Monday, March 26, 2007

The Reasons Why the Dutty Wine is a Female Dance



These guys did the dutty wine as a joke and it was funny, but the dutty wine is clearly a womans dance. Imagine if you are in the club and all of a sudden all the guys started to run to the center of the dance floor and started dutty wining about the place. That would not be a good look at all. This was a funny clip though.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Lighting up' Jamaican dances

With dance moves that remain the hottest commodity around, Choreographer Tanisha Scott has been blazing trails, and bringing Jamaican dances to the forefront of the world.

While many may not recognise her name, most have seen her in all the hypest music videos such as Sean Paul's We be Burning, and I'm Still In Love With You, Ludacris' Money Maker, Ne-Yo's Stay and countless others.

Born in Toronto, Canada to Jamaican parents, Scott has kept her Jamaican link close to her heart visiting yearly as much as possible.

She exploded on the dance scene with Sean Paul's Gimme Di Light video. It was Scott's first time meeting the then striving DJ and her first time choreographing as well.

"My friend Little X, the director, called me and asked to choreograph it. I was nervous and scared but it worked out. I built my reputation wid Sean, he loved my energy, after that I did all his videos. People saw the video and saw my work, that's how I expanded in the business" she said.

With a vivacious personality, energy and an natural skill at dancing Scott has expanded to work with the Caribbean and United States' biggest artistes such as Beyonc?, Jay-Z, Mary J Blidge, the late Aaliyah, Craig David, Ne-Yo, Mya, Fabulous, Kevin Lyttle, Rupee, Elephant Man, Tami Chynn, Shaggy and many others she was never professionally trained, dancing was something she had always wanted to do.

"From when I was born, I used to tell my mom I wanted to be a belly dancer. I joined a dance troupe in university. I was never professionally trained. I used to dance at this club back home," she said while laughing.

While some have credited Scott with 'bussing' Sean Paul, since it was the Gimme Di Light video that really drew attention to him as an artiste, she says it was just the right time for them both.

She says, "Jamaican dance is a hundred per cent energy, it represents what Jamaica is, the whole Bob Marley One Love free spirit. Anyone can do dancehall, the steps are easy but its the vibe that really carries it off. Everyone from Africa to Japan, Europe are seeing the moves and want to do them. Look at Dutty Wine, everyone from men, to women, children, even my grandmother wants to do it. Its a great phenomenon and a girls dance. Finally the girls have something for them, I rate the Attitude Girls."

Scott just finished co-choreographing the movie Bring It On: All Or Nothing, the fourth movie in the Bring It On series. She also choreographed and starred in How She Moved to be released next year. Scott plays a role not far off her person: a Jamaican girl who moves to Canada and becomes a dancer at her high school.

Despite all her achievements, Scott remembers the moment that inspired her to never stop dancing.

According to Scott, on a visit to Jamaica, dancehall's most famous dancer Bogle came up to her and praised her work. "He told me how I had helped bring dancehall to the forefront, how proud he was of me. That's the greatest thing, no matter what I'm gonna keep opening doors for Jamaican dancers. I want to see a dancehall movement, make a mark. Where you have jazz and tap as dance forms that are studied, I want to bring dancehall to that level, where it is respected and taught, its a culture. Its not about Tanisha but about Jamaica and dancehall" she said.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

White Girl Dutty Wine



This white girl gets her dutty wine on. The dance is done with such eloquence and great posture. The only thing is she might need some Beverly Hills Health Insurance, if she spins her neck too much and it breaks off

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Tony Matterhorn Celebrates in New York

Not even the pending snow storm could stop the specially invited guests, media and well wishers from coming out in large numbers at Tony Matterhorn’s welcome back party and VIP press reception. The self-styled man from mars celebrated his return to New York after a three year absence, at the trendy Mars 2112 restaurant, nightclub and bar in Manhattan last Tuesday night.

The occasion was hosted by Matterhorn’s management company, VIP Connected. Scores of mainstream and urban media personnel from the US, England, Europe and even Jamaica, were on hand to mark the milestone.

Matterhorn’s US visa was revoked in 2003. His management company with assistance from various entities in the US petitioned for the visa to be reinstated. The loss of the visa had prevented Matterhorn from fulfilling numerous performance obligations in the USA, which resulted from the mainstream success of his muscular Dutty Wine and Goodas Fi Dem singles.

Dutty Wine was heralded by the prestigious urban publication Vibe Magazines as one of the 60 most influential records of 2006. The song enjoyed a runaway success in the US, Europe and in several Caribbean countries. Matterhorn performed in almost every country where the song took off, with the exception of going stateside.

In an earlier interview, Matterhorn had expressed his sentiments about being able to perform in the US again. "I can now reach out to my extended fans, the real Matterhorn fans. It feels good to be able to reunite with them, but in some ways I have been interacting with them on my space a lot," said Matterhorn.

His manager Julie ‘Lexy’ Brooks of VIP Connected said that since the announcement that Mattehorn can once again visit the US, several offers for performances have been popping up. ‘We have a lot of offers on the table right now. He might be traveling to the US almost every weekend just to perform’, said Ms Brooks.

At his welcome back party, Matterhorn greeted the media and spoke about plans for his career. He revealed that a collaboration with himself, Wyclef Jean and Elephant Man (featuring a new female Hispanic singer) is set to be a big hit this summer. He also hinted that he was in negotiations with at least three major US record companies for the release of his debut album.

Rob Kenner, Editor at Large at Vibe magazine told this writer that New Yorkers were familiar with Matterhorn from his days with the King Addies sound system and that his return could further help in capitalizing on opportunities that could come his way. ‘Dutty Wine did very well in the urban market and a lot of mainstream artistes would want to work with him. Now that he is back, many of these opportunities can now bear fruit’, said Kenner.

Singer Suzanne Couch, Linkup Media CEO David ‘Squeeze’ Annakie, Dave Rodney of Jamrock Magazine, Patricia Meschino of Billboard and Skywritings magazine, and Jabba from urban radio station Hot 97 FM and Tempo, were among those in attendance.

After the press reception, an after party took place at the T-NY Club in Manhattan. Matterhorn performed his hits as well as new material. He kept the crowd in stitches with his side splitting humor and anecdotes.