MOLI VIEW™

I don't know how it is where you live, but out here in the Midwest we have to get creative about exercise in the wintertime. When it's so cold outside that the snot freezes in your nose the minute you make contact with the great outdoors, it's hard to get motivated to scrape the two inches of ice off your windshield and head for the gym.

This year, I've got a better plan.

While doing a little research at MTV.com, I happened across an interesting show called Dances from tha Hood. Hosted by Bronx-born dancer/choreographer Lenaya "Tweetie" Straker, the half-hour program (which originally aired in June) breaks down a variety of hip-hop dance moves so that folks at home can hone their skills before unleashing them in public. While it's unclear what MTV intends to do with the show broadcast-wise (I know at some point the shorter segments were broadcast as mobile episodes), the dance culture that has sprung up around the website is fantastic. Kids send videos of themselves dancing in their homes or inventing new dances, and they are also able to create profiles allowing them to interact, comment, and rank each other's videos.

The clips are a blast to watch — uplifting even. It's hard to look gloomy when you're poppin' and lockin'. But best of all is the hostess herself. A tireless, snappy, smiling wiseacre, Tweetie barks orders in a Bronx accent so thick that your attention is rapt from just trying to figure out what she's saying. Trained in dance since the age of 12, she now teaches all over New York, including at an extension of the prestigious Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre School. She also appeared on Oprah to teach Winfrey and her friend Gayle how to throw down with the hip-hop kids.

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