After Rheostatics close the mainstage in Skeleton Park on Saturday, June 23rd, the festival moves downtown for the evening, to Stoney City Ales (275 Princess St) for a hip hop dance party featuring live DJ, a breakdance crew, and live aerosol art-making. Featuring local food by The Grocery Basket.
Featuring old-school hip hop with DJ Francois the Fantastic of Premium Plus, aerosol art by ERON & ESTR and breakdancing by General Gao, Anton & Black Matter.
KinetiQ Crew Breakdancers:
Charles Gao, aka the General Gao, Mercenary Gao, and an assortment of other names, started breaking in Kingston almost 10 years ago. Since his humble beginnings, he has traveled and battled his way around the world, taking titles in India, Finland, the US and Canada. He is known for his jovial personality when he dances, as he strives to push the boundaries of what is possible and to create new moments for both himself and the audience. Here’s a clip:
Anton, repping Saiko Skematics from Toronto has been breakin’ for 8 years, known for his intricate and unorthodox movement style. With titles across Ontario, he pushes boundaries on what’s possible with breakin’ in inventive ways. Here’s a clip from a recent battle in April;
Black Matter, aka Keimar Russel, reps Unknown Floor Force and Saiko Skematics. A bit of a child prodigy, Keimar has been able to perform incredible feats of strength and develop his own inventive acrobatic movements in just a few years of his breakin’. Now his style has started evolving into the next stage of its maturation, having just come back from representing in Singapore. Here’s a clip of him from a recent battle:
Eric Liu, a movement specialist and Jack of many styles, can list acro, contact improv, rope, martial arts, tumbling, cheerleading, and breakin’ as all part of his repertoire. A fan of mixing and developing new forms of movement. He recently completed a week long intensive with Jonzi D, a Hip Hop playwright based in London.