Keep the Bells Ringin! Rock the School Bells 2012

Rock the School Bells is back!  On March 24th, 2012 at Skyline College in San Bruno, CA, the alternative educational conference and concert returns for another round of workshops, performances, and forums.  Last year we at Fil Am Funk presented on documentary filmmaking.  Will the Funk be present again this year?  We shall see.

RTSB organizer and emcee Nate Nevado continues with his firm belief in the power and praxis of hip hop in our communities.  Sometimes traditional schooling has failed us.  For many of us, hip hop has been there to fill the void.  But an event like RTSB that champions the educational utility of hip hop does not come free.

Let's help Nate and the good folks at RTSB make the event happen.  Their IndieGoGo online fundraising campaign is in full swing, having raised to date over $1,000 of the  $15,000 goal.  You can help them reach their goal by February 15th.   

Keep the bells ringin!

What is Rock The School Bells?

Rock The School Bells (RTSB) is a hip-hop educational youth conference based in the San Francisco Bay Area. It includes a comprehensive blend of workshops and performances that enhance students' ability to:

• think critically about current issues in their communities as well as in the world
• read and write about topics related to their life's experiences
• display effective oral and written communication through readings, spoken word and poetry
• understand the historical and cultural aspects of hip-hop and its effect on society, education and personal development

These workshops integrate the four key elements of hip-hop: b-boying (breakdancing), graffiti art, DJing (turntablism) and emceeing.

Some of RTSB's past workshops have covered topics such as:

• Hip-Hop Entrepreneurship
• DJ Fundamentals
• Hip-Hop and Social Justice
• B-Girl It's Your World
• Weapons of Mass Promotions

 READ MORE...

Artist Spotlight: Build foundation with Dennis Infante

We have yet another elucidating interview this week! Dance guru Dennis Infante (DSPlayers/Groovemekanex/MuthaFunkers) graced Rock the School Bells with his Freestyle and Party Dance workshop. Yours truly had a chance to sweat it out to Dennis's boot camp class and get a solid cardio workout to the trooper, party machine, etc.! I'm glad to say I survived (and maybe even outlasted some of the young kids in) the class.

In seriousness, it was an honor to witness the sharing of dance knowledge from a dance veteran to a new generation. RTSB and the recent Culture Shock Hip Hop Has History conference in LA (where I got a chance to learn some popping techs from the legendary Flat Top) hosted some very young (and very talented) people-- who were born after we lost Tupac and Biggie! And some were embryos when hyphy was at its prime! Events like these prove that certain styles are still alive and thriving.

Dennis brings knowledge to eager dancers of all ages. His helpful instruction and breadth of wisdom makes him an effective and meaningful teacher. In this interview he talks about the importance of knowledge in dance--not to dance just to move, but to engage with history. In other words, to learn foundation. Let's start building:

Why do you feel it is important for you to teach street dance styles?

I feel it's important to teach the street dance styles to help preserve them, especially with today's generation. Foundation of any dance style is key in growing as a dancer. Oftentimes people just want to learn moves and don't really care about the dance. I feel that knowing how a certain move was created is just as important as the technique. When today's generation learns the foundation and how to apply it to dance, then they are able to advance the style to the next level once they gain that understanding. At the end of the day, this is still a DANCE, not just moves.

So it is more than just moves. As an instructor for Rock the School Bells, what can young people (some born in the late 1990s) learn specifically aside from the dance itself?

Young people can learn the social impact the dances had on society. These dances were created during rough times in rough cities, when people didn't really have anything else. That creative outlet that dance gave them brought something new to the table, and now you can find dance in everything from movies, to commercials, to ads, etc. I was originally thinking about doing a Locking workshop at RTSB, but I felt that there aren't enough Hip-Hop classes in the Bay Area that teach Hip-Hop. A lot of the classes will teach a short routine, but not really show the students how to dance using certain fundamental moves of the Hip-Hop dance style. So I decided to do a Hip-Hop party dance class instead. Especially since the vocabulary of that era is somewhat being lost in some areas.

What I like to show students however is the relation of the different moves within other styles from other genres and eras. I'm discovering more that a lot of the moves are the same, but the feel of it is just different when done in other dance styles. One documentary that really opened me up to this is called Everything Remains Raw, by Moncell Durden. I saw it a few years ago in SF and it is amazing! It really shows the lineage of a lot of the moves and just social dance itself. I highly recommend anyone who loves dance to check it out. After seeing this documentary, it really motivated me to research more on a lot of older footage from Jazz, Tap, and African dance and really try to trace the lineage of the moves that we do in Hip-Hop. Even with a lot of the names of the moves, I'm finding out more and more how different areas may have different name for the same move. The history of these dances aren't usually the focus on a lot of these dance driven tv shows, so I feel it's important for us dance teachers in the community to share with the students it's history and background or else it would just get lost somewhere down the line. This way, it can help the students learn as much as possible and keep an open mind about all styles of dance, not just the one that they're into.

RTSB had a noticeable amount of Filipino American representation in terms of the participants, facilitators, and the concert line-up. Do you feel that growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, that the Fil Am representation at RTSB reflected the dance community in the Bay in general?

Although I feel that there are many Fil Ams that represented at RTSB, I still think the Bay Area dance community is very diverse. There are many Fil Ams in dance, but it also just depends on which city is being focused on, and also which styles of dance. From what I see here in the Bay, I see more Fil Ams in the larger dance teams that specialize in choreography. But say for example in the street/club dance scene, it is a bit more diverse with African Americans, Latinos, etc. The Fil Am community in the Bay has always been around representing in dance for quite awhile though.

In what ways do you think that the music popular today matches bodily movement? Is it similar or different from the way you group up with hip hop and dance?

I think the body reacts to sounds naturally the way it should. The way the music is now is way different that the type of Hip-Hop we listened to growing up, and I think that's why people in this generation move differently, because of the music. I see that it is a little harder for the younger generation to pick up the feel of an old school hip-hop move, and vice versa where it is a little harder for an older person to do a move from today (like the dougie for example haha).

You have a picture of "Boogie Down Manila" in your Facebook photos. How did you link up with the hip hop folks from Manila?

The Boogie Down Manila shirt is a brand design from a bboy crew in PI called Funk Roots. The particular shirt that I have is a collaboration Funk Roots did with the Know Your Rank Brand here in the Bay. I don't really have any role with any dancers in the PI. I have however participated in an outreach program teaching free workshops the youth at various schools out there and met a lot of amazing local dancers during my stay. In terms of Fil Ams in the PI, what I heard through friends is that P-Kid (who is a dancer from the US) was one of the first Fil Ams to bring the raw Hip-Hop dance culture over to the PI. Also, one of the locals who has really been holding it down out there is a bboy named Jay Masta. I was in the Philippines in 2009 at an event called All The Way Live. Jay Masta received an award from the event for all his contributions to the dance community out there. I'm sure there are a lot more folks in the PI who have been instrumental in the game. I am still very interested in learning more about the growth Hip-Hop in the Philippines, so anyone who can share with me what they know, please feel free to hit me up!


Ok Philippine hip hop heads, you heard the man, hit him up! Thanks Mr. Infante for an illuminating interview! Dance is knowledge and knowledge is power!
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Activist Spotlight: Learn your lessons from Nate Nevado

Visionary educator and organizer Nate Nevado chimes in on hip hop pedagogy

Hip hop over homework? How about both? Reflecting on the success of another great Rock the School Bells conference, visionary RTSB organizer Nate Nevado breaks down how hip hop can work as an educational resource. In Mr. Nevado's world, the choice between hip hop and academics is not one of contradiction as naysayers in the hip hop over homework debate would have it. RTSB provides evidence of Filipino Americans are merging their passions of hip hop, social justice, and education, thus transforming a "hip hop as pathology" to one of "hip hop as pedagogy."

After all, why deny Fil Am youth the language that they speak? Why not talk with them instead of down to them? We talk with Nate to figure it out.

Why do you feel the need for an event such as RTSB at this moment in time?

We feel that RTSB is crucial in today's education for several reasons:

1) Because of the many misconceptions that are associated with hip-hop, we felt the need to educate and empower our youth and communities what hip-hop is all about. Hip-hop has grown into a global phenomenon where it is recognized universally around the world. We felt it was important to teach the youth and community about the history and origins of hip-hop. In any culture, misconceptions and stereotypes exists through the passage of experiences, opinions, and biases of other people. In order to alleviate these misconceptions, one must learn about the culture - language, customs, etc. We treat hip-hop the same way. It is a culture so instead of having to defend hip-hop, we challenge others to learn about the culture of hip-hop; to be educated and empowered by those who practice and experienced hip-hop firsthand.

Nate Nevado being interviewed by Pacific Rim Video in anticipation of RTSB 4.

2) To illustrate that hip-hop can be used as a tool to teach life skills, such as reading and writing, to think critically about issues that impact their communities, and to be health conscious. Hip-hop should be a part of the educational curriculum across all campuses from middle schools to universities. We've got today's youth attention locked into hip-hop. Since we've got them listening, why not use hip-hop to empower and educate?

3) Having this event allows us to continue to preserve the culture and history of hip-hop. Hip-hop was created for communities who were experiencing poor social and economic conditions in their communities. It gave them a voice. Because we live in a society where we receive information at such a rapid rate due to the usage of digital technology, we sometimes forget to educate ourselves about the history and culture of hip-hop. For example, we have seen significant increase of dance crews within the last 5-7 years even though dance crews have been existing longer than that. With Youtube and other websites, the youth want to be the next JabbaWockeez or the next Super Cr3w, that they focus primarily focus on dance moves rather than why the dance moves even exist in the first place. Because of the advent of digital technology, sometimes the history gets lost. RTSB provides the linkage between the youth and hip-hop practitioners to maintain and preserve the integrity of the hip-hop culture.

How do you make hip hop a medium for education and social justice?

As mentioned before, hip-hop is a global phenomenon, a recognizable universal language that many people around the world can relate to. In the same way we have poetry classes or literature classes or sociology classes, students engage in discussions that provoke critical thought in the books that they read and the lectures/presentations that they have listened to. Hip-hop, being that it is universally recognized, can be used to analyze the current issues in education and social justice.

One of the workshops that we have constantly is the Hip-Hop and Social Justice workshop. Our first year, DJ Sake-One was our facilitator followed by Kiwi/Nomi/Pele of FCC/ALAY for RTSB2. Gabe Delrokz Delacruz has been our facilitator for the past two events. The workshop is designed to discuss many issues that occur in our communities such as immigrant rights, human right violations, teen pregnancy, drugs, etc. Students, then, will write verses on any topic that they feel connected to. After which, they perform in a bigger group. The exchange of thoughts and experiences between youth and students is always amazing to watch. They are able to walk out of that workshop educated and empowered to become solution-seekers.


What makes Skyline College, host to RTSB, such a unique campus?

Skyline College is recognized as the most diverse community college in California in that Filipinos represents ~25% of the total student population, followed by Caucasians at ~20%, Asians at ~20%, and Latino/as at ~20%. The rest of the campus is divided among many other ethnicities. As a result, we have several learning communities which include the Kababayan Program, Puente Program, ASTEP (African-American Success through Empowerment and Persistence), Hermanos and Hermanas Program, TRIO, and many others. Each learning community is designed to provide students with a specific cultural theme that is integrated in their core courses such as English, Math, Sociology, etc. In these communities, students learn about different cultures, leadership skills, mentoring opportunities, and career exploration.

In conceiving of the event, how did you connect with people in order to plan and prepare RTSB?

We've been connected to many hip-hop circles as well as educational circles and where both circles converge, we were able to identify those who would be down to present and/or plan for RTSB. It's no coincidence that we are seeing more and more of these types of events being produced because when many educators alike were growing in our generation, hip-hop was considered at its purest. Because of this shared love and passion for hip-hop, to maintain the history and richness of the culture of hip-hop, we have many people interested in being a part of RTSB. Through RTSB, we have been able to meet fellow educators who would then recommend other educators and hip-hop practitioners to present and/or plan RTSB.

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Rocking with the new generation: Notes on Rock the School Bells

Credit: Russel Albert Daniels for the South San Francisco Patch

The 4th edition of Rock the School Bells, a conference geared towards middle/high schoolers that incorporates hip hop appreciation and social awareness, happened this weekend in San Bruno (near South San Francisco). Students were introduced to DJ, graff, and dance skills while also learning about hip hop fundamentals and the politics of the hip hop music business.

The conference was topped off with an amazing concert line-up, including some incredible talent from young (I mean YOUNG) Fil Am performers like the youngbloods in The Art of Teknique (ages 8 to 9, see video below) and Aftermath Youth (one kid had to be 5 years old!). This younger generation of dancers are mentored by their parents, who grew up on hip hop and still perform to this day. Nonetheless, the grown ups still repped to the fullest. The multitalented group Dirty Boots featuring Denizen Kane provided grown folk, professionally-polished virtuosity, engaging with minimal instruments (drum kit, bass, guitar) yet adding a deluge of flavor through rapping, singing, scatting, and genre versatility.

Multitalented Rachel Lastimosa of Dirty Boots

San Francisco stands as one of those unique geographies that can generate a critical concentration of Fil Am cultural production. Skyline College, which hosts the conference and employs a team of visionary Fil Am educators who organize the event, has a population in which 1/4 of the students are Filipino.

The right people, the right place, and the right time.

RTSB provides the venue for the new generation of Fil Am performers to showcase their craft, just as the car shows, PCNs, clubs, and Friendship Games did for their parents. The unbelievable skills that today's Fil Am youth display is a testament to the ingrained and intimate relationship that Fil Ams in general have with hip hop performance.

Here are a few pictures from the weekend from the South San Francisco Patch.

Credit: Russel Albert Daniels for the South San Francisco Patch

Credit: Russel Albert Daniels for the South San Francisco Patch

Hip hop entrepreneurship panel with cityscape built by Skyline students. Photo taken by me.

These children will rock you and school you!

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The Funk X "Rock the School Bells" Saturday

FilAm Funk, along with Paper Son, will be presenting "It Ain't Hard to Tell: Documenting Hip Hop" at the 4th Annual Rock the School Bells conference in San Francisco this weekend. We'll be sharing some documentaries and video clips with middle/high schoolers and discussing the importance of recording stories in hip hop with the hope of motivating them to create films of their own.

The conference will feature a killer line up of presenters and performers, including some artists who have been featured on this website. We're linking the old school with the new school with the new new new school!! So blessed to be a part of this amazing congregation of talent, genius, and passion.

You can purchase tickets to the event here.

Rock The School Bells conference is an event aimed to educate and empower the youth, students, and the communities at-large about the importance of education and personal development through the various mediums of hip-hop.

The event goes down on Saturday, March 26, 2011 at Skyline College in San Bruno, CA, from 9:00-4:00PM.

This conference provides an array of hip-hop educational workshops, all-styles dance battle, Lunch Special Emcee Battle Invitational presented Vitamin Water, and networking and vending opportunities.

Workshops include:
Hip-Hop 360: The Birth and Evolution of Hip-Hop
DJ Fundamentals: History, Culture, and Technique
Hip-Hop and Social Justice
Weapons of Mass Promotion
It Is Written: Graffiti Workshop
Hip-Hop Entrpreneurship/Hip-Hop Economics
Street Dance Fundamentals and other multiple dance workshops
+ Many more...

RTSB4 Concert Lineup from 7:00-10:00PM include:
La Femme Deadly Venoms
MuthaFunkers
The Art of Teknique
Jupiter 7
Aftermath Dance Company
Dirty Boots with Denizen Kane
Strag
xL
+ Many others...

All proceeds go to educational scholarships for high school and college students.
For more information, hit up info@rocktheschoolbells.com.
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