We know D.C. Get our free newsletter to stay in the know.
Sunday
The wedding pages of the New York Times are dominated by WASPy tales of romances forged in Ivy League dorms or the board rooms of brokerage firms, but on June 18, 2000, the section broke form to announce the marriage of Ana Garcia and Gabriel Dionisio, better known as breakers Rokafella and Kwikstep. The brief told the story of how dancing on the street brought the two performers together and why, after six years of dating, the couple decided to make things official. Asked why he married Rokafella, Kwikstep replied, “She’s my best friend, she’s a good cook, and she has a real sweet backspin.” But though Rokafella’s moves caught the eye of her husband, more often her presence in the world of break dancing brought negative attention from men. When she first began dancing in the ’80s, Garcia says, men often disrespected her. They grabbed her, humped her for the sake of humiliation, and told her that “breakin’ is not for women.” She documents all of this in the new book We B*Girlz, a look at the history of lady breakers filled with interviews and pictures of female dancers of all ages and races by hip-hop documentary photographer Martha Cooper. Rokafella endured overwhelming sexism for some time, but she finally scored a win for B-girls the world over the first time she fought back: She wiggled out of a grab by straddling the guy, did a back walk-over, slid between his legs, and kicked him out of the circle, adding a smack on the ass for good measure. “I realized if I could conquer the floor, the guys would have to wait ’til I was finished or risk getting hurt,” she writes. To celebrate the book’s launch, Rokafella and Kwikstep, along with their crew, the Full Circle Souljahs (pictured), backspin, windmill, and flare during Hip-Hop to Da Head at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, April 30, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Family Theater, 2700 F St. NW. $15. (202) 467-4600. (Sarah Godfrey)