Loose black pants and T-shirt flow around his spinning limbs, his baseball cap somehow stays perched on his head through barrel rolls and upside down spins.īoth dancers can dislocate the joints in their arms, allowing them to bend them into unnatural angles. Crane spins across the floor in circular patterns before jumping up to land a few upside down moves on the ceiling. He hangs from the rails by his hands and feet in a spider-like stance, his green tank top falling to reveal stony abs. Each dancer has his own style, they said, and these two seem to enjoy being in the air.ĭavis treats BART’s handrails like gymnastic bars and he’s airborne for most of his performance. The dancers’ impromptu performances are as much contortionist feats as they are dance routines, and their in-your-face moves burst the personal space bubble surrounding BART patrons. Their dance style - an acronym for Taking Up Room on the Floor - originated in Oakland in the early 2000s and gained popularity as it was adopted by Oakland’s “Hyphy” rap movement, an up-tempo style of hip-hop.Ĭrane and Davis are part of a group of TURFers soliciting BART passengers for donations in exchange for a rollicking show. Simpson wrote that the status of street performers rose and fell over time, from the relative affluence of minstrels in the 12th and 13th centuries, who benefited financially and socially from association with their royal patrons, to modern day buskers, often regarded by the public as nuisances and miscreants.Ĭarvel “Velo” Crane and Chris “Carmu” Davis are TURF dancers. Paul Simpson’s thesis, “The History of Street Performance.” But the history of street performing dates back at least as far as the Roman Empire, according to Dr. The word itself dates to the mid-17th century, according to the Oxford Dictionaries, and is derived from French, Italian and Spanish words meaning “seek.” It was originally a nautical term meaning “to cruise,” and later came to mean performing on the move. A few are accomplished performers others can barely carry a tune or bust a move.īusking has a long history. Some are shiftless drifters others are dedicated students. Others travel in packs, roaming the trains and peddling entertainment for a buck. Some are lonely guitarists, their songs forlornly bouncing between station pillars. Weeks of journeys on the trains and stations of the Bay Area Rapid Transit District yielded dozens of encounters with buskers – the impromptu musicians and acrobats who entertain commuters for spare change and handouts.
The Bay Area’s busking scene is as colorful and multifaceted as the Bay Area itself.
For buskers, hurtling trains are a stage preoccupied commuters an audience. They strum, hum and literally bend over backwards to entertain passengers and passersby in BART stations and on trains. VTA / ACE Shuttle Map & Timetables EFFECTIVE 7/2/18Ĩ22 Gray Line – South Sunnyvale (Monday-Friday)Ĩ23 Green Line – North Santa Clara (Monday-Friday)Ĩ24 Orange Line – Mountain View/Palo Alto (Monday-Friday)Ĩ25 Purple Line – West Milpitas(Monday-Friday)Ĩ26 Red Line – North Sunnyvale (Monday-Friday)Ĩ27 Yellow Line – South Santa Clara (Monday-Friday)Ĩ28 Brown Line – North San Jose (Monday-Friday)Ĩ31 Violet Line – West Milpitas (Monday-Friday)Ĭommuters using this station will be met with a large network of dedicated ACE shuttles and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) light rail system ready to get you to work.Īll shuttles are color labeled on the outside of the vehicle.The busking life: An inside look at BART’s impromptu performers.
0 kommentar(er)
