This month Denver Urban Spectrum celebrates 31 years of spreading the news about people of color. Last year’s 30th-anniversary momentous occasion included the debut theme song “More Today,” a reggae style remix of the 1969 classic “More Today Than Yesterday” by the Spiral Staircase.

Performed by Denver vocalist Goatfish and produced by Bobby Wells, “More Today” is available on iTunes with proceeds benefiting the Urban Spectrum Youth Foundation.
With the surge of popular line dancing taking the country by storm, this year DUS has partnered with Mr. Charles and the Let’s Start Dancing Crew to create a new line dance.

People are familiar with the Electric Slide and the Cupid Shuffle and can see them performed in movies or can join in and dance them on any given night at Denver’s dance hot spots. But now, the Denver community can learn the Spectrum Strut, created by dancer Kim Drayton (aka Kimmy Kim) and Charles Doss who is recognized and known as the dancing man. Doss was recently recognized as a 2018 African American Who Makes A Difference honoree. He as has been teaching line dancing for more than 10 years and is committed to teaching anyone and everyone to get up and move. He cares about improving the quality of life through dance.

“Health and wellness is a big challenge in our community. If we understand that our body is our temple then we can be at peace within ourselves. Dancing keeps your mind working and thinking about that next step,” he said and one of the reasons why he was honored.

“To contribute to the Denver Urban Spectrum by creating this dance means a lot to me. I have respected DUS for years as the community go-to publication, and to have this opportunity was unexpected but very much welcomed,” said Doss. “It’s all about the community.”

Former New York police officer Kimmy Kim moved to Denver in 2006 and has been line dancing for eight years. She started with Charles Doss in 2010 and has been teaching line dance routines with Doss and the Let’s Start Dancing Crew for two years.

“It means a lot to create a dance on this level. The song is great and I just felt the music and was inspired by the beat,” said Kim. “I’m somewhat shy about getting in front of a group of people but Charles has a way of pushing me.”

She hopes this music/dance video will exceed the more than 100,000 views she received from the dance routine she created from the song “Good Loving” by Keith Sweat and looks forward to promoting it to her more than 8,000 followers.

Over the last month, Doss, Kim and the Let’s Start Dancing Crew have been practicing the Spectrum Strut which will debut with a video viewing at the Kasbah on April 20 with Goatfish and Friends. The video will be an expansion of the current 30th-anniversary video which was filmed in Denver that included a special appearance of Charles Burrell and other Denver scenes, including the Five Points community and City Park’s Dr. Martin Luther King Memorial by sculptor Ed Dwight. Stunt time HD (video and photography) owner Al Saadiq Johnson will film the dancers on April 4 at the Kasbah Nightclub in Aurora and redesign the video incorporating the dancers to be shown on April 20.

DUS publisher Rosalind “Bee,” Harris says, “Like Charles says, it’s all about community – and connecting community. This is an opportunity and time to bring folks together and have fun. We have a great song, a great vocalist, a great video and videographer and great dancers. Now, all we have to do is get up, move, join in and do the Spectrum Strut.”

Editor’s note: For more information on the line dancing class on April 4 or the Goatfish and Friends event on April 20, call 303-292-6446 or check out the ad in this issue.