I'm back: what I did on my summer vacation (with Hip-Hop Aura dance video!)

I just returned from a 3 week vacation with almost no internet access, and I am in awe of all the posts and commentary that have appeared here over the last few weeks from Koopa and DirtfaceX! I hope they will continue as much as they can and want -- they've done a masterful job sharing videos and perspective on the hip hop dance community. I'll start more posts in the next day or so as well as I get caught up with everything.

 To answer the inevitable question on where it's possible to be without internet in today's world: I spent most of my time in a small village in Southern France helping build a retaining wall in an area near a 1000-year old castle. I did get one opportunity to watch dance. We were near Avignon, the host city for a major arts festival each summer. I attended a show called "Hip Hop Aura" from the Melting Spot Company, choreographed by French hip-hop pioneer Farid Berki. The show is staged as a faux-conference on the history of international hip-hop dance, though the emphasis is on humor and movement. Here's a video of the the creators and performers talking and dancing at an earlier staging of the show: