Hope everyone had a great holiday season!  T21 Updates coming soon.

"Uncommon Ground" postponed till future T21 Celebrations.

THE T21 Project KICKS OFF with Lil Buck and Xcercist!

Update:  The May 31st kickoff of our huge T21 Project was a great success!  We are still recuperating from the amazing Workshop, our first T21 Film shoot with Lil Buck and the May 31st live preview of T21 Material in the works.   We are still putting the finishing touches on our live stage show "Uncommon Ground" which will go up on June 27th here in Tulsa!!! (Tickets go on sale soon!!!)

Stay Tuned over the coming days and weeks for lots of pics and vids from the events of last weekend & more exciting info about the coming June 27th Show!

XCERCIST joins the T21 Workshop Teaching Team! Get your Tickets Today!!!

LoJoWERKz WELCOMES XCERCIST TO THE T21 WORKSHOP TEACHING TEAM!!!

One of the most emotionally powerful performers in the Street Dance world, Hampton Xcercist Williams, will be joining Charles LilBuck Riley for our first T21 Workshop on May 31st! YES! $40 gets you all 3 classes, Q&A session and workshop cypher…plus a free ticket to our new show "Uncommon Ground" premiering June 27! (Hurry! There is limited space. Slots are disappearing and the 20% discount ends this Sat!)

Xcercist is a Dallas-based dancer who rose to international fame through his appearances on "So You Think You Can Dance" seasons 9 & 10. He will be sharing some techniques to help dancers tap into the emotional, theatrical/dramatic side of their performances.

Xcercist, along with Lil Buck, will lend his skills to the free preview of our new musical "Uncommon Ground" which will be held that same evening (May 31st) at Guthrie Green as part of Oilhouse's 1921: Tulsa Race Riot Performing Arts Showcase. The whole T21 crew will take the stage at 7:15!! Free to the Public!

Click the poster (above) for full details & immediate registration!  Or click this link:

OFFICIAL T21 DANCE WORKSHOP ANNOUNCEMENT & VID!

ORDER BEFORE MEMORIAL DAY & SAVE 20%!  

$40 gets you 3 Classes, Q&A with the teaching artists, Workshop Cypher and a Free Ticket to "Uncommon Ground" the T21 Launch Show (June 27th) 

LoJoWERKz and EduRec PRESENT

THE FIRST T21 DANCE WORKSHOP - LIL BUCK!   

We are also thrilled to announce our second teacher,

HAMPTON "XCERCIST" WILLIAMS!

This is your chance to learn from two of the most expressive,

uniquely skilled dancers in the game today!!

CLICK ON THE POSTER BELOW FOR FULL WORKSHOP DETAILS

WORKSHOP BACKSTORY:

Q - SO WHAT DOES THE TULSA RACE RIOT OF 1921 HAVE TO DO WITH STREET DANCE????
A - About as much as Memphis Jookin has to do with Classical Ballet.  
Which is to say, from the LoJoWerkz point of view, EVERYTHING!!!

When we first saw Charles "Lil Buck" Riley dance in early 2011, the artistic kinship was immediate! We have spent nearly two decades developing a unique "old meets new" creative language, combining Street culture with older genres of art, so seeing what Buck and Yo-Yo Ma were doing in the "swan" piece was kinda like walking into a room full of chattering people and hearing someone speak your own rare, native language…and not small talk, but telling a deeply engaging story about the little-known history of your home town. Yeah… it was that kind of moment.   Naturally we immediately gravitated towards him, gave him a quick phone call letting him know we would love for our creative paths to cross at some point. He was still relatively unknown at the time but we remained close observers and supporters of each step he took.  And before we knew it BAM! his rocket took off, and to this day it's still rising!  So when it came time to select the first Street Dance artist we wanted to work with in our T21 series of projects, Buck was already in the #1 slot.    

We were just launching this little idea for a project, on a shoestring budget, with many odds against us.  With the stellar career growth Lil Buck had experienced since we first talked with him about a collabo, we assumed we would not be able to compete with the international organizations lined up waiting to book him.  It is a ringing testament to his integrity and heart that he was not only open to the idea, he made us feel like our project was just as important to him as his other bookings. (for some context, at the time he was fitting us in his schedule somewhere around his appearance in the Oscar-winning film "Her,"  opening New York City Ballet's current season as the lead in a new work, and in some hush hush talks with Spike Lee about a new project.)  So we feel that the kinship we're feeling runs both ways.  We can't wait to spend a few days with Charles sharing his skills and presence with our Tulsa family and letting him experience some of Tulsa's rich history as well.

In short, Lil Buck was the only dancer we felt could help us properly kick off T21…and we got him!  Aaaand, let the magic begin!!!

(Big shout-outs to the incredibly foresighted, art-hearted Heather Watts and Damian Woetzel for formally ushering Lil Buck into the world of "High Art!"  Several generations are now richer because of this single decision! Deep bow to you both.) 

WANNA KNOW MORE?
Most people don't come to social media to read anything longer than a coupla sentences, but if you've read this far and you're still curious, here's some deeper history that will explain the roots of T21 and why Lil Buck is the perfect person to kick off the T21 series of projects.

Those who are familiar with the work we've written and produced over the past 18 years know that it is all built on one concept, combining old and new.  The successful creative partnership Jerome and I have experienced is further evidence of this "founding principle."  When we met in the early 90s it appeared that we were from two entirely different worlds, but it did not take long at all to realize that we both shared an odd, but similar root system.  We were both children of the Hip Hop generation and both had a deep affinity for the golden age of movie musicals.  We rarely met others with this same odd balance of cultural filters so it was like meeting a long lost brother.  After producing several projects we began developing the distinct flavor of our creative language and over the years, our creative "style" became second nature.  It seems to have been our native language from birth & now, after nearly two decades of creating work, we speak that LoJoWerkz "old meets new" dialect in near perfect unison.

The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 is another, not dissimilar, foundation upon which LoJoWerkz has been built. The blood-red threads of Tulsa's racially explosive history may seem barely susceptible in modern-day Tulsa, but these threads are inextricably woven into the fabric of our city.  Similarly, the Riot history was the first subject we felt compelled to deal with at the beginning of our career.  As individuals who spent their lives flowing back and forth between the rarely-intersecting worlds of White and Black culture, and as a creative team who spent equal time in the world of Hip Hop and Musical Theatre, we had a unique understanding of tensions that exist when someone attempts to walk on uncommon ground…and the high level of discomfort some people still have when it comes to mixing cultures.   More than just a convenient topic, or an artistic gimmick, the underlying issues of the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 are felt more deeply than we can express.  Maybe this is why we continually feel compelled to revisit these topics when we are creating new work.  It is, in essence, the reason we've established the T21 Project, as a specific collection of work deeply rooted in these topics.

May 31st is the anniversary of the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921.  We feel honored to have the opportunity to plant some seeds of unity we hope will continue to bear fruit in the years to come!

WELCOME LIL BUCK to the T21 FAMILY!!! Our First T21 Visiting Artist

We are thrilled to announce our first T21 Visiting Artist!  LIL BUCK!!!

Charles "Lil Buck" Riley is one of the most in-demand Street Dance artists in the Industry right now & we are mad honored that he has chosen to come to Tulsa on this incredibly important day in Tulsa's history,  (The anniversary of the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921) to help us kick off our first annual T21 Project.  "T21" is the blanket name we have given for all the events we will be undertaking in the coming years that are based on Tulsa's colorful and difficult history in 1921.  Lil Buck will be conducting the first T21 Dance Workshop on the morning of May 31st, bringing us a healthy dose of Memphis Jookin' while he absorbs some of our Tulsa culture!  He will be the featured performer in our first T21 Short film entitled "HotFoot" (a 2015 release) which we'll begin shooting while he's in town.  And he will also join our T21 "Uncommon Ground" cast for a live performance on the evening of May 31st!

This brother burst onto the international scene about 3 years ago performing "The Dying Swan" with top-selling Classical recording artist of all time, Yo-Yo Ma.  From there its been a whirlwind of one high profile gig after another, from Janelle Monae to Madonna's record-breaking MDNA Tour, to Cirque du Soliel's hit Vegas Show "Michael Jackson One" where he wowed audiences and critics for months, originating the role of Michael in his prime.  He has also become a highly regarded figure in the world of Dance for the Concert Stage. Winning a coveted Bessie award last year for his solo NYC show directed by Damien Woetzel.  In fact, only days before coming to Tulsa to join our T21 family, he make his debut with the NYC Ballet at Lincoln Center as the featured performer in the world premiere of a new work of contemporary choreography by Street Artist JR entitled Les Bosquets, with music by Woodkid.   Where do you go after premiering at Lincoln Center?  LoJoWerkz of course, hahaha!  (We love this brother's down-to-earth attitude that allows him to freely travel between all these varied worlds of dance performance!)

But who wants to READ about a dancer?  Take a LOOK!!!   CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW

LOTS HAPPENING!!!!

Things are moving so fast around here, we only have time to give you some quick bullet points:

- THE T21 LAUNCH SHOW (Now titled "Uncommon Ground") will not only be a showstopping collection of performances from some amazing dancers, poets, emcees, & vocalists, it will also feature previews of the T21 Film Projects in production: "DiG" and "HotFoot" (both video footage and live production numbers we're preparing for this show) --- AND, in the latest creative twist, the fact that some brilliant actors showed up to audition has resulted in a rapid placement of the LoJo noses firmly to the proverbial grindstone! We have undertaken the task of writing a comprehensive narrative structure that will weave ALL these diverse elements into a very unique, very timely, very Tulsan storyline!   This should prove to be one of our most innovative and entertaining shows to date!

- "UNCOMMON GROUND" rehearsals begin this weekend!  We feel the excitement in the air!!!

- We have had some AMAZING additions to the UNCOMMON GROUND CAST!  We'll announce the full cast soon!

- The Fundraising has begun.  Looks like we'll have some SPONSORS to announce very soon.  Donation percs and a tot board will be posted soon!

- The long buzzed-about announcement of the first T21 GUEST ARTIST will happen very soon!  And what an artist!!!!!!

- The first T21 DANCE WORKSHOP (which will take place on the morning of May 31st, with the "Uncommon Ground"show jumping off that evening) is gonna be BIG.  One of the most in-demand Street Dance masters is coming to Tulsa to kick off T21 with us!

 - PRE-SALE of WORKSHOP TICKETS and "UNCOMMON GROUND" TICKETS will begin Soon!