Dancers Take to Oakland Streets For New Web Series: "Missed Kinections"

Inspired by Richard Linklater’s Waking Life scene in which two strangers bump into each other and decide to accept what D.H. Lawrence called “the confrontation between their souls,” Kai Sosceles & Tamara Sharp take to the streets of Oakland in Cross My Heart, the first part of their new dance series “Missed Kinections,” to answer one simple question: What if?

“Here’s your change. Paper or Plastic? You want ketchup with that? I don’t want a straw, I want real human moments. I want to see you. I want you to see me. I don’t want to give that up.” – Richard Linklater, Writer/Director

Cross My Heart explores the possibility of a Swing dancer and a Hip Hop dancer meeting in the street and connecting the most powerful aspects of each of their dance styles to make something that would have otherwise never have happened if they had simply kept walking like two strangers who make eyes too often do.

This will be the first in a multi-part series where Tamara, Kai and friends will be exploring what might happen during the every day scenarios if people took a chance on being bold, offering a hand and making a connection instead of trying their hardest to ignore everyone around them.

While this video was made after taking a single Charleston workshop together, Kai and Tamara have been dancing for a combined total of over 30 years. They’ve taught partner dance together at the Vulcan Lofts in Oakland and abroad as “All The Dance.” They have been releasing tutorial and featured video content to their communities for over a decade as well as performing and teaching dance throughout the music festival circuit for just as long alongside legends like Aesop Rock, Chali 2na (of Jurassic 5) and STS9.

NOTE: This video link will be made embeddable on Aug 15th. With our colleagues Ian Westwood and Philip Chbeeb (of SYTYCD/ABDC notoriety) recently getting millions of views on their story-focused dance clips, we’re expecting similar outcomes as it seems the market is finally ready and excited about dance and storytelling in America and abroad. Tamara and Kai are available for comment and interview upon request to [email protected]

Contact:
Kai Sosceles
Company: FineGrainFilm
Address: 4401 San Leandro St., Oakland, CA 94601
Email: [email protected]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpUaKBADXlQ