SPICE! Dances of the African and Arab Diaspora

GCP Media — Mon, 01 Oct 2018 07:45:00 -0700

This time the guys talk with Denetta Uzzell(who dances under the name Nafiah) and Carol The Belly Dancer, about the Tacoma event SPICE! Carol created SPICE! in 2017. SPICE! is a powerful, exciting showcase of dance styles from around the world with origins in the African and Arab diaspora, including North African and Middle Eastern folkloric, Afro-Latin, African-American, and Afro-Caribbean genres. Sometimes it’s glitzy, sometimes abrasive. Sometimes it’s brooding, sometimes ecstatic. Sometimes it’s sexy, always passionate. Sometimes political, but always powerful. Proceeds from the event will go to the SPICE world class artists and Tacoma Urban Performing Arts Center (T.U.P.A.C), a 501(c)3 that offers classical ballet and multicultural dance instruction for children and teens ages 6-18. The T.U.P.A.C mission is to provide their most deserving racially and socioeconomically diverse youth with world class opportunities to achieve Artistic Excellence in the performing arts. The all age’s event is on Saturday, October 6, 2018, at the Landmark Convention Center in Tacoma. Doors open at 6:30 pm with a cocktail hour and a 7:30 pm show. General Admission is $30 in advance or $35 at the door. There is also balcony and VIP seating available. You can purchase tickets at spicetacoma.bpt.me.

2:16 – The show kicks off with discussion on the GCP guys recording at the Union Club, info on how fans that are wanting to download older episodes can do so, and Carol explains what Spice is and the 15+ different styles of dance that will be showcased at the event. Carol explains that the benefit show is to raise funds for the nonprofit T.U.P.A.C, how T.U.P.A.C is modeled off the Dance Theater of Harlem, and Denetta talks about the two different types of dance she’ll be performing at the event.

9:43 – Carol explains the performance piece she’ll be doing, when she got started, and how hip-hop is pulling some of it’s current styles from classic styles of the past. Carol explains how SPICE celebrates the roots of each of the dances, it’s past corruption from western culture, and Scott talks about how one of his favorite parts of Tacoma is the diversity in the area.

20:08 – Justin touches on how the event is an all ages event, Carol talks on the history of twerking, the different styles of dance it came from, and the new ‘flossing’ dance style. They talk on how new dances spread quickly with globalization, if it’s good to have information spread so quickly with technology today, how important it is for people to get involved with the community, and the need for kids to get involved in things like dance.

33:37 – Carol talks about the type of dance classes T.U.P.A.C offer to adults, dabke dance style, rhythmic tap that is offered at Northwest Tap connection in Seattle, how cross cultures in the past created different types of dance throughout history, and how they came up with the idea of the show. Justin shares info on where people can find more info and buy tickets online.

Thanks Denetta and Carol for joining the guys to talk about SPICE! and for the amazing work you do to raise money for T.U.P.A.C!

Special Guests: Carol the Belly Dancer and Denetta.

Puzzle and Game Designer - Mike Selinker

GCP Media — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 10:45:00 -0700

This time the guys sit down with Mike Selinker. Mike Selinker is the president and chief creative officer of Lone Shark Games. He's the co-creator of the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, Lords of Vegas, Unspeakable Words, and many other games, as well as the author of the books Puzzlecraft, The Kobold Guide to Board Game Design, and the interactive puzzle novel The Maze of Games. While at Wizards, he helped design and develop games like Betrayal at House on the Hill, Risk Godstorm, and Axis & Allies, and was a creative director on 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons. He can be found onstage at events like w00tstock, manipulating the masses with ARGs like the Cards Against Humanity holiday game, at @mikeselinker, and occasionally at Brogans shop, Wizards Keep Games.

This episode was recorded at Wizards Keep Games in Renton and kicks off with discussion about the shops game nights and age of people that come in. Mike then discusses his concern with Brogans ‘Reading Rainbow’ shirt and Jeff’s shirt collection. Brogan discusses meeting Mike for the first time, Mike talks about the numerous games he’s created over the past 30 years, and his history in the in the gaming industry. Talk then goes to his augmented video games.

16:04 – They discuss how convenient it would be to have a direct USB port linked to your brain to download data automatically and quickly goes back to augmented games. Mike talks about working with places like Amazon and building puzzles that their team works together to solve. He tells them of a latest apps they’ve developed like Apocrypha ℵ1 Companion App that updates the game in real-time, responding to the current news going on around the world and changes the users experience base on what’s happening in the news.

27:38 – Talk then goes to Mike designing puzzles, one of his recent ones he did for the Mox Boarding House charity. He talks about the huge competition during the charity event and the training that goes on prior to game day. He then dives into previously running Pax Dev, the huge game designer group in Seattle that support each other, and his career in Chicago before moving back to Seattle.

46:12 – The show winds down with Mike telling the guys the number of conventions he goes to each year and what it feels like for him to see a group of people that are playing the games he made. He discusses getting approached with new ideas for games, the importance of helping people that approach him about it, and him helping game designer Jack Emmert get his career started.

Many thanks to Mike for hanging out with the guys and the great conversation!!!

Special Guest: Mike Selinker.

The Grit City Podcast - Episodes Tagged with “Grit”

SPICE! Dances of the African and Arab Diaspora

Puzzle and Game Designer - Mike Selinker