For the eleventh consecutive season, the North Flatbush Avenue Business Improvement District (BID) @northflatbushbk teams up with Make Music New York and Porch Stomp! to bring you another exciting year of music and dancing to celebrate community and the winter solstice.
During Flatfoot Flatbush, dancers, fiddlers and pickers parade down the sidewalks of the ever-busy Flatbush Avenue in Park Slope/ Prospect Heights (Dean Street to Sterling Place) playing old-time tunes featuring stringed instruments while flatfooting, a form of percussive dancing from Appalachia. The day begins with a warm up and quick flatfooting workshop hosted by Megan Downes (City Stompers), which will take place at 2:00pm. Immediately following, the flatfooting parade will kick off and traverse Flatbush Avenue stopping along the way at local businesses to bring holiday cheer (starting location and route to be shared in weeks to come) The parade will finish at the 6th Avenue Triangle (intersection of Flatbush, 6th, and St Marks Avenues), with percussive dance performances of multiple cultures, including a rendition of the mystical Abbots Bromley Horn Dance by Ring o'Bells Morris and Half Moon Sword, a longsword dance from Northern England traditionally done on the shortest day to mark the birth of a new year, and participatory group dances led by Brooklyn Contra and the City Stompers.
Starting at 5:30pm, the fun continues at an indoor after-party at Lips@333 (333 Flatbush Avenue) a new weekday co-working lounge collaboration between 333 Lounge and Lips Cafe, featuring more music and dance, and an open music jam lead by the Flatfoot Flatbush Band. A special performance by Brooklyn-based steppers to showcase a percussive, highly-energetic art form first developed through the song and dance rituals performed by African-American fraternities and sororities. In stepping, the body becomes an instrument, using footsteps, claps and spoken word to produce complex poly-rhythms. The after party doubles as the North Flatbush Avenue BID member holiday party, and will bring together businesses and neighbors in the district to share in holiday cheer.
Guitar, mandolin, fiddle, banjo players and other stringed instrumentalists are encouraged to join the Flatfoot Flatbush String Band! To join, just email mmnyporchstomp@gmail.com no later than December 18th to obtain music scores and detailed instructions. Dancers and boosters are welcome to simply stroll on up!
Are you a dancer, instructor or troupe leader that represents a different style of rhythmic dance? If so, consider complementing our flatfooters with a performance of your own — from tap to Irish jigs to square dancing — by contacting the parade organizers at info@northflatbushbid.nyc.
