“HipHip ChinChin” by Club de Belugas
5songpjct: I actually had never heard the first three songs on your list before you sent them to me. Thank you for introducing me to some new music. I have to admit I was dancing at my desk to “HipHip ChinChin” listening to it that first time. One of the things I love about music is how transportive it is. Your theme of your list is songs that reflect different times in your life. When you hear your first song what comes to mind?
Vanessa: Since I was early enough to remember dance has always been my happy place. Dance is my big time medicine. I feel the need to dance in my soul.
5songprjct: Are your family members big dancers?
Vanessa: No! (This was pretty emphatic) I guess Amanda is the only one. I have been dancing ever since I was little. My family pretty much expects a random dance performance from me when they see me.
5songprjct: What made you choose “HipHip ChinChin” for one of your five songs?
Vanessa: I saw two people perform to this song and immediately added the song to my playlist. The opening line of the song really resonates with me, and is how I feel about dance, but also about the dance community in Los Angeles.
The subject for tonight’s lecture is rhythm (the beat)
the driving force that holds our lives together
without rhythm your heart wouldn’t be
I love dancing together with people from all different walks of life, from different places in the world, different ethnicities, ages, all moving together because of their love of dance.
5songprjct: I know you were involved in Flash Mobs, is this the community you are talking about?
Vanessa: Yes, at first, but also through dance workshops and groups in the area. I found more of a home and built close friendships with people through these opportunities to dance.
We are waiting outside for our table at Guelaguetza in the Little Oaxaca portion of Koreatown, Los Angeles. As we start talking about “HipHip ChinChin,” a mother hands her cell phone to her daughter, maybe 5 or 6 years old, so she can pick a song, she starts to dance.
5songprjct: Do you remember the style of dance for the performance to “HipHip ChinChin”?
Vanessa: Ballroom. It made me wish that I could ballroom dance. I like creating stories around the songs, choreographing dances to songs, or matching types of dance to songs I hear on the radio.
5songproject: I think one of the interesting things that has happened since shows like “Dancing with the Stars,” you see songs that don’t traditionally belong on the ballroom floor being danced to. It is interesting that people can hear a current songs and apply these older dances to it.
Vanessa: Also “So You Think You Can Dance.”