Once again, our work was not done after the first performance.  That evening there was an afterparty at the Love Factory (a space housing a love-letter delivering project), where both the VeloVixens and Brakes were meant to put on the more adult-oriented work we've done.  These performances were meant to take place out in a gravel lot, and while the Vixens were able to perform out there, sound problems forced the BRAKES inside (turned out to be a fortuitous arrangement).
Inside, we performed 'Brakes are comin' to get the crowd riled up a bit.  Our execution of this number was made all the more challenging by the presence of two support beams in the middle of the performance space.  With our experience of adapting to difficult stages though, we were able to pull it off without a hitch.
And then it was time for the burlesque.  Once again recruiting from the local community for our leading lady, we had the great pleasure of performing with Agent Standard Deviation.  Needless to say the performance went off like the 4th of July.  With the audience as hot and bothered as they were, it took only the slightest suggestion to get everyone down to their knickers for an underwear dance party!  Definitely one of our most successful performances to date.

The 5th annual Multnomah County MF Bike Fair was a massive event, with over 2000 people coming through over the course of the day.  Events went on all afternoon, and a variety of booths offered affordable helmets, bike craft and fashion, and mechanic and legal assistance, among other things.
This event was notable for featuring all four bike dance crews on the same stage - Sprockettes, B.C.Clettes, VeloVixens, and BRAKES all had a chance to show their stuff.
So under the hot sun, and on a chalk-covered surface, we went to work in only our second Portland performance.  Again, an all-ages show meant that the pants stayed on, but we had the crowd screaming for more again!
Though all the Canadian crews put on great shows, the stars of the day were definitely the hometown girls, the Sprockettes.  These ladies performed several numbers, and if there is any complaint that can be levelled it's that there was too much hotness to be able to take it all in in one go.  Those ladies are still at the top of their game, setting the standard for mini-bike dance.

BRAKES celebrated its 1-year anniversary on the Bik-arnival performance ride, once again closing out the performance segment of the evening at the entrance to Stanley Park.  The ride featured performances by the B.C.Clettes, Kablamo, Megan Rose, MC Ubercrank, and a BMX comp put on by Project B.
A potential hurdle arose when Blue's mini turned up missing.  Undaunted, we set out to do the show without it.  It was miraculously recovered, but not in time to be a part of Blue's one-foot, no-hand stall.
After performing two crowd favorites, we debuted a new number for our bike community audience.  'Brakes are comin' was a great hit, and got everyone ramped up for a great pedal-powered dance party in the woods.

Continuing one of BRAKES' missions of fostering links between the various DIY communities of Vancouver, we took advantage of an opportunity to be part of the Terminal City Rollergirls' inaugural bout.  The real show was definitely the rollergirls themselves, but we did our best to show the audience what mini-bike dance is all about.  One notable feature of this performance was a reverse of the shrinking-stage trend that had characterized our performances to date - we had more space than we knew what to do with!  The halftime show was all-ages, so to the disappointment of some of the audience, our pants stayed on.
But only as far as the after party - one of the team managers was sent to request that we do the 'real' show for the ladies up in the skybox.  So, after drafting one of the rollergirls to be our leading lady and doing a quick rehearsal in the bathroom, BRAKES took to the stage again.  There is something pretty special about being in a room with 50 tough, sexy women who are screaming for you to take your pants off.  Everyone should try it at least once in their lives ;)
Incidentally, we came up with a new sport that evening, 'Rollo Derby' - a derby played on mini-bikes!  A few kinks to work out of that one, but hopefully it'll be ready for the mini-bike olympics come 2010.

This last Saturday We performed at Recyclistas first annual Bikers Prom!
It was a Party to remember with kids coming up from Portland, Seattle, and Bellingham. We were one of six Performances that night. Starting off with a salsa marching band and ending the night with some mind blowing live drum & bass. The first dance crew up was Vancouver's own BC Clettes, they put on a great 4 lady show. Then as a side show to get us extra hot for the Velo Vixens, the one and only Milenkovitch punked out and destroyed two bikes by thrashing them into one another. Next up the Uber hot Velo Vixens Performed their all new gypsy circus number, HOT, HOT, HOT!, complete with fire, whips, and tall bike. A Very hard act to fallow, but Brakes were up for the challenge. We were one man short as Red had "Hot One Inch Action" button show to co-host, but Green stepped up to fill his shoes.
The show was Tight, and virtually flawless, as far as every one else knew. Safe to say one of our best shows Ever!!! It had to be after watching the Velo Vixen's show. After all that, the Bikers Prom was bumpin and grindin the night away.

This was another marathon weekend, with four of five Brakes competing in EVBP's first international tournament, 'Last Riders of the A-polo-clypse' (at least until Green wrenched his ankle - ouch!).
Our performance at the Work Less Party Party was sandwiched in between the two days of tournament action.  There was the usual line-up of hot performances, but Brakes was again the only mini-bike dance crew on the bill.  As always, we threw down and gave the crowd what they wanted, and then had the privelege of assisting Little Woo in a beautiful shadow puppet number.
Once we left the stage, we opened up the first ever Brakes kissing booth, where the ladies could choose to kiss anyone of us or all five - most went for the 'Brakes sampler'. All and all it was a great weekend.

We Performed at our first burlesque show on the closing night of a three day event. Seeing as we were one of the new crews on the block and incorporate more than burlesque in our routine, this year we performed on the Variety stage - as the closing act, mind you. The stage was quite small and our bike moves are designed for parking-lots, but we were given extra time to do three of our numbers. So we reworked them for the new stage size. Our Tornado and Pinball Maneuvers were particularly impressive and harrowing, seein' as they almost killed us!  Despite very tight corners, we managed to pull off one of our best shows ever.  A few of our moves had to be downsized but our final burlesque number went off better than ever before. The room wasn't as packed as we would have liked but the right people saw us and we were asked back next year to perform on the Main stage!

PS, the photos of us with the pink background were taken in the dressing room performance night by Trevor Jansen.


Yellow.

This February we threw our first ever Bikes Inside party. Red Brake was the main organizer, Green organized an alley Kitten race "Operation: Meow" for the start of the night, Blue ran the bar, Orange made some crazy lights for the main stage, and Yellow did some Visual chemistry, slide work, on the walls of the dance floor. To start off the party we had a few fixed gear trick competitions (Morgan's stripping almost spoiled the audience for ours!) followed by performances.  First off, surprise guests even to us, the Sprockettes (from PDX) their first and only two girl show "Sexy on the Inside". Then Kablamo, a local cape wearing bike gang, went on stage for the first time ever and wowed the audience with their super moves, dancing to "Eye of The Tiger". We were on next daubing two new dance numbers with miner technical difficulties.  We still managed to get out pants off though, which is what everyone was screaming for. The Final act, and in my opinion (Yellow, seconded by Blue) the best of the night, was Victoria's own "Velo Vixens" an all girl bike dance crew. This was their third ever performance and their first show in Vancouver. They rocked the warehouse!
After the performances, the dance floor started pumping and we started up the Mini-bike Mayhem, with Jousting, foot down derbies, and all out mini-bike craziness. It was an awesome party, and the next one will be some time this spring in the woods - don't Miss it!

First International Brakes performance, EVER! we left vancouver as regular folk and returned legendary bike icons! ok, maybe, but while i (agent orange) was at a gypsy party the day after the show some guy turned to me and asked "hey, aren't you one of the brakes?" I felt so cool. Green was introduced to the crowd and was an instant hit. we performed with the Sprockettes, B:C:Clettes, K.A.Z.U.M, On the Double (dutch), and Show Me the Pink. The Sprockettes organized an awesome party in a super cool artist warehouse. the next day the brakes represented in portland's first ever alley kitten. agent orange and green raced on their brakeless dance minis. hardcore.

Second Brakes performance everrrrrr! This year the Brakes hosted Velomutation, Vancouver's largest annual bike culture party; which is also a fundraiser for Pedal Play. (http://pedalpower.org) Brakes performed with our sister crew, the B:C:Clettes, and the Portland troupe that started it all: the Sprockettes. there was also a fire performance by creme brule. There were over 400 people in attendance and only 3 ambulances showed up.