Gather Round: Street and Club Dance Battles

Works & Process brings its captivating dance and music series originally commissioned for the Guggenheim Museum’s rotunda back to the Manhattan West Plaza event circle.

SCHEDULE:

• 9.4 | 4:30pm: Behind The Groove: CeleBreak Outside! with Kwikstep and Rokafella
  Since 2009, hip-hop legends Kwikstep and Rokafella have curated Behind the Groove, a party that invites the break-dancing community to freestyle to classic dance music, while providing a space for them to jump into the dance cipher and show the skills they’ve honed. Regularly held at the Nuyorican Poets Café and now at Brooklyn’s Bogart House, this outdoor version will include four break dancing teams, battling it out. Move to the sounds of DJ KS360 and SJ DP One, emceed by Rokafella.

• 9.11 | 4:30pm: Gather Round Kiki Ball
  The community and competitive spirit of Ballroom Culture may be most known from the film Paris is Burning, this summer’s hit musical Cats: The Jellicle Ball, or the TV series Pose and Legendary. Join us in celebrating LGBTQIA+ pride and the skills and style that have made Ballroom the cultural force it is today at the Gather Round Kiki Ball! Featuring commentator Snookie Juicy West, DJ Byrell The Great, and legendary judges Omari “Oricci” Wiles, Courtney “Balenciaga” Washington and more. Categories for this demo ball will be Runway, Face, and Vogue, featuring some of NYC’s best ball walkers. Gather Round Kiki Ball is organized by Hype Kitty.

• 9.18 | 4:30pm: Fabulous Waacking Festival Fall Edition with Princess Lockerooo
  Distinguishable by its rotational arm movements, posing and emphasis on expressiveness, Waacking brings together the glitz and glamour of Hollywood films, the vibrant energy of disco, and the colorful underground gay club culture of the ‘70s. Get ready to be blown away in an event organized by Princess Lockerooo, lauded by The New York Times as the “Queen of Waack,” with high-energy performances, dazzling costumes, and theatrical choreography honoring the roots and influences of Waacking. Top Waackers, go head-to-head in an epic showdown that’ll leave you speechless. After the show and battle, get your disco fix, twirl, and let loose—once the winner is crowned, we dance! Dress to impress.

• 9.25 | 4:30pm: Manhattan West Beatbox Battle with The Beatbox House
  See NYC’s top beatboxers go head-to-head with their newest material in advance of the 2024 USA Beatbox Championships in Pittsburgh! The Beatbox House’s monthly battle arrives at Manhattan West on the heels of the music group’s world-spanning tour with the US State Department’s American Music Abroad program. Kenny Urban, Gene Shinozaki, Neal Meadows (aka NaPoM), Amit Bhowmik, and Chris Celiz make up The Beatbox House, a collective that perfected their craft while living together in Brooklyn. From 2015-2018, they traveled to Europe and won the Grand Beatbox title, bringing beatbox glory back to NYC where it all started. (Fact: beatboxing started in the Bronx!)