Brian Puspos, Take You Down

Brian Puspos has released a new video, but this time, it is for the ladies. The Take You Down video by Brian Puspos has reached nearly 300,000 views! The song Take You Down by Chris Brown was danced by five people, all who are members of a dance crew called The Architeks. Brian Puspos, the choreographer of the video, did a different approach to his dance. His dance for this song was mainly for sexual appeal. Even I was screaming like a fan girl after watching the video. Here's the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Semy2iLEq5c. Let's explore the aspects of this dance in depth.

The dancers in the video are extremely smooth. This matches the mood of the music. Brian Puspos dances to both the lyrics and the beat of the song. When watching the video, listen to the lyrics and see how Brian tells a story through his dancing. For example, when the lyrics say, "take you down", the dancers actually start grinding the floor. Once again, this dance is made for sexual appeal, especially for the ladies. Another part I would like to highlight are the formation changes throughout the routine. At 1:26 to 1:28 in the video, the dancers go from a formation of two people in the front and three in the back, to a formation of a circle. Notice how smooth they transition from one formation to the next. It takes a lot of work to execute the choreography along with formation changes. The part that made me scream like a fan girl was the start of 2:11, where all of the dancers lined up and Brian Puspos did a solo.

This video really caught my attention because this dance brought back the old Brian Puspos from years ago. Back then, Brian's dancing was very smooth. Nowadays, his choreography consists of hard hitting and upbeat music. I personally love Chris Brown, especially the song Take You Down, so this video was a jackpot for me. If you want more of Brian Puspos, check out his Youtube channel, http://www.youtube.com/user/BrianPuspos?feature=watch.

Vibe XVIII

One of the most respected hip-hop dance competitions happened on January 27, 2013. This event was located at the UCI Bren Events Center. I am proud to say that I was able to experience Vibe 18 live. International teams from Mexico and Japan battled their hearts out to place in the competition, along with U.S. and local teams. The crowd was crazy wild, cheering for every single team that performed. These professional teams trained rigorously to place in this competition. I lost my voice because I was screaming like a little girl throughout the dance routines. Vibe 18 showcased an incredible amount of talented dancers.

Fountain Valley Dance Team alumni, Brian Khong, competed in Vibe 18. His team is called Team Millenia. Here's the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqYr5WZVSmE. In this dance routine, the dancers portrayed a concept. They told a story through their dancing. Watch their performance and try to understand the concept.

A team I would like to highlight is the first place team known as G-Fam. This team consists of the adult team, GRV, combined with the junior team Gravy Babies. Here's the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APZkF1u6gSw. Jawn Ha and Bam Martin, both from Mos Wanted Crew from America's Best Dance Crew, both competed with G-Fam. Notice the clean footwork of Bam Martin's choreography at  3:55 in the video. The routine is so clean because every dancer is sharp and in sync. G-Fam beat the second place team by 0.4 points, which is extremely close.

The most entertainment for me personally came from the second place winners of Vibe XVIII, Koutei Sennin. This team traveled to UCI from Japan! Here's their performance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX-j1pPsQIU. Koutei Sennin's routine was so unique because they did something different from all of the other teams that competed. They showcased popping, which is a type of hip-hop dancing. In addition, their dancing was creative with their costumes and props. This routine was the most exciting of the night. Once the performance was finished, everyone gave a standing ovation.

Vibe XVIII happens once every year. I suggest anyone who has an interest in dance to attend these hip-hop competitions. They're exciting, and people can learn so much more about the dance community.