 |
| From cambodia |
while we were in phnom penh, laura got to put her new lawyer skills to work. one of her old coworkers in sf is working on an immigration case for a cambodian guy... a breakdancer who grew up in LA and got deported due to his gang involvement. he settled into phnom penh and put his talents to work- he takes kids off the street and teaches them breakdancing, giving them a place to hang out and get their lives together.
there was a nytimes article about the guy and he got a lot of other press about his efforts. KK is extremely charismatic and great with the kids... he's a good guy to have working with the kids- they really look up to him. here's his organization, tiny toones: http://www.tinytoonescambodia.com/
laura worked with KK for a few days on his visa application so he could take a crew of his kids to tour the US. who looks tougher in this pic?
 |
| From cambodia |
the older kids who have been working with KK for a few years are now teaching the younger kids about dancing. they listen to a lot of US rap - a lot of gangsta - but they're now making some of their own. peanut, a breaker from seattle working with KK, is sampling old traditional khumer songs and putting them over modern beats. the kids love this stuff.
tiny toones breaking lessons from kevin smith on Vimeo.
tiny toones practice from kevin smith on Vimeo.
we were lucky to catch a short performance they put on for a holiday party. more pics are on the picasa page.
 |
| From cambodia |
 |
| From cambodia |
here's a youtube of tinytoones:
we're still in doi ankang in northern thailand. the schoolhouse is going up pretty quick... pictures to come soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment