Steve Grody

I have three areas where I'm involved professionally. These are the three bios I have used for those areas. "Graffiti L.A.: Street Styles and Art" (H.N. Abrams 2007): Before Steve Grody earned his B.A. in fine arts, he was also involved in his era's'pop' graphics, psychedelic art. When he saw spray can murals popping up around Los Angeles' walls, he immediately recognized their creativity and verve. Since 1990, he has been driving across L.A. and searching its back alleys, washes and abandoned lots in search of this vernacular art. Over the years he cultivated trust amongst L.A.'s most prolific, skilled and infamous graffiti 'writers' allowing him access to obscure locations. His obsessive drive to document this distinctive youth underground has resulted in an archive of over 20,000 images. From this he has chosen the best work to illustrate the range of styles and approaches in this urban phenomenon. He has interviewed top artists to clarify their motivations and thoughts on creativity as well as the troublesome aspects of its illegality. Swing Dance: Steve Grody remembers seeing old Marx Brothers movies when he was a kid. It was those movies with joyous, expressive performances by Whitey's Lindy Hoppers that stuck in the back of his mind until he finally found a place to learn Lindy Hop in 1993. The teacher he found was Erin Stevens who brought Frannkie Manning, the primary choreographer of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, out of retirement in the mid-'80s. Steve dove in an took non-stop classes for almost eight years in Lindy Hop as well as East Coast Swing (sometimes now known as "Six-Count Lindy Hop") and West Coast Swing. He also took seminars with many prominent instructors from around the world during that time. When he started teaching, he took the non-choreographic approach of teaching the principles of spontaneous call and response between the partners that requires equal parts precision and openness. He likes to show how swing dance is appropriate for many kinds of contemporary music not usually thought of as swing, anything from Ska to soul to hip hop. To this day, when he hears a good beat, the hair on the back of his neck stands up, his pulse quickens and he feverishly looks around to see if there is anyone he can grab for a dance. Steve worked directly with Jim Carrey, Peter Wier and cast principles for the dance scene in The Truman Show. Martial Arts: In 1973 I began studying a traditional southern Chinese Daoist system with Share K. Lew from China. Training included traditional Gung-Fu, and a potent series of breathing exercises for health. From 1979 to 1992 I studied Jeet Kune Do under Dan Inosanto (Bruce Lee's protege) becoming the primary substitute at his academy from 1985 to 1990. Training with Inosanto included a combination of twenty-five Filipino systems (stick, knife, staff, and empty hands) including the highly effective LaCoste-Inosanto empty hand method. The fourth system I am authorized to teach is Lameco Eskrima, which I studied privately with the founder of the system, Edgar Sulite from 1990 until his untimely death in 1997. In September of 2000, I was inducted as a Master Instructor of the Year for the International Martial Arts Hall of Fame, sponsored by the World Head of Family Sokeship Council. Author Photo by Niel France