MY END OF YEAR LETTTER- DANCE INDUSTRY

Dancepeeps,

0722890012,

Nairobi, Kenya.

20/12/2012.

 

Dear Dance Industry,

As I engage myself in the execution and conclusion of yet another year, I am greatly convicted to write a report on how the year has been and to simply express my innermost joy on what we as an industry have achieved. We are a young publication and the touch to the issues on the ground is real and profound and that's why this letter is a real reflection of the scenery which is the dance industry. It is quite important that you note this is a friendly letter meant to Dancers, Emcees, Event organizers, Bloggers, Judges, Dance Legends, Investors, Clients and Choreographers.

 

Dancers are great movers and amazing communicators for in their movement they tell great stories and inspire a people, give hope and inform. You are brave while living in this harshest of conditions: no/less pay, horrible treatment, Lack of facilities and space to practice, to mention but a few. A case I point, this competition in Embakasi that was utterly immorally organized and managed. One of the leader of a crew that participated said, “we have spent sleepless nights in practice, canceled shows that would have at least paid good only to be judged unfairly” in such pain he continued, “I would really love to know what the judges were looking for.” The winner of this competition bagged kshs.100,000/= unfairly!! I took all this personally and had to at least point it out from the dancer's point of view. I don't believe in cheating and loathe lies. I will be honest and say that I had approached this “winners” for an interview and when I heard this I immediately withdrawn my intention. It's Albert Einstein who stated that anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried something new, that's why my greatest lesson and warning is to any event organizers or competition judges that Dancepeeps will be a voice to reckon with in the near future, if such reports come to our attention, we will follow them publicly and transparently. With all due respect!

Sad news first and now we dwell on where we made it count. It's an year we realized that even Athletes can dance, that when it comes to saving a political career, our leaders can boogie!

KEMBOI'S VICTORY DANCE

that sometimes being horrible can land you in amazing stages.

KENYA'S OWN MICHAEL JACKSON @ TPF 2012

 

We have seen an increase in the interest and investment in the dance industry. We are a fresh industry with a huge potential and our road to a powerful future is clearly visible. Dance events have seen an increase in attendance, increase in quality of organization and management.

New and powerful crews have emerged, with a clear cut statement of passion, will and great execution. We at Dancepeeps have experienced the best, all credit to dancers and the whole dance industry. History has been made this year.

As we draw near to the festive season please remember to be safe, share with the less fortunate, embrace family and friends though eventually give a special one a dance: dance is a universal language.

We wish you a great time and a graceful new year. Happy holidays

THE FUTURE! Failure to plan is a plan to fail…Dig that

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

 

PS: Thank you for the support you have all shown and we look forward to making you the reader of this blog, informed, entertained and engaged. 

REMEMBER TO SHARE THE LETTER YOU JUST OPENED

 

Greatly humbled

 

DANCEPEEPS

Feel.Move.Dance.

FINANCIALLY SPEAKING- M-CHANGA

The first time I saw this and read about it I was deeply interested because as a dancer and a choreographer I know how hard it can be to raise capital to start/setup a crew. I talked to Mr. Kyai Mullei who’s the CEO Of Mobichanga limited, a company that has made it easier to raise money with accountability and diligence.

NAME: Kyai Mullei

POSITION IN THE FIRM: CEO – MobiChanga Limited

WHAT IS M-CHANGA: M-Changa is a mobile SMS based platform that allows a fundraiser to start and manage a fundraiser from beginning to end all over SMS in a more efficient manner than ever before.

M-CHANGA LOGO

EXPLAIN TO ME HOW M-CHANGA WORKS: A user starts a fundraiser on M-Changa (fundraiser name and appeal message) and then gets a system generated invite to forward to their potential contributors. The contributors receive this message and joins by responding to the message. The fundraiser can then manage the fundraiser (communicate with contributors, accept payments and monitor their fundraiser) using keywords.

THIS IS OF COURSE A REVOLUTION BUT HOW CAN WE BE SURE YOU ARE NOT ONE OF THIS CON SCHEMES: M-Changa is compliant with all CCK and government regulations dealing with mobile money information services. We have very clear terms and conditions as itemized on our web site and FAQs

WHO OWNS M-CHANGA: MobiChanga Limited has three principal shareholders:

1)   Innovation 4 Africa

2)   David Mark

3)   KyaiMullei

HOW DIFFERENT IS M-CHANGA FROM OUR TRADITIONAL HARAMBEES: M-Changa works very closely to how traditional Harambees work, the sequences involved – how treasurers are appointed, how contributors are informed about progress. M-Changa aimed not to recreate the traditional Harambee but ENHANCE it but making all the normal procedures to raising money much more efficient.

HOW DO YOU ENSURE CREDIBILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY ESPECIALLY FOR PEOPLE STARTING IT WITH THE NAME OF RAISING MONEY TO HELP A CERTAIN GROUP OF PEOPLE: M-Changa is compliant with all CCK and government regulations dealing with mobile money information services. We have very clear terms and conditions as itemized on our web site and FAQs. M-Changa has a robust customer service department, we make followup calls with all our users to ensure that any questions or problems they may have with regard to the platform are answered fully and comprehensively. M-Changa can be reached by phone Mon-Fri 8AM-4PM and by email 24 hours 7 days a week. Payments to M-Changa are accompanied by company receipt SMS that can be used to follow up payment transactions. Withdrawals from M-Changa can be made at any time and our a verage cash out time is currently 20min - 4 hours (in the case of multiple payment providers).

WHAT DO YOU NEED WHEN STARTING M-CHANGA: You need a phone with SMS capabilities and Mobile Money (MPESA, Airtel Money) account.

THIS BEING A DANCE BLOG, HOW USEFUL IS THIS SERVICE TO DANCERS: If your organizations has financial needs that can be met through donations by your organization members, friends, family, colleagues or well wishers then M-Changa is the product for you. It allows you to tap your contacts, and your contacts can tap theirs in order to maximize the number of people you can have in your fundraiser and help raise more money faster, cheaper and more securely. If any of the dancers have personal needs, like weddings or funerals, or need to raise money for dancing equipment etc, this platform can be used too!

ONE OF THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES DANCERS ARE FACING IS FINANCIAL LITERACY AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT. WOULD YOU PLEASE OFFER SOME GUIDE IN ACHIEVING THIS: Organizing Dance Crews and venues, taking to the road for shows and performances, getting the right equipment and outfits, paying for transport between venues are big challenges facing dance troupes. M-Changa would be the perfect tool to manage a long term fundraiser. Sometime it takes months to build up a big group of contributors, and M-Changa fundraisers can last indefinitely as long as there are small contributions (KES 100)  made at least once every 2 weeks. This way the fundraising party can slowly invite new contributors over time and build a formidable fundraiser. People can also contribute via facebook, google+, credit card and twitter if the fundraiser has requested these links, so social networks can be used over time to increase collections

WHAT IS THE MINIMUM CONTRIBUTION ONE CAN MAKE: The minimum contribution is KES 10

HOW DO YOU WITHDRAW THE MONEY CONTRIBUTED IN ONES ACCOUNT: At any time you can request withdrawal of the full amount in your fundraiser by sending the word CASH to 2231

FINAL WORD: Try us out – Kenyans fundraise all the time for almost every cause, don’t be left behind this is truly Fundraising – Easy - Mobile!

 

For more information M-Changa Website

EVENT - BREAKSESSION B-BOY BATTLE 2012

Kenya’s Freshest Street dance Event is BACK!!!

BREAKSESSION BBOY BATTLE 2012 POSTER

NAME: BREAKSESSION B-BOY BATTLE 2012 KENYA FINALS

VENUE: Goethe Institute Auditorium (Maendeleo House – Monrovia Street)

TIME: December 11^th 2012. Event will kick off at 7.PM.

Advance Tickets Ksh.150 (for two tickets)

Gate – Ksh.150 for a single ticket.

On July 23^rd 2011, BreakSession made Kenyan Hip hop history, and overall Kenyan Dance History as it was Kenya’s First Ever Pure and Exclusive B-boy Battle.

Founded in 2005 by Joe Nene a.k.a Bboy Kay/ BreakDJ Kay, the aim was to spark the B-boy Revolution in Kenya. Now in its second year, The BreakSession Dance phenomenon has, yet again, broken new ground by being the first Ever Dance event conducted countrywide on the ground. The BreakSession Team, led by Founder B-boy Kay and his crew The B.B.O.Y SQUAD Dance Crew managed to host Dance Workshops in 5(Five) Different counties, across Kenya i.e Nairobi(twice), Mombasa, Nakuru, Eldoret & Kisumu.

This means that for the First Time, BreakSession will have a Countrywide Battle for Dance supremacy with representatives from all over Kenya. The bulk of Dancers will undoubtedly be from Nairobi accompanied by,

1.     B-boy Castro from Mombasa,

2.     Popping Zak from Kisumu, and

3.     B-boy Reiny from Nakuru.

These dancers were chosen out of the mini battles held during the Workshop sessions in their respective cities and will get to be the first to represent their Hoods/counties at BreakSession for the first time.

Nairobi will also have a strong cast of representatives, headed by

B-boy Vid of the StreetPokaz Crew who has proved a strong contender for this year’s championships after emerging Top at the qualifiers for the 1 vs 1 B-boy, 2 vs 2 B-boy and Seven To Smoke B-boy Battle categories.

Boom Crew represented by B-boy Mifwit and B-boy Aqua qualifying in the top two spots in the Krump Battle and 2^nd and 3^rd respectively in the Seven to Smoke category.

The popping category is also hot with

Habib of LOD crew followed byPopping Moose and the new kid on the block, Maku, who shocked many at the Nairobi qualifiers in November.

Breaksession 1 winner, B-boy Stone of Sisko crew will be back to take a shot at regaining his championship at Breaksession as well as 2011 Semi finalist B-boy Shadow of Street Pokaz crew.

Other worthy contenders will be B-boys Daves, Da Beibboy, Ken (seven to smoke champion 2011), Scrappy (Breaksession 2 winner) and the energetic B-boy Dee a.k.a Topgun.

The 2 on 2 category will also have strong contention from B-boys Jijo & Head of LOD crew and Shammah who qualified alongside B-boy Vid.

Judges of the BreakSession B-boy Battle event will be the three respected and recognized pioneers of B-boy in Kenya, B-boy Jay, B-boy Nemesis and B-boy Kay, Founder and Director of The BreakSession B-boy Battle Event, all three, original members of Kenya’s first ever Pure B-boy crew, The BBOY SQUAD.

The event is organized by the B.B.O.Y SQUAD Dance Crew in association with Streetdance Kenya. Event Partners include Juicy Fruit, Shang Tao Media Arts College, Phartzone interactive and the esteemed hosts, Goethe Institut Nairobi.

JUICY FRUIT ONE OF THE OFFICIAL SPONSORS OF THIS GREAT EVENT

THE VENUE OF THE EVENT WILL BE AT GOETHE INSTITUT NAIROBI(ALSO PARTNERS)

PHARTZONE INTERACTIVE

SHANG TAO MEDIA ARTS COLLEGE

The organizers are also happy to announce the launch of Kenya’s First Ever Locally produced B-boy Trailer. Footage is taken from the 2011 BREAKSESSION Finals.

The trailer was produced and edited by Jeremy Gitonga a.k.a B-boy Tosh (Bboy Squad) with B-boy Kay as assistant Director.

BREAKSESSION B-BOY BATTLE 2012 TRAILER

BREAKSESSION B-BOY BATTLE EVENT PAGE

(Written  By Joe Nene, Editted by Dancepeeps)