Once upon a time in 1999 two crews, MASSIVE and Untouchable Style Monkees, decided to join forces to show the world that Seattle was a force to be reckoned with in the hip-hop scene…
In the 14 year journey that followed, none of us in our wildest dreams could have ever imagined that we’d have such an impact on the world through our dance and community focus. Thankfully many people in our journey saw our potential and were kind enough to inspire us, coach us, and at times – kick our butts to ensure that we got to the next level. In 2004, one of these people was former Seattle Mayor Greg Nickles who was brave enough to proclaim April 26th as the official Massive Day in Seattle. Despite the fact that we had only really been around for 5 years, he was very impressed with that fact that we were able to bring a world title back to Seattle all while teaching, coaching and mentoring the next generation of Seattle dancers in parallel.
As we get ready to celebrate our 14 year anniversary at the Showbox on April 13th, I’m proud to confidently say that Mayor Nickles made a wise investment in us. Since 2005, we’ve organized an annual event to celebrate Massive Monkees Day that has morphed into an engagement tool to reach thousands of urban youth in Seattle and across the world to promote productive, positive & healthy life choices for urban youth through arts & dance. Coupled with the launch of our dance studio (the Beacon) and our non-profit organization (Extraordinary Futures) this year’s Massive Monkees Day is really positioned well to help us reach the current and next generation of aspiring dancers.
From an entertainment perspective, we’re laser focused on making Massive Monkees Day better every year and 2013 is no exception. This year we have the nation’s top dancers flying in to battle it out for $1,500 and perhaps more importantly, the respect associated with winning one of the best jams in the United States. While B-boy competitions around the world are happy with one or two DJs, we’ve doubled down on our investment in music by brining in almost every heavy hitter who has ever spun at an MM Day in the past including Soul One, DV One, the Seattle Zulu DJ crew, Lean Rock (Boston) and the return of blesOne after a 3 year hiatus making music with his band Don’t Talk to the Cops (shout out to FeverOne who is judging this year instead of spinning). In addition to the DJ line-up we’ve rounded out the night with some outstanding guest performers including Big World Breaks, Nu Era, Dyme Def, and One Be Lo. And finally to top off the weekend, we’ve curated a list of the world’s top dance instructors who will be teaching at the Beacon and sharing their gifts with the Seattle community (schedule here).
Every single dollar of profit from this event goes into funding our free after school program at the Beacon along with our free classes offered in Burien thanks to a partnership with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. We humbly invite you to support us on our journey and to enjoy a truly outstanding night of entertainment with some of the best dancers, DJs, and emcees that our culture has to offer.
Tickets ($20) are available at the door, through AXS, or at the Beacon. Check out our Facebook event page for full details and for an opportunity to win a pair of free tickets to the event.
Thanks for all your support over the years. With your help, we can double our impact on youth in Seattle in 2014 and change lives through art & dance.
#MMDAY2013
Joe “JoRawk” Stolte
Executive Director | Extraordinary Futures | @ExtrdnryFutures
Massive Monkees Crew | @Massive_Monkees
