30
Workshops and open discussions by LPEric, Tiny Love, Kai, plainwhitetom, and more,...
1 tag
Letter from the Editor: A Proper Introduction
Dear Reader,
Welcome to The Liquid Digest. I hope you have been enjoying the content thus far. Now that The Liquid Digest is synced with Facebook and Twitter, I think it is a good time for a proper introduction.
I created this blog with the casual liquid fan in mind. This blog is geared towards people who enjoy liquid and digitz and want to know more about it or just want to keep up to date...
10 tags
Clip of the Day: Detroit Liquid and Digitz Circle
Today’s clip is a hidden gem that didn’t really make it too far outside of the liquid community. It features an all-star cast in a tight circle at Detroit Electronic Music Festival 2003 and captures a great party vibe. In order of appearance:
Liquid Pop Eric
Frequency
Code Red
Shenchi
Relic aka Lucas Lock
Tiny Love
Shannon
2 tags
Liquid Pop Collective Interview, 5/10/2003
I wrote this piece for an arts/entertainment weekly while I was in college. A couple of years into my dance career, I came to know various members of the Liquid Pop Collective. Liquid Pop Eric, Code Red, and Fu Man Chu were kind enough to let me interview them during their heyday.
Could you give me a little history of Liquid?
Fu Man Chu: Dang, that’s a toughie. Liquid is the really tricky one....
4 tags
Liquid and Digitz Tutorials on Reddit and Tumblr
Learn liquid and digitz. It has never been so easy:
http://liquiddance.tumblr.com/
http://www.reddit.com/r/liquiddance/
Original discussion at Floasis.
4 tags
