CCP's TESTIMONIALS AND MEDIA COVERAGE |
| Dear Ms. Gourdine, I like the flyer a lot and I am ready to get this started asap Saturday I will block off the entire day not a problem, that way we can build. I definitely had a great time just talking and sharing ideas yesterday, I think what you are doing is great and is much more than about dance its food for your soul! In case other women are being women and have not gave you and your team props let it be know that Tee , thinks your HOT, HOT, HOT and after meeting with you on Saturday we're going to find out how we can let the world know. I'm not sure if you are a 501c3 non-profit but if not you know I can sponsor you through my organization status for you to get your own grant money to run most of the programs you discussed. Sometimes it takes a lifetime or an instant to know when you've found someone that get you and what you are striving to accomplish and trust me from the outside looking in, you've made it, you've paid your dues, it's time to let the entire world know your on top. As for me it was an honor to have met someone so passionate , dedicated and fierce about building their dream as you are, I take my hat off to you and I'm proud to be able to say I sat at the roundtable with you. Keep up the fight, it;s not an option,don't look back, but only to be reminded of why you need to accomplish the task before you, Director of Dani House (Non-Profit): Sincerely Tawanda Bell Dear Ms. Gourdine, I want to thank you Ms. Gourdine for leading the Street Dance class at Golden Ring Middle School, as well as the DARE Dance. It has been a pleasure to work with both of you and I really appreciate the time you took to work with the girls. I hope you got the CD cases that I left at the school for you yesterday. Are you planning to have another end of session performance next week? I hope that you will consider doing a dance class again in the coming school year. I hope you have a great summer and again thanks for your efforts to keep middle school girls physically active. Regards, Berenice Rushovich MSW University of Maryland TAAG Comunity-School Liaison Dear, Ms. Gourdine I know the audience enjoyed them as well. If you keep me posted on new dance possibilities, I will keep you in mind for future programs. We enjoyed meeting you & seeing you in action at your studio. I believe in supporting local artists & other women. I've enjoyed looking at your web pages very much,Keep up the good work! Andrea Shore BCPL Dear Ms. Gourdine, Thank-you so much- we had a great time at the master class! I will definitely be in touch soon as possible about additional dates. My students had fun and learned a lot in 2 hours and we appreciate your company! Director: Emily Tankersley Bryn Mawr School 4 Girls Baltimore Maryland Ms. Gourdine THANK YOU! It's always so wonderful to know that you're appreciated! We loved having you and your dancers join us this year - I've heard only FABULOUS things about your performance! Thanks, again! Best wishes, Co-Director: Michele Jones From The Collective Dance Baltimore Julie Peoples-Clark DARE America© Dance Program 6309 Mount Ridge Road Baltimore, MD 21228 To Whom It May Concern: This letter is to show my support for Carlena Gourdine and the CrazyCee Productions & Letz Dance Academy. I met Carlena several months ago at her studio in North Baltimore. She contacted me about the possibility of working with me on the national after school dance program DARE America© Dance, which I manage. Our program offers after school dance classes to middle school children as an alternative to drugs and violence. As a result of our successful meeting Carlena and her production company have been working in Golden Ring Middle School for the past three months. It is also planned for the company to continue teaching and performing for DARE America in Spring 2005 and beyond. I was so impressed with Carlena's vision and passion for dance and how it can be used to empower a young child. Carlena not only feels that dance can be used for entertainment but also can be used as a form of self-expression and empowerment. In our society, role models like Carlena are truly needed. Carlena's studio is a place where young children can come and feel safe. I wish and hope that Carlena will have much success in her endeavors. Baltimore needs positive youth programs and people like Carlena to head them. Sincerely, Julie Peoples-Clark, Manager DARE America© Dance Program, Baltimore/Philadelphia/Houston More importantly, thank you and CRAZYCEE PRODUCTIONS for supporting our cause in which you share. It was a long road and the road still goes on, but it is people like you and organizations like CRAZYCEE keep my spirits up and still going. It makes all the hard work and effort very much well worth it. Your kids did fantastic. I can remember the goose bumps I felt when the music accidentally stopped and they kept going ~ they not once fluttered or gave up! And that my Dear, shows just how "professional" they are. I will most definitely keep you posted on our upcoming events as well as our plans for the 2nd Annual NY Hip-Hop Dance Convention. And thank you once again for being apart of Hip-Hop history. Change starts within us, now let's just work on spreading it. --Peace, Trisha Santos-GUAMCHIC Promotions (2006 NY Hip-Hop Convention) I just wanted to let u know thank you for everything!.....The video and this opportunity to dance in front of the greats!.....I had a great time and I REALLY WISHED i could've stayed longer as u know....I love bboyin so that was really sucky.....Once Again thank you Ms.Gina and Ms.Gourdine for everything And Happy Birthday Ms.Gourdine!....I will talk to you lata! --Much love....C-Bear (CCP DANCER) You all did an amazing job last night. I enjoyed your concert (Evolution of Hip-Hop Past & Present). On behalf of the NSP family, we definitely look forward to working with you in the near future. Keep up the good work. --PEACE! Ace-NON STOP PRODUCTIONS Hip Hop Showdown 2006 It was a great pleasure to meet you all on Tue, too. Your team not only did a great performance, but also act with Professional attitude and showed us patient regards to the age matters. I myself had a great time chatting with you all. I'd love to work with you again in the future events. I 'll keep you updated with anything coming up next so, please do me updated. I'm very looking foward to be seeing you all again! --The best regards, Choco a.k.a asianchocolate ACE productions Great Job Everyone! Hip Hop Showdown Highlights! CrazyCee Productions, THANK YOU for coming out and supporting! You guys were great! --Guam Chic Promotions Hey Ladies! Thank you very much for inviting me to meet with you and your dance company. It was an honor to be amongst some of the most talented kids in New York City . What you do for these kids is a great thing; you both are to be commended for that. Especially in a city like this, great people who do good deeds are few and far between. Everyday I get calls from different dance groups around this city about this convention. It’s a great thing! I’m in a great position to be able to direct the outcome of this convention into a positive production - a production that will educate, inspire, and promote. Competition is great, but simply “to accomplish” is better. I see more and more kids wanting to get involved simply because it’s their passion……………….finally something where everyone can be under the same roof with the same passion projecting a positive thing for New York City . I’m truly happy to have met your paths and I’m sure we will see more of each other as the production moves along. It was sincerely a great pleasure to visit with you and your dance team. They are truly amazing dancers. Lots of attitude, spunk, skill, discipline…………………..just all out “crazy.” I look forward to working more with you. --Keep in touch, Trisha Santos Hello, My daughter Ariel Johnson attended an all day session on August 6th in Scranton, PA. We wanted to take the time to thank you "personally" for coming to our area and teaching the participants. She was very excited to be able to participate and dance! She doesn't have hip-hop at the studio she attends, so this was very special to her. She loves to move like that. Ariel was talking about her day all evening and going over the” moves" so that she does not forget them. Ariel was hoping that there would be another opportunity like this one in the future. She said that she is willing to learn more and maybe win an audition in NYC. Again, thanks for coming to our area! The teachers were great! --Lisa and Ariel Johnson Scranton PA I want you to know that the Thursday night class has really been an important place for Angelita through out the past 3 months. Anyway, your class has been therapeutic in a sense and I deeply appreciate the little light of happiness it brings to her week. As a teacher, I know it’s hard to know the real impact you have on your students' lives. So, here is a little testament to your good work. --Cristy Robtoy Ellicott City,MD Student I loved the class I took on Thursday! I had so much fun! I'm sure I have room for plenty of improvement but I am willing to put in the effort to get to where I need to be. Thanks so much for the class on Thursday! --Samantha Ribb Ellicott City,Maryland Student I know that the continued growth in your desire to further offer opportunities to others will definitely come back 10-fold with many benefits for you as well. Just for the record...I have been truly inspired by your class. Being able to do what you enjoy is beyond measure. Much success in endeavors and be continually blessed. --Thanks again, Janice Armstrong Ellicott City,MD Student  04/27/2006 TROUPE DEDICATED TO HIP-HOP By Craig Giammona Every Saturday, dancers from CrazyCee productions gather at the Bally Total Fitness gym at 159-26 Jamaica Avenue to practice their steps and perfect their routines. With hip-hop songs old and new blaring from two large speakers, the young dancers, dressed in camouflage pants and matching hats, set a frenetic pace, going through three- or four-minute routines, resting for about 30 seconds and starting again. There are only occasional extended water breaks. CrazyCee, based in Jamaica, was founded by Carlena Gourdine, aka CrazyCee, 15 years ago.  Gourdine, who was born in Brooklyn and attended high school in South Jamaica, is a former professional dancer who has turned her attention to training professional dancers.
CrazyCee, which currently has 10 members ranging in age from 10 to 26, has been hired to perform in rap videos, special events and showcases. This summer they will perform at a car show in Atlantic City. The members pay the cost of insurance and for the use of a dance studio at Bally's and receive a cut when the troupe is hired.
"We're training them to be professional," Gourdine said, as her dancers gyrated and hopped to Slick Rick's old-school classic "Mona Lisa."
CrazyCee does hip-hop dancing, but Gourdine stressed that when she says hip-hop, she is referring in general to old-school aggressive street art -- not the blinged-out cars, drugs, violence and scantily clad women that have become synonymous with mainstream hip-hop in 2006.
"We're doing hip-hop old school, the way it was meant to be," Gourdine said.
Gourdine said that mainstream hip-hop objectifies women. When she was a professional dancer performing in rap videos and on MTV, she said she felt strong pressure to keep her weight down.
"In the business you have to be a (size) 1, if that," she said. "I don't want that for them."
With CrazyCee there is no such pressure, Gourdine said. The focus in on dancing, not skimpy, revealing outfits.
CrazyCee currently has 10 members from around New York City, including two from Queens. St. Albans resident Tiffany Johnson, the group's oldest member at 26, agreed with Gourdine that the culture of hip-hop has gone in the wrong direction. She said CrazyCee is trying to right the ship, one dance step at a time.
"The culture (of hip-hop) has been taken to a different world," Johnson said. "It used to be a way for the oppressed to express their feelings about society. Not it has nothing to do with that at all. We're trying to take it back."
Johnson found CrazyCee randomly one day while working out at Bally's. She saw the dancers practicing and was intrigued. At first she thought it was just a class that could sign up for. When she learned it was a dance troupe, she auditioned and was accepted.
Gourdine said CrazyCee will be very busy this summer, dancing at showcases and a variety of events around southeast Queens. The group has been asked to dance at Disney World, but Gourdine isn't sure if they'll make the trip. Gourdine is also planning to hold an audition in June where she hopes to find 15 talented dancers dedicated enough to withstand CrazyCee's rigorous practice schedule.
©Times Ledger 2006  Teens Pop And Lock In Ozone Hip-Hop Studio by Stephen Baron, Chronicle Correspondent 06/28/2007 (CrazyCee Productions) CrazyCee’s President Carlena Gourdine. Former MTV choreographer and president of hip-hop dance training facility CrazyCee Productions, Carlena Gourdine is very proud of the craft that she’s spent much of her life working on. So much so, she nearly walked out of last year’s auditions to her dance academy. Most of the 80 aspiring dancers, ranging from 7 to 26 years old, showed up out of shape, not wearing proper clothing or not knowing how to dance to hip-hop music. “Hip-hop dance is so watered down now, it’s horrible,” the Jamaica-raised Gourdine lamented over the phone. “And we’re in New York, the birthplace of hip-hop.” In response to the lack of respect she perceives that women receive in the hip-hop dance industry, Gourdine founded CrazyCee Productions in 1990, at only 17 years old. “I danced as well as males, but I was never asked to dance like them,” Gourdine said. “I was told to dance sexy, but I never settled.” Seventeen years later, business at the South Ozone Park dance training facility is booming. CrazyCee stages eight productions a year, and recently opened a dance academy in Maryland. CrazyCee also fills a much-needed role in providing inexpensive extracurricular activities for Queens teenagers. “We give them an outlet to express themselves,” Gourdine said. “We’re very militant, but we have to be. These kids are raising themselves, so they have no discipline. We teach them to respect one another and how to do exercises.” Although there are plenty of hip-hop dance schools in Queens, few provide the quality and rigor of training that CrazyCee offers, according to Gourdine. “We’re between a dance school and a professional dance academy,” she said. “We mold these dancers into well-rounded athletes and manage their contracts and enhance their resumes.” After auditions, selected dancers undergo 12 months of training. Classes, taught by four top choreographers, meet on Saturdays and Sundays for four to six hours a day. But Gourdine cautioned that most dancers do not last the entire year. “A lot of them don’t last three months,” she said. “We’re lucky to get four out of the 100 becoming dancers.” Gourdine attributes this to the physical nature of hip-hop dance and to teens not being disciplined enough to last the year. Hip-hop dancers are “athletes first, dancers second,” Gourdine said. About 85% of CrazyCee’s dancers are female, although the hip-hop dance industry is desperate for male dancers, she said. At the end of training, dancers may receive a trophy and cash prize, but the real opportunity is to build their resumes, to network and to be evaluated by talent scouts, Gourdine said. For the training, dancers pay $300-$400 every two months, based on their age and level of dance. The cost is a fraction of similar hip-hop dance training studios, which could cost as much as $8,000 a year. CrazyCee has launched the careers of innumerable dancers, who have appeared in music videos and MTV shoots and have opened for concerts. Currently CrazyCee travels state-to-state for four- or eight-week programs to train dancers. They hope to begin traveling overseas soon, starting with Japan, Gourdine said. For information about upcoming CrazyCee shows, call (443) 927-8920. |