Jeremy Manson – an uncommon juggler

Jeremy “Saymo Saymo” Manson and his cigar boxes are a familiar sight in D.C. He’s a regular at the drum circle in Malcolm X Park every Sunday – practicing, honing and performing his art. He also performs at clubs and venues on H street, on the Metro, at festivals throughout the year, and has even juggled on a Pepco commercial.

How a diverse community harnesses its skills to support Black Lives Matter

All performers have been saddened and sidelined by the pandemic. But as the Black Lives Matter movement grew, the performers from Sunset & Chill saw an opportunity to use their skills to create something that spoke in support of Black Lives Matter. They decided that their statement should take the form of a dance video, using their language of movement to help showcase diversity and counter toxic culture.

Dance as Protest, on Black Lives Matter Plaza

Native Washingtonians Airro, L, Loso and Xanyy have been at Black Lives Matter Plaza from the beginning of the protests. Immediately following the murder of George Floyd when the crowds were gathering day and night and tensions and anger were very high, the group decided that they wanted to be a voice too, but a voice through dance, a voice that would give people pause for a moment or longer, a voice to bring a bit of a balance to the anger.

Missing the sounds of Batala

D.C. is eerily quiet these days, and one of the sounds we miss the most is the vibrant drumming of Batala, heard at almost all D.C. festivals, marches, and parades. Batala’s mission is “to empower women through drumming and expose people to Brazil’s dynamic Afro­ Bahian culture and Samba ­Reggae music.” It’s a non-profit organization… Continue reading

Capturing space and time: The art of Matthew Parker

For a city that is photographed millions of times a year by over a million different photographers, nothing captures the District as uniquely as the photography of Matthew Parker. With special attention paid to space and time, Matthew is able to create amazing collages of the city, its monuments, events and neighborhoods. Matthew begins each… Continue reading

D.C. goes to Burning Man!

We love to watch the creative artistry of fire performers, so we’re very excited that two local groups were selected for the Burning Man Fire Conclave coming up next week. Congratulations to Pyroxotic and Revolutionary Motion! See the auditions that got them into Burning Man: Revolutionary Motion: Pyroxotic’s video on YouTube Pyroxotic up close: Revolutionary… Continue reading