I’ve got to give a shout out to my friend Chad, who post the following video on Facebook this morning.

It really made for a great start to my day.

At the risk of sounding patronizing, coming from me, a cozy, middle class white guy living in a cozy, middle class predominately white town, there’s something so incredibly moving about these young men who have committed themselves to the hard work of developing the athletic and expressive skills you see here, despite the myriad of distractions and even perils of living in East Oakland, California.

Watching this, I’m reminded of a decidedly more polished and glitzy TED performance by the League of Extraordinary Dancers, a performance that blew my mind when I saw it. And yet, this more modest, obviously homegrown example of a style of dance I’m only now learning about — Turfing — is, to me, more a more poignant demonstration of art’s capacity to rise up and thrive anywhere, anytime.

And so, without further ado, Happy Weekend, everyone!