Philippine All Stars - simply the best

What many people may not realize is that dancing, hip hop dancing included, improves mental health as well. Dancing entices the brain to produce endorphins, otherwise known as the “happy hormones”. These hormones significantly enhance a person’s sense of well-being, often being to the effect of some opiates. These compounds also serve to produce analgesia in the body, often called the body’s natural pain-reliever, producing a natural high that is the only one of its kind to not have any adverse effects on the human body.

To prove the significant benefits, watch a dance group in action, since their dance routine can easily be found in media sources, like on the internet and on a christian magazine. It takes an enormous amount of energy to complete a simple dance routine, let alone the gyrations of a hip hop dance tune, and yet these groups still finish with the same energy level as when they started their routine, evidenced by their faces and their smiles. The best example would be a dance routine from the Philippine All Stars, whether from their international competitions, or even from their guest appearances in various shows.

Molly Jenson - the accidental musician

Molly Jenson is the quintessential accidental musician. She was attending Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego then and she really did not know what she was doing.

She tried to be a journalist and then a psychologist. But then, she really never decided what she will be doing. After a year and a half of trying to decide, she dropped out of college and returned to the thing that she did during her childhood - singing.

"I grew up singing in church and in school musicals and stuff, so I've always been singing," Jenson says. "(But) I didn't start actually writing my own music until about four years ago."

That's when Jenson hooked up with friend and fellow San Diegan Greg Laswell, another rising talent whose last two acclaimed albums, "Through Toledo" and the new "Three Flights from Alto Nido," have helped shed some light on the city's singer-songwriter scene. Laswell soon pushed Jenson to start writing music. Eventually, with his help producing, she independently released her debut album, "Maybe Tomorrow," in 2005, garnering strong notices from San Diego's critics.

Jenson, like others before her, is influenced by the musical environment that she grew up in. However, there is one person that she holds in high regard she said to a christian magazine.

"Rufus Wainwright has stuck through all of the changes," she says. "He's an amazing writer. He's grown with each record and they all sound so different. His music is inventive. I find some songs on the records to be very cinematic, and there's something I love about music that you can really feel. Yeah, great melodies and a hook are great, but he makes me feel the music. It instantly changes my mood when I hear it. That's what I want my music to do for people."