Best of BIT

BEST OF BIT: Dance and Movement

Brooklyn’s got moves and we’re spotlighting the movers and shakers on the borough’s dance scene. Featuring Williamsburg-based modern dancer Tami Stronach; Brooklyn Ballet, an 8-year-old professional company that “pirouettes out of the box;” Mark Morris Dance Company’s special program that helps Parkinson's patients find a way to move outside of this disease; Elizabeth Streb’s Streb S.L.A.M. gravity-defying movement company; and young dancers at April’s Dance N’ Feet in Canarsie.

BEST OF BIT: Throwback Brooklyn

Take a trip through time to visit “old school” Brooklyn on this special episode. Featuring Buzz-A-Rama in Kensington, 1979 PSAL Championship Boys and Girls High School basketball team and their inspiring coach Frank Mickens, Melody Lanes in Sunset Park, Los Paisanos Meat Market on Smith Street, and Crazy Legs Skate Club Bedford-Stuyvesant.

BEST OF BIT: Brooklyn Women

March is National Women’s History Month and we are celebrating Brooklyn women who have—or are presently making—their own mark in Brooklyn. Featuring Brooklyn-born political pioneer Shirley Chisholm; experimental Red Hook artist Risha Gorig; Boys & Girls High School basketball coach Ruth Lovelace; multitalented multimedia artist Kelli Anderson; and comedian, actress, writer, ukulele player, and former corporate accountant, Jen Kwok.

BEST OF BIT: Wellness

There are plenty of ways to learn about living healthy and staying healthy in Brooklyn. This episode features: the WeCOACH program addresses chronic medical conditions and helps draw older people out of social isolation; Rockin’ Raw is a raw food eatery in Williamsburg; The Live Light, Live Right program from Brookdale Hospital helps overweight kids make real changes in their diets and habits; Healthy Families’ CPR Training brings residents of all ethnicities together to teach them important life-saving skill; and Midwood Martial Arts & Family Fitness Center has created fun and fit options for the Flatbush community.

BEST OF BIT: B-Hives

Brooklyn is buzzing with collectives of all sorts and we feature some of our favorites: 3rd Ward in Williamsburg is an incubator for all sorts of start-up companies, artists, and artisans; Buendia Productions helps preserve the culture of their community and produces positive social change; Brooklyn Creative League in Gowanus offers cubicles, offices, conference rooms, and the comforting hum of other active minds; Fixers Collective helps cash-strapped Brooklynites save money by repairing old household items; and members of the Bushwick Book Club pick a book, read it, write a song that has some connection to it, and perform their musical book reports for a crowd.

BEST OF BIT: Brooklyn Tours

It’s a big borough—seventy-one square miles, in fact. There’s so much to see and do that to try and pack it all into one tour would be close to impossible. This Best of BIT episode takes a stab at visiting as many Brooklyn historical sites and neighborhoods in half an hour as one can—not such a hard task thanks to the tours BIT has featured in the last year. Learn about hidden stories in Brooklyn Heights, thanks to Homer Fink’s Hidden Heights Tour. Frank H. Jump (of Fading Ad Blog) takes viewers on his hunt for vintage mural advertisements in Brooklyn neighborhoods. Have a “World Cup Fever” relapse at five Brooklyn hotspots while fans cheer and jeer favorite international teams. Join Rabbi Beryl Epstein on his Jewish Hassidic Walking Tour for a fascinating look at how this culture thrives in Crown Heights. Then, Levy’s Unique New York takes viewers on a two-wheeled history lesson in the borough’s great beer-making tradition.

BEST OF BIT: Brooklyn Profiles

What would Brooklyn be without its people! This Best of BIT highlights some of the most intriguing personalities from our programs: famed street artist Atomic as he completes his mural at The Phun Phactory, the hosts of Stutter Talk, a podcast that puts the speech disorder in front of a mic, jazz legend Pharoah Sanders at the Brooklyn Jazz Consortium, Fordham University’s football star Xavier Martin and the Youngstein family, owners and operators of Havin’ A Party in Canarsie.

BEST OF BIT: Brooklyn Music

Whether you can carry a tune or struggle to keep one in a bucket, it’s hard to deny that Brooklyn is one of the most musically talented neighborhoods in the nation. Featuring Internet sensations The Gregory Brothers (of “Double Rainbow” and “Bedroom Intruder” fame), the talented teachers and students at Gowanus Music Club, traditional Haitian rara band Djarara, a peek at the audition process to sing the National Anthem for the Brooklyn Cyclones and Bushwick’s Gold Record hip-hop producers Da Beatminerz, this Best of BIT episode proves that the borough knows how to set (and keep) the beat.

BEST OF BIT: Brooklyn Food

Before resolutions are made to lose weight in 2011, this Best of BIT brings you the best food and services the borough can serve up. Sample the savory Italian entrees at Bensonhurst’s Tommaso Restaurant. See how St John’s Bread and Life provides nutritional guidance while combating hunger with a “Digital Food Pantry.” Join Lucky Lu’s owner and chef Lisa Eisen as she divulges the secret to her most popular dishes. Learn how family-run JoMart Chocolates has kept it going strong (and sweet) since World War II and, finally, watch young chefs discover the joy of cooking at Creative Cooks in BoCoCa.

Best of BIT: Crafty Brooklyn

Best of BIT: Two-Wheeled Brooklyn

Best of BIT: The Fashion of Brooklyn

Best of BIT: Brooklyn Gets Moving