Gather Round: Street and Club Dance Battles

Works & Process comes to Manhattan West for Gather Round: Street and Club Dance Battles. Performances take place on Wednesdays in September from 4:30-7pm and are free to attend.

On the heels of break dancing’s debut at the 2024 Olympics, Works & Process brings its captivating dance and music series originally commissioned and performed in the Guggenheim Museum’s rotunda to the Manhattan West Plaza event circle. See top street and club dancers battle for glory and prizes!

Join us for happy hour after the event! Celebrate each week’s performance with a special offer on two signature drinks at midnight by navarro’s created especially for Gather Round, as well as other happy hour items.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:

+ 9.4 | 4:30PM
Behind The Groove: CeleBreak Outside! with Kwikstep and Rokafella
Since 2009, hip-hop legends Kwikstep and Rokafella have curated Behind the Groove, a party that invites the break-dancing community to freestyle to classic dance music, while providing a space for them to jump into the dance cipher and show the skills they’ve honed. Regularly held at the Nuyorican Poets Café and now at Brooklyn’s Bogart House, this outdoor version will include four break dancing teams, battling it out. Move to the sounds of DJ KS360 and DJ DP One, emceed by Rokafella. Crews battling will be Dynamic Rockers, Modd Squad, Street Masters Crew, and X-Fénz.

+ 9.11 | 4:30PM
Gather Round Kiki Ball
The community and competitive spirit of Ballroom Culture may be most known from the film Paris is Burning, this summer’s hit musical Cats: The Jellicle Ball, or the TV series Pose and Legendary. Join us in celebrating LGBTQ pride and the skills and style that have made Ballroom the cultural force it is today at the Gather Round Kiki Ball! Featuring commentator Snookie Juicy West, DJ Byrell The Great, and legendary judges Omari “Oricci” Wiles, Courtney “Balenciaga” Washington and more. Categories for this demo ball will be Runway, Face, and Vogue, featuring some of NYC’s best ball walkers. Gather Round Kiki Ball is organized by Hype Kitty.

+ 9.18 | 4:30PM
Fabulous Waacking Festival Fall Edition with Princess Lockerooo
Distinguishable by its rotational arm movements, posing, and emphasis on expressiveness, Waacking brings together the glitz and glamour of Hollywood films, the vibrant energy of disco, and the colorful underground gay club culture of the ‘70s. Get ready to be blown away in an event organized by Princess Lockerooo, lauded by The New York Times as the “Queen of Waacking,” with high-energy performances, dazzling costumes, theatrical choreography honoring the roots and influences of Waacking, and soundtrack by DJ Jaze-Art Remote. Top Waackers, go head-to-head in an epic showdown that'll leave you speechless. After the show and battle, get your disco fix, twirl, and let loose—once the winner is crowned, we dance! We’ll celebrate the incredible diversity that makes our city and the world of Waacking so special. The costume theme, "Flaunt your Cultural," invites participants and the audience to showcase their unique backgrounds and stories through their attire. Show us your cultural pride and dance the night away in style!

+ 9.25 | 4:30PM
Manhattan West Beatbox Battle with The Beatbox House
See NYC’s top beatboxers go head-to-head in preparation for the 2024 USA Beatbox Championships in Pittsburgh, PA. The Beatbox House’s monthly battle arrives at Manhattan West on the heels of the music group’s world tour with the US State Department’s American Music Abroad program. Kenny Urban, Gene Shinozaki, Neil Meadows (aka NaPoM), Amit Bhowmick, and Chris Celiz make up The Beatbox House, a collective that refined their craft while living together in Bed-Study, Brooklyn. From 2015-2018, they competed in Europe and won several international beatboxing championships, putting America back on the beatbox map, bringing it full circle from its roots in the Bronx!

First place prizes each week include products and services from some of Manhattan West’s sought-after retailers, including Reset by Therabody and Silver Mirror.

ABOUT WORKS & PROCESS:
Championing performing artists and their creative process from studio to stage, Works & Process features artists from the world’s largest organizations and amplifies underrecognized performing arts cultures. Works & Process commissions, provide longitudinal and fully-funded LaunchPAD creative residencies, and present programs that illuminate artistic process at the Guggenheim Museum, Lincoln Center, and the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, with the Jerome Robbins Dance Division. Each summer, Works & Process curates and presents free dance programs with City Parks Foundation’s SummerStage and NYC Parks. Learn more HERE.