Sekou Heru: House Dance is a Divine Language #31

Beyond the steps and physicality, Sekou believes that House Dance is a divine language. In this episode, Sekou Heru shares his point of view and life experiences from within the culture of house music and house dance. We talked about how it's not just a style, but a divine language and what it means to be chosen by it. We discussed the crossroads of physicality, spirituality, music, and how the culture has shaped his worldviews. Tony Sekou Heru Williams is from Trenton, New Jersey. His unique dance style fuses an array of forms from Hip-Hop, House, martial arts and even fitness training. He's also part of Dance Fusion - world famous House Dance collective from New York City. In 1993, Sekou started studying Capoeira Angola with Mestre Joa Grande at the Capoeira Academy in NYC. He went on to fuse his breaking and modern dance styles with hip hop and house dance. Sekou has worked with Gwen Guthrey, toured with Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, and can be seen in videos with Aretha Franklin, MC Lyte, Clubland, Pet Shop Boys, Foxy Brown, and Jay Z. Sekou was a featured dancer in the movie Marcy X with Damon Wayans, can be seen in the dance scenes on Spike Lee’s The 25th Hour, and seen in Brown Sugar starring Taye Diggs and Sanna Lathan. He has toured in Germany with German rapper Tony Cottura, and has traveled several times to Japan for the annual premier Dance Delight event as a guest judge and featured dancer with the group Dance Fusion, of which he is a founding member. He was a part of the opening act for Cece Peniston’s Japan tour, and also opened for Cool C's Let me clear my throat in his Japan performance. He was featured in Japan’s "woofin" magazine as one of NYC’s top dancers. Sekou toured the USA with Fred Ho and The Afro Asian Ensemble in the Martial Art stage show Voice of the Dragon. In 2005 Sekou choreographed the Dance Dance video for Fall Out Boy that went #1 in the country and won a Best Video Award at the MTV VMAs. Follow Sekou -------------------   / sekouheru   Get Enculturated! --------------------------------------------- FB:   / enculturationpodcast   IG:   / enculturationpodcast   HP: http://www.enculturationpodcast.com TT:   / enculturationpodcast   Time Stamps --------------------- 00:00 - Introduction 00:02:04 - What Kept You Into House 00:03:15 - How did the Culture Start 00:05:33 - Views on Dance 00:09:09 - How Does Dance Affects Your Belief? 00:17:10 - What are the 5 non-negotiable things in dance culture 00:19:02 - Music is Instruction Manual 00:23:47 - How did House Music spread out? 00:29:30 - Music is King 00:37:12 - How Do You Prepare A Class 00:53:01 - Changes In My Body 01:02:37 - Fitness Methods 01:13:23 - What do you eat to balance your diet? 01:19:43 - Spiderman 01:26:41 - Dance Fusion 01:29:13 - Key Moments in the Trip 01:34:33 - Who is Marjory Smarth? 01:44:16 - New & Old Generation: Key Differences