This news story caught my eye, but mainly because I was entranced by the video at the bottom. It was far cooler than I expected.
When I think of double dutch, I think of kids passing time in the Bronx or Brooklyn and skipping rope to some sing song playground rhyme like "Mama called the doctor, The doctor called the nurse, The nurse called the lady with the alligator purse." Nowadays, it's a varsity sport in New York City high schools, but that's not where it ends. Now it's a combination of acrobatics, dancing, and some pretty advanced choreography to techno and hip hop music. And it's international.
The Japanese have traveled to Harlem and won the 18th *AND* the 19th Annual Double Dutch Holiday Classic at Harlem's Apollo Theater. We have clearly exported a piece of American culture. Here's the winning team this year from Chiba, Japan:
And this video sort of blew my mind:
