Detroit vs. Zimbabwe, DJ battle at N’Namdi @ Knight Arts Blog
Detroit’s 43rd annual Noel Night enjoyed some added international flavor this past weekend thanks to a long-form dance party and DJ battle at the N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art, a two-time Knight Arts Challenge winner. Facilitated in collaboration with Zimbabwean Cultural Centre of Detroit, the event was part of the N’Namdi Center’s continuing interaction with the landlocked African country. Its main gallery is currently hosting “Four Contemporary Artists from Zimbabwe”–all part of gallerist George N’Namdi’s vision of presenting high-caliber art with a focus on international and local communities of color.
For Noel Night, there was a full plate of festivities to complement the excellent work on display. The night began with a lecture by Haleem “Stringz” Rasul, head of the dance crew Hardcore Detroit, on the genesis of the local dance form known as the jit. Rasul and his crew are among the primary modern-day practitioners of the jit, and they demonstrated the way that it merges fast footwork into a kind of smoothed out breakdancing.