Kut The Rug Institute (KTRi) is a cultural think & do tank dedicated to advancing the conversation and information available about Street & Club Dance forms that are indigenous to New York City. We aim to expand the way the public considers and encounters Club & Street Dance Culture through producing & presenting art projects, conversations, educational workshops, and research. KTRi was established in 2019 by three Club Dancers on Planet Brooklyn; where its headquarters are currently located.
WHO IS KUT THE RUG INSTITUTE?
Founder & Principal – Lafotographeuse (née Amanda Adams-Louis)
Advisor- Robert “Mugen” Taylor
Advisor- Keenan “Kinen” Thompson
Advisor- Brian Polite
Advisor – James “Cricket” Colter
Collaborator- Noelle Salaun
Founder Emeritus – Marc “Sylke” Robinson
CURRENT PROJECTS
Institutional Collaborators
Dance to Remember
Everybody wants to dance our dance but none will walk in our shoes.
Six Step over the blood on the dancefloor.
Beats and breaks. Beatings and broken:
My heart. In hard times. Ain’t no love to be found.
The horror is supreme. Sample the sound.
Ain’t no hiding place. Danger is all around.
Trying to watch my back got me spinning like the ghost of James Brown.
Say it loud. We all know the tune.
Everyone wants to sing our songs, but nobody wants to live the blackest blues.
Want to feel our funk but not breathe the fumes.
Can’t have the groove without the grime.
The gut bucket is just that. Hard singing for harder lives.
We work songs like a chain gang. Shackles on my Adidas in neon and ‘New Black’.
Still slaves to the rhythm trying to get free on tracks.
“No more… my Lord…”. The years like Jordan roll.
Air in our souls because we still want to fly away home.
Oh glory, when is this life over? Started from the bottom and we’re still here.
Started at the top. Our footprints made to disappear.
We dance to remember what you fear.
We dance to remember what we were before we were here.
-Brian Polite
Kut The Rug Institute 