Chicago, IL October 05, 2007 - Across many Chicago neighborhoods, a dance movement called “footworking” has been boiling for some time and is ready to explode globally. The Chicago Tribune has called it part tap, African tribal dance, and breaking. The energy of footwork is explosive, intricate, and has amazing lower body form. Inspired by House music, footworking has existed in Chicago for over 20 years and has evolved into the dance partner of Juke music (a version of house music heavily sped up) with uniquely produced footworking tracks.
Charles “King Charles” Parks, the reigning footwork champ, along with members from his crew Creation and an all-star ensemble deemed the Chicago FootworKingz are ready to take center stage for the world to witness.
Creation has been featured as an all-star champion dance team on BET’s “106 & Park.” They have also been featured on MTV’s “My Block Chicago,” and won a city-wide dance competition at a Chris Brown concert at the UIC Pavilion. “Our next move is to garner interest with a major film company that will produce a film and/or documentary about what we do,” says the charismatic Charles. “We plan to capture a global audience through video, film, television, internet, live shows and any other means of exposure.”
Verizon Wireless has caught on, recently shooting a national commercial under the choreographic direction of street dance legend Fatima Robinson. Verizon’s new phone commercial will feature FootworKINGz, Trevell “T.J.” Johnson and King Charles.
Thanks to Chicago rappers Dude En Em’s “Watch My Feet” rap single on TVT Records, a snippet of footworking is being viewed internationally and caught the attention of Rolling Stone Magazine. Their current October ’07 “Hot Issue” features a story about footworking that includes King Charles in action and word. “Everything is happening as I envisioned it could happen. I want footworking to become a global expression,” says an excited Charles.
Most recently, King Charles was in New York taping the VH-1 Hip Hop Honors (to air Monday, Oct. 8th) with Eve, Ciara, and Nelly Futado as they all paid homage to rap super-star Missy Elliott.
Upcoming appearances for the Chicago FootworKINGz include their international dance theater debut at the 9th Annual San Francisco Hip Hop Dance Festival in November 2007 www.sfhiphopdancefest.com and the opening ceremonies for the World Boxing Championship to be hosted in Chicago in October. “Our dream is finally becoming a reality and I want to take it as far as it can go,” says Kemo Sanders, winner of the King of Footworking battle at Dance Down ‘06 & ‘07 with Chris Brown.
