Street dancing to the hits

I believe that street dancing began as hip-hop. You know those guys going around with those large boom boxes. They couldn’t help but move to the music and were soon dancing. Friends joined in and the steps acquired variations, became complicated and later gave rise to competitions. These are exciting to behold. Street dancers have incredible strength reminiscent of workers in hard labor or stuntmen. But they have such natural grace in their movements that even the hardest steps come across as easy. It is no wonder then that street dancing has now gained acceptance as a dance form and holds contests among the best dancers worldwide.

Such a competition is featured in the motion picture StreetDance 2. This is an offshoot of StreetDance 3D from two years ago that surprised the film industry by becoming a huge box-office hit. When success like that happens in the movies nowadays, can a sequel be far behind? And so here it is, StreetDance 2 with bigger, more frenetic dance sequences. The first film was about the fusion of hip-hop and ballet. This time around, the dancing combines Latin and hip-hop. That means salsa, samba, tango and all those sexy Latin moves. Therefore, the dancing in StreetDance 2 is, hotter, sexier and more beautiful.

StreetDance 2 is about Ash, the American popcorn boy played by Falk Hentshel who lost a dance challenge to the Invincibles. To get back at them he assembles his own crew of the best dancers from all over that will surely win in the European Dance Competition. Falk who was seen in Knight And Day and Arrested Development is an accomplished dancer with Latin and hip-hop as his expertise. Providing a counterpoint to him is the sultry Sofia Boutella, an Algerian dancer known as the Nile Girl. Her middle-eastern moves spice up the salsa and hip-hop combination. I am sure that local viewers who like to dance will also enjoy watching the dance group Flawless as the rival group.

And when you have lots of dancing, you must also have lots of music. The movie StreetDance 2 did not skimp in this area and the soundtrack album is a powerful collection of old and new hit tunes and of the music used to score the picture. This CD with a nicely compiled 26 cuts is a must if you want to learn how to dance the way they do in the movie. Check out the video for an idea of what this looks like. Hard work but also fun.

As for the music, there are classics of the likes of We Will Rock You by Queen. For new, there is the current big seller The Motto by Drake, and hip-hop hits like Super Bass by Nicki Minaj and Troublemaker by Taio Cruz. Then for the sexy Latin movies you have Agua by Los Van Van and Cuba 2012 by Latin Formation. There are Go In Go Hard by Angel; Domino by Jessie J; High And Low by Sunday Girl; Rock Star by Dappy; Who Says You Can’t Have It All by Dionne Bromfield; Invincible by Lloyd Perrin & Jordan Crisp featuring Anwar “Fitstyle” Burton; Rock City by Tyga; Bow Wow Wow by Bodyrox and many more.

More about movies and soundtracks. On the occasion of its 90th anniversary this year, Paramount Pictures has recently released special two-disc album of movie music. This is Memorable Scores, a compilation that will surely delight film buffs and bring back a lot of memories. Included are selections from 43 movies spanning nine decades. Try to play the CDs without looking at the titles and have a fun guessing game.

Disc one has the classics: The Ten Commandments, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Romeo & Juliet, Once Upon a Time in the West, Love Story, The Godfather, Chinatown, Terms Of Endearment, Star Trek, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Saving Private Ryan and others. Disc two has the more recent stuff that younger movie-goers should instantly recognize like Forrest Gump, Lara Croft Tomb Raider, Mission Impossible, Vanilla Sky, Titanic, The Addams Family, Brave Heart, Clear And Present Danger, Fatal Attraction, Star Trek and more.