Footworking (the dance) and footwork (the music) coexist. The relentless and fractured tracks of footwork music design a map for dancers to navigate. It's marked by hyper-speed dancing and equally frenetic beats. Can't quite visualize it? You will now.
I’m Tryna Tell Ya is the first full-length footwork documentary by London film and photography partnership Tim and Barry, renown for their cult-followed online TV channel Don't Watch That and visual representations within underground music. It chronicles the rise of the groundbreaking Chicago sound and style, featuring the key cohort of talented dancers, DJs, and producers who affiliate under the Teklife crew, displaying integrity and humor for their vision in equal measure.
We spoke exclusively to Tim and Barry at their studio ahead of the world premiere screening held at the ICA in London.
DIMITRA SOTIRCHO: Can you tell me about the first time you met DJ Spinn and DJ Rashad, pioneers of the movement, when they played live on Just Jam back in 2011, a crossover time of the footwork scene into Europe?
TIM: So they came on, and we have a lot of people come through Just Jam. I don't often get like a geeky teenager, but I definitely got like a geeky fan-type teenager that day. They ended up playing a two-hour set. Up until that point we only had half-hour sets, but it was just so incredible that we were like, "Carry on, carry on!" They were affiliated with J-Cush of Lit City Trax; he was already a fan of our earlier work and suggested the idea of us coming out to Chicago. We took it from there.
Sum up footwork:
Tracks, music, and dance.
The documentary draws parallels between footwork and grime—is this in terms of the DIY approach the MCs and dancers take in both scenes to interpret and feed into music making?
The link I found between footwork and grime... it was the energy more than anything else.
We were around photographically documenting the grime scene in the early '00s at a lot of pirate stations, raves, and studios. One of the keys things back then, and probably still now to a degree, is the sort of influence the MCs had on the producers and vice-versa. A producer would make a track and an MC, or several, would vocal it. The track would push on the MC's style, then the MCs would push the producers' style, so it was like this two-way exchange of creativity. It felt very much like how the footwork scene worked. So producers made tracks, the dancers danced to the tracks, the producers were watching how the dancers danced to the tracks, and then making new tracks for the dancers. That was the real link.
What were your impressions of Chicago?
I'd always wanted to go to Chicago. My Dad gave me a book when he visited there when I was about 10. I used to follow the Chicago Cubs, moreso because I liked the sports kit more than anything else. It didn’t disappoint. I've been to New York a few times, which I loved, but Chicago is a different world: a beautiful place with beautiful people. It's got its troubles, but it's incredible.
What is it about the city that breeds this lineage of dance music that keeps innovating?
Music in Chicago is like music in London: deep-rooted. There is a long history of Chicag
I’m Tryna Tell Ya is the first full-length footwork documentary by London film and photography partnership Tim and Barry, renown for their cult-followed online TV channel Don't Watch That and visual representations within underground music. It chronicles the rise of the groundbreaking Chicago sound and style, featuring the key cohort of talented dancers, DJs, and producers who affiliate under the Teklife crew, displaying integrity and humor for their vision in equal measure.
We spoke exclusively to Tim and Barry at their studio ahead of the world premiere screening held at the ICA in London.
DIMITRA SOTIRCHO: Can you tell me about the first time you met DJ Spinn and DJ Rashad, pioneers of the movement, when they played live on Just Jam back in 2011, a crossover time of the footwork scene into Europe?
TIM: So they came on, and we have a lot of people come through Just Jam. I don't often get like a geeky teenager, but I definitely got like a geeky fan-type teenager that day. They ended up playing a two-hour set. Up until that point we only had half-hour sets, but it was just so incredible that we were like, "Carry on, carry on!" They were affiliated with J-Cush of Lit City Trax; he was already a fan of our earlier work and suggested the idea of us coming out to Chicago. We took it from there.
Sum up footwork:
Tracks, music, and dance.
The documentary draws parallels between footwork and grime—is this in terms of the DIY approach the MCs and dancers take in both scenes to interpret and feed into music making?
The link I found between footwork and grime... it was the energy more than anything else.
We were around photographically documenting the grime scene in the early '00s at a lot of pirate stations, raves, and studios. One of the keys things back then, and probably still now to a degree, is the sort of influence the MCs had on the producers and vice-versa. A producer would make a track and an MC, or several, would vocal it. The track would push on the MC's style, then the MCs would push the producers' style, so it was like this two-way exchange of creativity. It felt very much like how the footwork scene worked. So producers made tracks, the dancers danced to the tracks, the producers were watching how the dancers danced to the tracks, and then making new tracks for the dancers. That was the real link.
What were your impressions of Chicago?
I'd always wanted to go to Chicago. My Dad gave me a book when he visited there when I was about 10. I used to follow the Chicago Cubs, moreso because I liked the sports kit more than anything else. It didn’t disappoint. I've been to New York a few times, which I loved, but Chicago is a different world: a beautiful place with beautiful people. It's got its troubles, but it's incredible.
What is it about the city that breeds this lineage of dance music that keeps innovating?
Music in Chicago is like music in London: deep-rooted. There is a long history of Chicag