Ashani Mfuko, Executive Producer of "Inside New York City Dance" and Host of The Kiner Hour Radio Show

A brand new dance television show is coming on to the scene, from Executive Producer and host of The Kiner Hour radio show, Ashani Mfuko. This new television show will give you an inside look at the dance scene in New York City, from the eyes of a New York City native, and professional dancer who is in touch with heartbeat of all things dance in New York City!

The show will feature some of the hottest dance events happening in New York City, dance performances/events, and in-depth interviews with some of the top dancers/choreographers in New York City! It’s time for a dance television show to highlight all of the wonderful, and positive things that are happening in the center of the dance world in New York City! And we’re proud to be the ones to do it!

The show goes into production this Spring, and will broadcast on the Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN). Residents within the five boroughs of New York City will be able to watch the show through their local cable network. Individuals outside of New York City will be able to watch the show online. The show will be filmed at MNN Studios, located in Midtown Manhattan.

If you are a dance performer, or have a dance company/crew, and would like to be featured on our new tv show, please submit the following, by March 1, 2012:

- Your name, contact information, and bio.

- The name of your dance company or crew.

- The number of dancers in your company or crew.

- Your website.

- Your Youtube channel and/or video links to your dance performances/choreography.

- Have you ever performed on television before?

Please e-mail the information requested above to info@kinerenterprises.com by May 1, 2012.

If you know of someone who may be interested in performing/being featured on our tv show, please share this post with them on Facebook and Twitter.

Sammy Davis Jr. Photo Credit: Michael Lutch for WGBH

Sammy Davis Jr. was often billed as the “greatest living entertainer in the world”. The son of vaudeville star Sammy Davis Sr., he was known as someone who could do it all–sing, dance, play instruments, act, do stand-up–and he was known for his self-deprecating humor; he once heard someone complaining about discrimination, and he said, “You got it easy. I’m a short, ugly, one-eyed, black Jew. What do you think it’s like for me?” A short stint in the army opened his eyes to the evils of racism–a slight man, he was often beaten up by bigger white soldiers and given the dirtiest and most dangerous assignments by white officers simply because he was black–and he helped break down racial barriers in show business in the 1950s and 1960s, especially in Las Vegas, where he often performed; when he started there in the early 1950s, he was not allowed to stay in the hotels he played in, as they refused to take blacks as customers. He also stirred up a large amount of controversy in the 1960s by openly dating, and ultimately marrying, blonde, blue-eyed, Swedish-born actress May Britt.

He starred in the Broadway musical “Golden Boy” in the 1960s. Initially a success, internal tensions, production problems and bad reviews–many of them directed at Davis for playing a role originally written for a white man–resulted in its closing fairly quickly. His film and nightclub career were in full swing, however, and he became even more famous as one of the “Rat Pack”, a group of free-wheeling entertainers that included Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford.

Starred in the 1964 Broadway Musical “Golden Boy” for which he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor (Musical) in 1965; he lost toZero Mostel for “Fiddler on the Roof.” “Golden Boy” also featured many then unknown or relatively unknown talents such as Roy Glenn who later portrayed the father of John Prentice/Sidney Poitier in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967); other talents included then very young performers Lola Falana, Louis Gossett Jr., who later won an Oscar for his performance in An Officer and a Gentleman (1982); and Johnny Brownwho is best remembered for his portrayal of “Nathan ‘Buffalo Butt’ Bookman” on the popular television sitcom “Good Times” (1974). A then unknown performer named Ben Vereen was Davis’ understudy in “Golden Boy.”

Always articulate, he never attended school of any kind; performing since the age of five, he was largely self-taught.

He lost his left eye in a car crash when he was on his way to record the theme song for the Tony Curtis film, Six Bridges to Cross (1955). He wore an eyepatch for sometime after that, but Humphrey Bogart ultimately convinced him to unmask when he told him that he didn’t want to be known as the kid with the eyepatch.

A chain smoker, Davis died from throat cancer at the age of 64.

He was inducted into the International Tap Dance Hall of Fame in 2005. He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6254 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

Mini-bio courtesy of IMDB.

Photo Credit: VoiceOfDance.com

Involved in show business since toddlerhood, Gregory Hines was a highly acclaimed tap dancer, choreographer, dramatic and comic actor, singer, and director. Hines is the brother of actor/dancer Maurice Hines. When Hines was two, his father employed him in a dance act with his older brothers. The child honed his dancing skills with master tap dancer Henry Le Tang. He was five when his father teamed him with his big brother, Jake, to form the Hines Kids. The brothers spent much of their early careers dancing at the Apollo Theater and learned much from such famed fellow performers as the Nicholas Brothers and Sandman Sims. At age eight, he debuted on Broadway in the musical The Girl in Pink Tights (1954). When the boys reached adolescence, they were called the Hines Brothers. In 1963, they became Hines, Hines and Dad, and started a ten-year stint on the nightclub circuit and on television. They also went abroad. In 1973, he left his brother and father’s act to form a jazz-rock group called Severance. He eventually came back to New York, where in 1973, he launched a distinguished Broadway career that garnered him a Tony (for playing Jelly Roll Morton in George C. Wolfe’s musical tribute Jelly’s Last Jam in 1992), three additional Tony nominations, and a Theater World Award.

Hines made his feature-film debut in Mel Brooks‘ all-star farce The History of the World, Pt. I, replacing an ailing Richard Pryorin the role of Josephus. It was actress Madeline Kahn who suggested Hines for the role. In film, Hines has proven himself a versatile actor and he has starred in everything from musical dramas in which he showed off his dancing ability (The Cotton Club and White Nights, in which he starred opposite ballet superstar Mikhail Baryshnikov), to straight dramas (The Preacher’s Wife), comedy (Renaissance Man), sci-fi/horror (Wolfen), and action films (Running Scared). In 1994, Hines made his directorial bow with Bleeding Hearts. He released an album, simply titled Gregory Hines, in 1987. In 1997, he starred in the CBS family comedy The Gregory Hines Show as a single father who has trouble reentering the dating scene. Though that particular series was shortlived, appearances on such popular small screen staples as Will and Grace proved that the years had certainly not dulled Hines comic abilities. In addition, the prepetual entertainer also provided voice work for the Blues Clues adventure Big Blue’s Threasure Hunt and the popular children’s series Little Bill. Moving into the new millennium Hines appeared in such features as Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her (2000) and the made-for-television biopic Bojangles (2001), in which he portrayed the title role of legendary dancer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson. Following a supporting role in the television series Lost at Home, Hines made his final film appearance in the 2003 feature The Root.

On August 9, 2003, Gregory Hines died of cancer in Los Angeles. He was 57, and the lights of Broadway were dimmed in his honor three days after his untimely death.

Biography courtesy of MSN Entertainment.

Please share this post on Facebook and Twitter, and let’s continue to honor the legacy of Gregory Hines.

Fractured Atlas Logo http://fracturedatlas.org

Tonight on The Kiner Hour Radio Show, Special Guest, Emily Gray, Program Director of Insurance at Fractured Atlas, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping artists be better at the business side of making their art, leaving them more time to concentrate on what really matters: making their creative work happen.

On tonight’s show, you’ll learn about affordable liability insurance for artists and arts organizations, as well as access to affordable rates for equipment insurance, directors and officers liability insurance, volunteer accident insurance, etc. Plus, learn more about Artful.ly, an open-source online ticketing and donor management software designed specifically with the needs of the arts community in mind.

You don’t want to miss this show!

The live show begins at 7 pm EST on http://mission101broadcasting.com!

Tune in, and call in live at 917-267-8924!

The Kiner Hour – Let’s Talk Dance with Ashani Mfuko radio show, every Sunday night,  7-8 pm EST on http://mission101broadcasting.com!!

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After writing about how to overcome guilt as a dancer yesterday, and having three separate conversations with friends/family about the importance of keeping balance in our lives, I felt that this post was absolutely necessary.  It’s difficult for most of us to maintain balance in our lives nowadays, because there are so many distractions, and so many demands put on us everyday.

This of course is no reason to settle for a life that is not happy, healthy, and balanced. Although you may get off track from time to time, you don’t have to stay that way. Here are my top 5 secrets to a happy and balanced life.

The Top 5 Secrets To A Happy and Balanced Life:

1) Give Yourself Permission To Be Un-Productive. TV, movies, video games, sports, reading a book or magazine, these are all things we do simply for the pleasure and enjoyment of doing it. It may not help your career or business grow, or help you mark any tasks off of your to-do list, but it sure feels good! Yes it does! Allow yourself to have time where you don’t have to think, accomplish anything, or even be productive. Give yourself time to just be, and have fun. You deserve it, and you need it to maintain your sanity.

2) Keep or Create White Space In Your Life. I read an article online about the concept of having white space in your life, and it’s so important. White space, as far as I’m concerned, is that time where you can just think, and be alone with yourself in your mental space. It’s a bit different from meditation. You can think of it as the space that creates a time for meditation. It’s a time that you leave blank, as opposed to scheduling things to take up every minute and every hour of your day, until you go to sleep at night. It’s basically empty space or time in your day/week, where you’re able to think, process, reflect, and not get caught up being busy doing “stuff”, with no time to actually think about what you’re doing, and why you’re doing it.

3) Stop and Think About What You’re Doing and Why. Be very careful of routine. Sometimes we can get stuck in the routine of doing certain things, while forgetting why we started doing them in the first place. It’s very easy to continue doing things out of routine, so be sure to stop every so often and ask yourself, “why am I doing this?” You may find out that you no longer need to be engaging in a certain activity, task, or job, or with a certain person, or you’ll just get refocused on your purpose and your goals, and get the motivation you need to carry on for another 3-6 months.

4) Learn To Delegate. There are some things that you really shouldn’t be spending your valuable time on everyday, and you (and I) know it. Delegating can be a little scary at first, and can backfire if not done properly. But it’s something you and I must learn to do, if we want to live the balanced and happy life that we’ve always dreamed of. It’s pretty simple. Start with delegating the things that you like to do the least, then move on to those areas that are not exactly your strengths. Take the next step, and find (or hire) someone to take over those tasks for you. You will not only be more productive as a result, but you’ll be happier too!

5) Put Yourself First. Let me clarify this point before I explain it. I put God first in my life, above everyone and everything, then my husband is second, so technically I’m third. But what I mean by “put yourself first” is this:

• Put Your Mental & Physical Health, and Well-Being First.

• Put The Relationships That Matter To You The Most First. (I’ve been known to postpone non-urgent work, in order to spend some quality time with my husband, or a day with my niece at the park, and I’m proud of it!)

• Put Your Priorities, Personal Goals, and Happiness First. One thing that I’ve learned is, what is urgent to someone else, isn’t necessarily urgent to me. Don’t make other people’s priorities, your priorities. Stay focused.

• Put Life Balance First. Your life can not be all work, and no play. Your life can not be ALL of any one particular thing. You need to have balance. Meditation, Exercise, Work, Play, Downtime, White Space, Rest, Relaxation, Entertainment, Learning/Reading Time, etc.

I believe that the happiest people in the world are the ones who have their priorities in order, and aim to maintain a healthy balance in their lives. They might not hit the mark perfectly every single day, but they also don’t end up being on one extreme or the other.

If you stay connected to your mind, body, and spirit, you will know when something is out of wack, and needs to be adjusted or re-aligned in your life, or your daily routine.

How do you know when you need to make some changes or adjustments in your life, or daily activities? What are the tell-tale signs for you? How do you get back on track?

Post a comment below with your thoughts, and share this post on Facebook and Twitter.

Don't let guilt overtake you!

Do you ever feel guilty about the choices you’ve made for your dance career? Do you feel guilty about getting paid to do something you love so much, and would do for free? Do you feel guilt about choosing a career path different from what your parents/family thought you should choose? Guilt about not living up to your own expectations? Do you feel guilty about not spending enough quality time with your loved ones, because your life is so busy?

Guilt is real, and it’s something that many of us feel on a regular basis, for a number of different reasons. It’s an emotion that will definitely get the best of you, if you don’t keep it in perspective. It’s always best to get to the heart of why you’re feeling guilty in order to address in the best way possible.

How To Overcome Guilt As A Dance Artist

Ask Yourself:

“Have I done something wrong/hurtful to someone?”

“Am I being too hard on myself?”

“Am I feeling pressure from external sources?”

“How does feeling guilty help me in this situation?”

“What can I do to avoid feeling like this in the future?”

“Are my actions in alignment with my goals/values?”

“Am I doing what’s best for me?”

Don't Let Others Guilt-Trip You!

Last night on our weekly #LetsTalkDance Tweetchat, we discussed the topic, “Overcoming Guilt As Dance Artists”. When I asked the question, “What is the one thing you’ve felt most guilty about throughout your dance career?”, many of our dance Tweeps had expressed feelings of guilt for different things in their career. Apparently us dancers, have some serious guilt issues.

@thedancebuzz:  I feel most guilty about spending too much time away from family/husband for dance.

@morphing: I feel guilty abt not taking gr8 care of my body-pushing myself 2 far, eating 2 little/poorly,sleep- 2 little.

@SaintElasticat Guilt about not working hard enough.

My second question was, “How do you overcome those feelings of guilt?”, and the responses were very uplifting and encouraging. Here’s what some of the dance Tweeps had to say:

@mochazina:  Evaluate the legitimacy of the feeling, then take practical steps to address it.

@jordoncloud:  A personal confirmation that Im making the decisions that make the most sense for my life at the moment.

@KarenatashaB: I cant do anything about childhood decisions…Either work harder or realize I am working enough!

@mochazina: If its just in my head, pray. If its a real thing I can change, do it. #SerenityPrayer

@thedancebuzz: Setting priorities and sticking to them… not always easy though.

@kinerenterprise Remind myself of WHY I’m doing what I’m doing. Remind myself that God has me exactly where I’m supposed to be. Remind myself that I deserve to be happy, & that God gave me this passion for dance for a reason.

@Joshua_Legg:  I embrace the choices I’ve made. Good, bad, indiff., theyve gotten me where I am.

@SaintElasticat:  Realize that Im doing the best that I can…..

When asked “What do you do everyday, to keep yourself on track with your goals/values, and guilt-free?” Here’s what some of our Tweeps had to say:

@kinerenterprise Try to avoid “busy work”, and focus on the things that matter the most, & drive me to reach my goals. Make sure I make time for work, AND for play/family/downtime. Balance is key. No balance = LOTS O’ GUILT

@KarenatashaB: I take it one day at a time, assess things & try to make it better the next day. Thats with everything.  I try not to beat myself up. If Im doing that Im not writing, dancing, or working constructively.

@thedancebuzz: Make a list of goals & keep it nearby

@jordoncloud: One foot in front of the other,being productive w work/school, spending time w family friends & boyfriend.

@mochazina: Try to set daily schedules that align with long term goals Ive planned. Im not always faithful tho.

@5six78: Seek out inspiration by listening to music, watching dance, reading quotes, Pinterest.

@SaintElasticat: Meditate, care for my body/mind/spirit, attempt to self-soothe when down, friends, love, have fun, rest, drink WINE.

@drawplease: Without balance there’s no standing on the balls of ur feet & we know how important that is. Balance is definitely key.
I think what matters most is that you understand very clearly, why you’re doing what you do everyday, what your goals are, and make sure that your actions line up with those goals.

It’s also super important to live a balanced life. When you get out of balance, all sorts of negative feelings will pop up, including guilt. Just remember, when guilt creeps up on you, via your own mind, or other people, quickly eliminate those negative thoughts by asking yourself the questions above, and then give yourself a break!

Focus on all of the wonderful things that you have accomplished, and the positive impact that you’ve made on the lives of those around you. Focus on the positive, and recognize how far you’ve come. You can always make changes, and start fresh. Be inspired! You may not be where you want to be, but thank God that you’re not where you used to be!

What guilty feelings have you struggled with in the past? How did you overcome them?

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