WEEK 10 - Flux Story Ideas: PHENOMENON HIP-HOP

Here's another story idea for FLUX, and this is one is specifically for the website.

Phenomenon is a hip hop dance company in Eugene with dancers ranging in ages from 14 to 24. Gabriella Narvaez and Tori Lee, two of the dancers in the company are also J-School students. There are four other University of Oregon students dancing with the troupe, including a recent graduate as well.

Here's a little tidbit from the company's website about their upcoming performance:

"This year, Phenomenon Dance Company will be producing it's 7th headlining show at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts titled, " The Circus" in May of 2009. This show will be a hip hop and jazz dance oriented tribute to the masterpieces of The Circus, with a Broadway/ Cabaret twist! Multimedia design, theatrical elements, gymnastics, acrobatics, dance, live music, and cutting edge performance and choreography will make this show a spectacular event for all ages!"

Why does this story work for this year's Flux? Our group is working on a story about breakdancing and one about ballet. Throw hip hop into the combination, and not only are we featuring a great range of Oregon artists, but we also a wonderful contrast. All the stories are about dancers -- but all these dancers and their styles couldn't be more different. It would be great for example, if on one of the Flux website's pages, there was a space where a video would feature all these three different types of performers (Hey, perhaps we can even find one or two more). For example, you could have three instructional videos, one under another that would say something along the lines of -- "Click here to learn a breakdancing move from ... And ... Click here to learn a piroutte from Hannah Bontrager ... And ... Click here to learn a freeze from Gabriella."

Another way to go about showcasing the videos on the site would be to have a page dedicated specifically to breakdancing or ballet, and at the bottom of the page there could be a link that says something along the lines of "To see more Oregon artists, click here."

This idea definitely needs to be thought out a bit more, but I definitely think it has great potential!

Check out a video of Phenomenon practicing for their upcoming show:

Here's a list of other hip hop companies in Eugene that might be worth checking out (All these groups will be performing in May with Phenomenon at the Hult Center):

King's Krew
Zapp
Urban Pulse
Urban Vibe (a divison of the Eugene Dance Factory)
Urban Beat (the youth division of Eugene Dance Factory)