Black History Month: Rise Celestial Studios Honors The Wonder Twins

Black History Month: Rise Celestial Studios Honors The Wonder Twins
Boston, MA | Rise News

You can tell a lot about a person when you enter their home, this steadfast sentiment couldn’t be more true when describing my experience with the legendary Hip Hop group, WonderTwins.

There was so much color everywhere, so much life and flare stretched across the luxury loft style condo. My eyes darted back and fourth unable to tame the excitement and peaking curiosity.

There was a low rumble of excitement and buzz echoing from the back of the space where the Twins were busy charming all their well to do fans that also call the posh Seaport area home.I was eager to meet them but I was too distracted by the outfits and expensive tour threads the Twins had on display.

There’s just so much you can learn about someone when you first have a conversation with them but it’s the subtle things that tell a more detailed story. The paintings on the walls, the specific photographs that capture a fond moment in their life…these were things specifically selected by the two artists and provided a more intimate window to the kind of artists there are and the kind of people they are.

I must’ve of spent the majority of my time just awestruck at the all BTS imagery of them on tour and the clothes they had on display. The sneakers and shoes alone were right out of a music video from your favorite song  — You don’t know style till you see what they working with in their closet.

So authentic, so colorful, so much history! It was Hip Hop in a physical form, something tangible that I could touch and dance my fingers across without missing a beat.

-CEO of Rise Celestial Studios, Ralph Celestin poignantly shares his first introduction to the Hip Hop Legendary group The Wonder Twins.

THE WONDER TWINS
Identical twins Billy & Bobby McClain started dancing at the age of 8. The childhood beginnings started as they would imitate a weekly dance show called “Soul Train” and by 9 years old they were doing their “WonderTwins show” for family events such as cookouts and barbecues. At 10 years old they won their first dance competition which was judged by the legendary rapper KURTIS BLOW. Later that year Billy and Bobby were recruited to join the Boston’s first professional street dance crew “The Funk Affects”. A group that influenced and were very inspirational to the early success of new edition and new kids on the block. They spent 7 yrs with the company gaining recognition by opening up concerts for big names like Run Dmc, LL Cool jay to name a few. In their early teens they were giving monthly hour long shows for the community with opening acts such as new kids on the block who they would later co/choreograph elements of their Magic Summer Tour and produce a song for their album.

Today, the award-winning street dance pioneers duo from Boston have headlined at Jacob’s Pillow “Unreal Hip Hop” & Inside/Out Dance Festival, Brooklyn Dance Fest, Rochester University, Southern Vermont, Dance Festival, Colby College, Nyc Town Hall, UraGano Italy, Concepto Vimen Mexico, Wembley Arena, Singapore indoor stadium, TedX talks boston, David White’s Tap The Yard, Dance the yard, DanceNOW Boston, DanceNOW NYCJoes Pub, Dixon Place, The Dance Hall, The Music Hall Loft, PAC center of Martha Vineyard and The Lincoln Center. They are also Six-time winners of Showtime at The Apollo Theater and performed a record 16 appearances on the Apollo Stage.
The Wondertwins have also appeared with Maurice Hines’ “Club Harlem” at the Apollo Theater and toured internationally with Bobby Brown’s “Don’t Be Cruel” usa/uk tour and Purple Rain’s co-star Apollonia’s “Since I Fell For You” tour in Singapore. They recieved the “Pioneers of Dance” award in 2013 by Origination (other recipients of this prestigious award are Complexions Co/founding artistic directors Desmond Richardson & Dwight Rhoden of Complexions, former principal
dancer of Alvin Ailey Dance Theater Renee Robinson, best selling author/scholar Dr Eric Michael Dyson and Actor Terrance Howard.
“With the technical facility of hip hop, the sophistication of the glory days of the Cotton Club, the flash of Rat Pack era Las Vegas,
and elements of vaudeville, robot, tap, and mime, The Wondertwins create a distinctive style all their own”
Former Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre executive director Judith Jamison has praised The Wondertwins as “absolutely beautiful, strong, powerful, and electric…made for Broadway” and Maurice Hines noted that the identical twins “dance in the same spirit as the great brothers of dance before them.”
With an eclectic soundtrack of music ranging from legendary artists from Hip Hop to classical such as Busta Rhymes, Kanye West, Arvo Part, Phillip Glass to the classic voice of Sammy Davis Jr., and poetry from Maya Angelou, Nina Simone, Alonzo King and more. The Wondertwins performance offers a kaleidoscopic view of African-American entertainment traditions.