Shake the Dust
Despite its genesis in the Bronx, Hip-Hop has become a universal language spoken across all cultures. Shake The Dust celebrates this global unity by chronicling three different break dance crews in the slums of Uganda, Yemen and Cambodia where Hip-Hop serves as a saving grace from the drugs, depression and poverty grasping youth. Includes music from Executive Producer Nas and Oscar-winning artist Common.
""Shake the Dust is less of a dance film than a social issues documentary showing how break-dancing is used as a tool for self-expression and self-empowerment in poor communities throughout the world...Recommended." - EMRO
This film is highly recommended for dance and hip-hop organizations, as well as high school and university classes in African Studies, Black Studies, Globalization, Musicology, Non-profit Studies, and Sociology.
Cast
- DJ Fresh
- Don Popo
- Karim Lokwa
- KK
- " "Shake the Dust" is an... engaging ode to joy, the kind that feels special because it's hard-earned and communal, and it displaces adversity, however briefly."
- "Shake the Dust is at times stunning to look at. Sjöberg has entered these worlds and imbued the dance sequences with as much dynamism and vitality as a Step Up film (in the best sense possible)"
- "Produced by rapper Nas, this lovingly shot documentary is a compelling and poignant look at the power of breaking."
- "Hip-hop culture has infiltrated much of the world, but Adam Sjoberg's documentary takes you to places where you wouldn't necessarily expect it to flourish. Documenting the breakdancing and hip-hop scenes in such disparate locales as Uganda, Cambodia, Yemen and Colombia, Shake the Dust provides ample evidence of it being a universal language. ...the abundant energy and acrobatic prowess displayed by the street kids is as inspiring as it is infectious."
- "The film's ultimate beauty lies beyond the individual victories of the faces on the screen, and instead in its success in highlighting the shared cultural experiences of these disparate youth through hip-hop."
Gallery
Awards & Recognition
Seattle Int'l. FIlm Festival
San Francisco Dance Film Festival
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