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Street Dance Activism

@streetdanceactivism

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GLOBAL DANCE MEDITATION FOR BLACK LIBERATION // We #EmbodyLiberation

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Dr. Shamell Bell is a mother, educator, cultural strategist, dancer/choreographer, documentary filmmaker, Emmy nominated producer, and visionary leader who holds a Ph.D. in Culture and Performance from the UCLA Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance. She currently serves as the Visionary Escalator for the Debt Collective, our nation’s first debtor’s union co-founded by UCLA faculty member Hannah Appel, where Bell designs imaginative, healing-centered strategies for social impact and advocates for debt-free higher education. As the founder of Street Dance Activism, and the Global Dance Meditation for Black Liberation, Dr. Bell bridges performance, somatics, and organizing to uplift global movements for Black liberation.

She has held teaching appointments at Harvard University, Dartmouth College, Berea College, and across the University of California and California State University systems. Her research and artistic practice center Black street dance forms such as Krumping and Jerkin’ as radical tools for resistance, healing, and the reclamation of public space. An interdisciplinary scholar and documentary filmmaker, Dr. Bell explores embodiment, collective freedom dreaming, and multimedia storytelling as pathways to disrupt oppressive systems and ignite transformation.

Whether in classrooms, on stages, or in the streets, Dr. Bell invites people to move together spiritually, somatically, and politically to heal, imagine, and build liberated worlds.

In our Q&A with Dr. Bell she shares what drew her to UCLA, which professors and courses shaped her creative practice, and what it means to dance for a purpose.

Read the full story at the link in bio.

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On the ground at “Alchemizing our Rage” discussing the importance of healing and breathwork to liberation with @ancestralbreathenergy, @thedebtcollective member @ancestralbreathenergy !!!

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We come together, in a collective street activation, across coasts, to channel our rage into movement and breath. We build an altar on the plaza and are led into movement and song that embody our ancestral technologies. This way, we can process and keep in motion.

In Los Angeles, some of us will split off into procession work for an hour through downtown (including the Metropolitan Detention Center) while others can stay at la plaza to continue to build connections and alchemize our rage.

Bring items for the altar. Bring instruments for the jam.

At 5pm we all reunite at the plaza to transition into the music offering that night that continues until 7pm. 8pm Downtown Curfew is expected so please plan accordingly.

A proud part of:
SUMMER OF RESISTANCE
@summerofresistance

Summer of Resistance. 30 Days. 30 Artists. 30 Days to Push back. Taking over the heart of Downtown Los Angeles, the SOR coalition — composed of a growing network of Worker Unions, Non-Profits & Music + Cultural Workers — is creating a cultural safe space for our outrage.

Check out updates from @shayshotz for NY’s alchemizing rage!

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Culture is the heartbeat of resistance. 🫀

Our Friday at Placita Olvera, will fill the plaza with sound, movement, and collective power. From mariachi to folklórico, street dance to cumbia — we move together. Whether you’re here to dance, learn, or simply hold space, you’re part of the rhythm.

📍 Placita Olvera
🗓️ Friday, June 20

⏰ 12PM – Mariachis y Folklórico en Solidaridad
⏰ 2:30PM – MVMNT Workshop with Contra Tiempo + Street Dance Activism
⏰ 5PM – La Papaya Club DJs
⏰ 6PM – El Santo Golpe

We move, we celebrate, we resist, together.

🧊 #WatchIceMeltIceNoIce
✊🏾 #SummerOfResistance

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What’s Happening in LA Dance?
🎭 Performances & Events 🎭
June 20 - 29

For more information, check out the profiles tagged in each photo 😊

#show #performance #dance #losangeles #concert #thingstodoinla #southerncalifornia #vacation #weekendactivity #danceperformance #danceshow #ladance #danceevent #socaldance #laculture #explorela #ladancecommunity #danceculture #discoverla #laevents

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Join us Friday - June 20 - at Plaza Olvera - @ 2:30pm - our work will be from 2:30-5pm and then 5-7pm the music and movement will continue on the Plaza - we are gathering w @streetdanceactivism @contra_tiempo & @summerofresistance to move breathe, play, improvise, build altars (physical and in spirit), procession and practice our ancestral technologies of liberation. Our bodies are the location of our freedom. #takeupspace #practiceliberation #iceoutofla #peoplepower #summerofresistance

@norma_ovallee @amainary @_jstanley_ @movementartivist @beingme_mari @rubezyo @jgsoulbird @jose2_ac @chuchumbe @sunder_underscore @drshamellbell @streetdanceactivism

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ALCHEMIZING OUR RAGE
A CONTRA-TIEMPO and Street Dance Activism
Cross-Racial Solidarity Event
Friday, June 20th, 2:30-5pm
Olvera Street, Downtown Los Angeles

We come together, in a collective street activation, to channel our rage into movement and breath. We build an altar on the plaza and are led into movement and song that embody our ancestral technologies. This way, we can process and keep in motion.

Some of us will split off into procession work for an hour through downtown (including the Metropolitan Detention Center) while others can stay at la plaza to continue to build connections and alchemize our rage.

Bring items for the altar. Bring instruments for the jam.

At 5pm we all reunite at the plaza to transition into the music offering that night that continues until 7pm. 8pm Downtown Curfew is expected so please plan accordingly.

A proud part of:
SUMMER OF RESISTANCE
@summerofresistance

Summer of Resistance. 30 Days. 30 Artists. 30 Days to Push back. Taking over the heart of Downtown Los Angeles, the SOR coalition — composed of a growing network of Worker Unions, Non-Profits & Music + Cultural Workers — is creating a cultural safe space for our outrage.

@contra_tiempo
@thedebtcollective
@streetdanceactivism

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Rennie Harris Vault: Flash Back! @ladiesofhiphop @streetdanceactivism @versastylela @popinpete @mrwigglesrsc @mrdancechampion @mrglytch @urbanmovementarts @_maggiewaller_ @ang.d.anderson @harveen101 @jiptheruler @fynessmason @missfunk79 @tonyvmcgregor @joni.c.helton @boogharris @g213gabriel @genesiscastaneda @rhpm.1992

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Hanging with these beautiful Sistars after pouring ritual in honor of Bell Hooks and all of our ancestors who gave so much in their living.. often forgetting to balance to take time to breathe to rest… we honor you by remembering to self care while we create … caregive.. and transform the world around us… We had just completed the powerful retreat focused on self care the Bell Hooks Symposium poured at the center in Berea Kentucky… the lovely and ever vigilant @shamellbell bought us all together with support from the team at The Bell Hooks Center and Berea College… the beautiful beings in this pic are just a handful of folks gathered… I poured an Embodied Breath workshop… popped into many of the facilitators offerings.. all shared profound gifts and asked hard questions… 🥰… had the joy of meeting in person @adriennemareebrown sharing share dances and the joys of writing… met in person the lovely members of @streetdanceactivism it truly felt like a homecoming… after 4 years of exchanges online!!! To me in person a true gift!… the final joy 🤩 if that wasn’t enough was to share a sound bath jam where @sacredsoundsbydevon and myself played our collection of healing instruments including our crystal sound bowls my metal singing bowl I call Cosmic Wonder… bamboo chimes.. rain disk.. ocean drums… and my Shaman drum … just lovely full complete!!! Thanks 🙏🏾 @swinmars who helped with dad on the long and beautiful trek through Mississippi … Tennessee.. and Kentucky… beautiful drive! … lovely adventure of art family and healing! Joy!!!

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“I want to learn lessons through ease and flow and RADICAL JOY…in that process of grief, there is a CHOICE to SHIFT our perspective to that which we cannot see but we know is tangible…if we MOVE toward it.
Dr. Shamell Bell @shamellbell of Street Dance Activism @streetdanceactivism

As we near the close of Black History and Black Futures Month, it is important to circle back to Juneteenth 2021 when our friends and co-conspirators danced with a radical joy documenting the work of visionary instigator, Dr. Shamell Bell, on the streets of South Central, Los Angeles, CA for the New York Times.

How are you working towards joy? How are you working towards shifting your perspective?

#bbmoves #StreetDanceActivism #radicaljoy #juneteenth #BlackHistoryMonth #BlackFutures #BlackJoy #choice #shift #move #dance #streetdance #AllAboutLove #FreedomDreams #RobinDGKelly

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Beyond grateful!!! Thank you @yameansupreme @ninaflagg_dance @usckaufman @uscvandv @tiffany_yw_bong @moncelldurden @bettyrox @chelostudio @chevonnalmft @call_loveresponse @sacredsoundsbydevon @streetdanceactivism @lomelinandrea @adisah.grimes @officialkrucial @piyodaneva Kim and everyone that came through to dream together and make this night unforgettable!

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Juneteenth.

We have been very fortunate to have a history of commemorating #Juneteenth through performance for as long as #bbmoves has existed, before it was a national holiday or before it was mainstream.

We are OVERJOYED to continue this history and practice as we debut at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center in MidCity Los Angeles, managed by @ebonyrep.

Tonight is the night!!!

There are a few tickets left. Will you join us on this liberation journey?!

LINK IN BIO

#bbmoves #Black #Queer #dance #LosAngeles #Theater #Liberation #Juneteenth #Jazz #BiddyMason #Sugar #grateful

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