The Red Bulletin April 2020 (US)

BEYOND THE ORDINARY THE RED BULLETIN 04/2020
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DANCER ANGYIL
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EDITOR’S NOTE
A CULTURE OF
UNDERSTANDING
Within the Red Bull universe, folks use the term “culture”
a lot—a word (derived from a Latin root that means to
inhabit, cultivate or honor) that embodies music, art,
dance and film. This issue contains several stories that
profile people who express creativity in ways that honor
or cultivate something bigger than themselves. Like our
cover story, “Flipping the Script” (page 26), which explores
how champion street dancer Angyil overcame adversity
and found meaning (and success) through her art.
CONTRIBUTORS
THIS ISSUE
RAWIYA
KAMEIR
“It’s pretty rare to get to watch
in real time as an artist takes
years of ideas and makes them
tangible,” says the Brooklyn-based
writer, editor and producer about
noted stylist, artist and creative
director Akeem Smith’s upcoming
solo exhibition on Jamaican
dancehall and personal memory.
“So getting a peek into Smith’s
process was a welcome thrill.”
Kameir’s work has appeared in
The Fader and Vogue. Page 38
With gifted skate and basketball photographer Atiba Jefferson in tow, Angyil
revisited her high school in the Kansas City community where she grew up.
Another side of culture emerges in “The Art of Jamaican
Dancehall” (page 38), which previews a new exhibition by
iconoclastic stylist Akeem Smith, who seeks to honestly
portray a legendary but often misrepresented scene and to
explore the nature of memory. These stories highlight
what culture can do best—make people think and feel and
question, to truly inhabit the world around them.
LAKIN
STARLING
“It was my first time in Kansas
City, and it was a real honor to see
some of its original neighborhoods
with Angyil, who is a proud native,”
says the Brooklyn-based writer,
about her profile of champion
street dancer Angela “Angyil”
McNeal. “Watching her dance on
set was amazing—I felt lucky to
share space with such a gifted and
warm-hearted being.” Starling’s
work has appeared in The Fader,
Esquire and Vulture. Page 26
ATIBA JEFFERSON (COVER)
04 THE RED BULLETIN

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CONTENTS
April
FEATURES
26 Flipping the Script
Growing up, Angela “Angyil” McNeal escaped adversity through
ballet, but street dancing is where she found her voice.
38 No Gyal Can Test
Fashion impresario Akeem Smith reveals the inspiration for his
upcoming exhibit about the Jamaican dancehall scene.
50 The Free One
For the fast-rising pro surfer (and Olympic medal contender)
Kanoa Igarashi, home is where the waves are.
64 Greenland on the Rocks
Ice climber Will Gadd once again scales the walls to uncharted
territory—this time in a glacial cave deep in Greenland’s belly.
64
FRIGID
FIELDWORK
Gadd and USF
professor Jason
Gulley explore the
bottom of a glacier
cave in Greenland.
06 THE RED BULLETIN

26
EARTH ANGYIL
The globe-trotting
champion dancer
shows The Red Bulletin
her Kansas City roots,
from the high school
where she learned her
art to a local mural
painted in her honor.
THE
DEPARTURE
Taking You to New Heights
09 After an ACL injury, BMX
pro Broc Raiford is back
12 Dancer Toyin Sogunro
finds serenity and success
14 Two brothers conquer
races for a good cause
16 Zeppelin-skiing in Austria
18 Finding balance in L.A.
20 Promoting hope after
surviving civil war
22 An apocalyptic wetsuit
that’s safe for toxic waters
23 Tame Impala’s chill playlist
GUIDE
Get it. Do it. See it.
77 Travel: Party down or
loosen up in South Florida
82 Fitness tips from motocross
legend Tarah Gieger
84 Dates for your calendar
85 This month on Red Bull TV
88 The best new hiking gear;
plus: furry friend essentials
96 The Red Bulletin worldwide
98 Kayaking in Patagonia
ATIBA JEFFERSON, CHRISTIAN PONDELLA, JASON HALAYKO/RED BULL CONTENT POOL
50
SWELL GUY
An ascendant
Igarashi finished the
2019 season ranked
sixth overall on the
Championship Tour.
Next up: Tokyo 2020.
THE RED BULLETIN 07

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LIFE & STYLE BEYOND THE ORDINARY
THE
THE KING OF
GRATITUDE
After a tough ACL injury, BMX
pro Broc Raiford is healed—and
happy to be on the bike again.
ROBBY KLEIN
After a tough
“recovery year,”
Raiford is poised
for big things
in 2020.
THE RED BULLETIN 09

T H E D E P A R T U R E
Broc Raiford is filled
with gratitude. He’s
grateful to be living
out his lifelong dream as a
professional freestyle BMX
rider, balancing between
street competitions and video
shoots. He’s grateful that he’s
recovered from a torn ACL in
2018 that forced him off the
bike for eight months. He’s
grateful for that and more.
Right now, Broc Raiford is
grateful to be a Red Bull
athlete. His sponsorship was
made official in September; he
was informed by friend and
BMX mentor Terry Adams, a
surprise moment captured on
video. Handed a team hat,
Raiford broke down in tears,
saying, “This is the best day
of my life.” He would later
call it a “dream come true.”
In terms of pathways to a
BMX career, Raiford, 26, has
led a charmed life. Growing
up in Destrehan, Louisiana,
near New Orleans, he was
encouraged to pursue action
sports. His father, Ryan, was
heavily into motocross, and
thus, so was young Broc. By
the time he was 12, Broc had
gravitated toward BMX, and
then so did Ryan. When Broc
was 16, Ryan bought an
indoor skatepark where Broc
rode frequently. Father-son
freestyle sessions followed,
and Broc signed his first pro
contract before graduating
high school.
Three years later, Ryan
loaded up the family van and
drove Broc from Louisiana to
California; Broc spent a year
in Huntington Beach before
settling in Long Beach. From
there, it’s been a mostly
upward career trajectory. In
June 2016 he took a bronze
medal at the Austin X Games
and won the Vans BMX Street
Invitational. He was sixth at
the Minneapolis X Games in
2017 and third at the 2018
Simple Session, a marquee
BMX event held in Estonia.
Then came the injury in
March 2018. While filming a
jump over a stair set, Raiford
pulled a flawless 360 over the
stairs. The videographer
requested a second shot from
a different angle, to illustrate
how tall the stair set was.
Raiford did the jump, lost his
balance in the air and put a
leg down, tearing the ACL and
meniscus in his left knee. It
was “just a dab,” Raiford says.
“It would be like tearing your
ACL going around a turn on a
sidewalk and just putting your
foot out to keep yourself from
falling over.” For a month after
surgery, he couldn’t walk at all.
The injury temporarily
neutralized a key strength: his
power. At 6-foot-1 and 210
pounds, Raiford is larger than
the average BMX pro. His
strength lets him hop higher
than his competitors, allowing
him to reach obstacles that
others can’t. But the muscular
atrophy that resulted from his
surgery took that away. He
underwent “grueling” physical
therapy, often five days a
week, for eight months.
Though he was back at it
in 2019, finishing fourth at
Simple Session and sixth at X
Games Minneapolis, Raiford
looks at the past season as a
“recovery year”—which made
the Red Bull contract even
more gratifying. Throughout
his career, Raiford had held
out for Red Bull, turning away
offers from other brands.
“Growing up in Louisiana,
being close friends with Terry
[Adams], he was the dude
from my area who had made
it as a BMX rider,” Raiford
Raiford has the
size and strength
to execute moves
that other BMX
competitors
can’t pull off.
MARV WATSON, ROBBY KLEIN
10

“WHEN I’M OUT FILMING,
THE CREATIVITY IS
FLOWING.”
explains. “It was cool to see
Terry make a name for
himself and do all these great
things. He really inspired me
to follow a similar path. I saw
that he was with Red Bull,
how they treated him, and I
just knew that was something
I wanted for myself. That was
a motivator for me to become
the best BMX rider I could be.”
It might be natural to
assume that a guy like
Raiford—an accomplished
artist who’s covered in
tattoos—would gravitate
toward the more expressive
side of freestyle BMX, not the
more structured world of
competition, where subjective
judging determines podium
placings. But when asked
which he prefers, the
intensity of competition or
the improvisation of filming,
Raiford says they are two
sides of the same coin: “It’s
hard to compare, because
they’re so different. When
I’m out filming, the creativity
is flowing. It’s just whatever
you feel like doing that day.
You can do that and film that
and be stoked and feel the
success of that.”
But he likes the challenges
of contests, too. “At a contest,
there’s obviously a bit of
pressure, but it’s a feeling that
I’ve come to enjoy,” he says. “I
enjoy the challenge of having
to work through what’s going
to score highly, what’s not—
can I land these two tricks in
the same run together and
still have the stamina to land
other tricks? I love how it’s
two totally different mental
processes, and they are both
an acquired skill.”
The Red Bull deal wasn’t
the only major change for
Raiford heading into 2020.
At the end of 2019 he parted
ways with his longtime bike
sponsor, Volume, to join
Sunday Bikes. He rewarded
his new partners with his first
overall victory since his
injury, winning the Joyride
Street Invitational in January.
And in February he finished
second at Simple Session.
And for that, Broc Raiford
was grateful.—Neal Rogers
11

Urban
Dance
LIKE A
DREAM
Tapping into her passion
for dance, Toyin
Sogunro has battled
cancer and other
struggles to find
success and community.
IAN WITLEN/RED BULL CONTENT POOL
12 THE RED BULLETIN

T H E D E P A R T U R E
“I HAVE A GUMBO
POT OF MOVEMENT.”
When asked to put
into words what
it feels like when
she is dancing at her best,
Toyin Sogunro describes pure
happiness.
“It’s blissful,” the 33-yearold
dancer says. “You don’t see
anyone there, but you feel
them. It’s like a dream. You’re
not in control in a way, and so
you don’t know what’s next.”
It’s a chilly day in early
January, but Sogunro looks
peaceful as she sips coconut
soup at a tea house across the
street from the National
Archives in Washington, D.C.
She also looks ready for a
dance battle at any moment.
As a sought-after dancer and
teacher of house, hip-hop and
other forms of urban dance,
she is away from her
hometown roughly eight
months out of the year and
happy to be back on a break.
For anyone who has
witnessed her dancing live or
on YouTube, her movement is
both otherworldly and yet
completely down-to-earth;
possessed yet in control. You
want to bottle the look of joy
on her face. She’s dancing in
front of an audience, sure, but
she’s not dancing for them.
Her dreamlike state is guided
by something deeper: her
ancestors, her heart, her feet.
“I have that kind of gumbo
pot of movement—a little bit
of that homegrown gospel
country mixed with an African
foundation—along with a city
hip-hop girl,” she says after
explaining that her father is
Nigerian and her late mother
was “country” from Southern
Maryland.
But she wasn’t always this
comfortable with improvised
dance. As a preteen, she once
made it to the final round of
auditions for a Debbie Allen
production. By then, she had
been studying ballet, modern
and jazz for years, but when
asked to improvise something,
Sogunro was stuck. “You had
some kids doing backflips,” she
remembers. “Everybody had
their own little thing. And I
just felt like I don’t know what
else to do.”
Years later, when she was
taking community college
classes and living at home with
her parents, she got another
invitation to improvise, this
time while auditioning to
become a mentee of Junious L.
Brickhouse, founder of the
D.C.-area dance company
Urban Artistry. Brickhouse
randomly threw on an Anita
Baker track.
“She killed it,” Brickhouse
recalls. “She was in her own
element. Her level of talent and
understanding of music and
movement isn’t normal. She
has a connection not only to
the movement but to herself.”
Sogunro is now a co-artistic
director at Urban Artistry.
Sogunro’s breakout
moment came in March 2011,
when she and her dance
partner, LaTasha Barnes, won
the Juste Debout competition
in Paris. It was their first time
competing in a major
international dance contest.
All of a sudden, the women
found themselves in the housedance
final, battling a pair of
dancers, UK and P-Jay, whom
they’d long admired from afar.
“It was a weird moment,”
Sogunro remembers. “People
knew our names. It made us feel
valid in what we were doing.”
After Debout, offers to
teach house dance started
coming in from around the
world. She also became a
regular at global competitions
such as Red Bull Dance Your
Style and many others.
On the circuit, she has seen
firsthand how women are
sometimes pigeonholed and
tokenized within the housedance
scene. Often the more
aggressive styles of house are
viewed as more difficult or
impressive, while techniques
that are more subtle—and
often evoke the feminine—are
downplayed or simply
overlooked. “It’s not that you
have to be aggressive,” she
says. “It’s just being assertive in
any movement. And if you’re
assertive, then you’re there to
battle as well.”
Last year was another
turning point for her career:
She finally felt comfortable
leaving her longtime survival
job, working at daycare
centers. “It was really weird to
come back to regular life,” she
says. “To keep going back and
forth mentally, it was like, ‘I
can’t continue like that.’ ”
For now, Sogunro focuses
on living in the moment and
remembering not to take life
for granted—and for good
reason: Six years ago she was
diagnosed with thyroid cancer
and underwent multiple
radiation treatments. Her
cancer didn’t respond much to
treatment, but thankfully, it
hasn’t gotten worse. In the
meantime, she says, her doctors
are keeping a close eye on it.
“Luckily for me, I’m able to
still dance,” she says. “I still
travel. It’s stressful and then
it’s also weird, because I’m able
to forget it in a way.”
Later this year, Sogunro
plans to relocate to Los Angeles
with the hope of growing the
Nefer Movement, an all-womenof-color
dance collective she
co-founded in 2018. It’s time to
do for others what Brickhouse
did for her, she says.
“I think as women, we
really have to support each
other,” she says. “And knowing
that I have the opportunity to
inspire somebody else helps
me push myself. I tell everyone:
‘Be fearless. Do your thing.’ ”
—Beandrea July
THE RED BULLETIN 13

Pease Brothers
STAYING POWER
Together, two siblings have conquered
endurance races to promote greater awareness
for disabled athletes. This April, they’re taking on
the Boston Marathon.
Brent and Kyle Pease
aren’t afraid of huge
challenges. In fact,
they pay and travel long
distances to pursue them.
As a push-assist racing team
that has competed together for
nearly a decade, the brothers
have learned how to keep
each other going strong while
overcoming obstacles
including monsoon-like
conditions, pothole-riddled
roads and the sheer fatigue
that accompanies longdistance
races​. Kyle, who was
born with cerebral palsy and
rides in a specially designed
wheelchair pushed by his
brother, has developed
a keen sense of when Brent
needs encouragement.
Sometimes he’ll recite the
uplifting mantra from The
Little Engine That Could to
boost their spirits: I think I can,
I think you can, I think we can,
I think we can . . .
Other times, stronger
language is necessary: “In
Hawaii [at the Ironman World
Championship race], I needed
to utter a few things not
suitable for print,” Kyle jokes.
“We call those the brotherly
moments that you don’t always
hear about.”
The unwavering support of
the Pease brothers extends
beyond their team of two.
Since the day Kyle and Brent
completed their first triathlon
together in 2011, their mission
has been to support other
athletes in the disabled
community. “After we crossed
the finish line, Kyle said to me,
‘I want others to be able to
experience this as well,’ ” Brent
recounts. “And that was the
catalyst for the Kyle Pease
Foundation.”
Kyle and Brent founded KPF​
hoping to improve the lives of
disabled men and women of all
ages by helping them compete
in endurance-sports events.
The Atlanta-based nonprofit
has since supported 85 unique
athletes across more than 400
finish lines, raising nearly
$3 million for their cause.
Kathy Labus, a mother of
twin boys with cerebral palsy,
felt the positive effect of the
foundation firsthand when
she and her son Andrew were
invited to participate with the
KPF Team in the 2019 Publix
Half Marathon. They were
overwhelmed by the
encouragement they received.
“Kyle and Brent were so open
and warm, we immediately
felt welcome—like we were
part of something,” says Labus.
“My son was just completely
in awe of Kyle, and I’m in awe
of both of them.”
Plus, the race itself was
a pleasant surprise for the
mother-son duo. “So many
times, in special-needs events, it
can be awkward, disorganized
and uncomfortable,” Labus
shares. “You often feel like you
don’t belong.”
Too many endurance races​
are plagued by a lack of
organization and universal
inclusion—a problem the Kyle
Pease Foundation seeks to
resolve. Greater inclusivity is
needed in sporting events
where the space for disabled
athletes to compete is limited,
or even nonexistent.
“The biggest thing is really
the amount of opportunities
there are,” says Brent, noting
that most major U.S. road
races offer only a few slots
for disabled athletes. “I hope
the disability category in
competitive sports continues
to organize and be recognized
for what it is—and for the
opportunities it provides
somebody like Kyle and the
other athletes that we serve.”
For the Boston Marathon,
which typically has around
Brent and Kyle
Pease competing
during the 2018
Ironman World
Championship.
Left: In 2018, Brent and Kyle Pease became the first push-assisted team of brothers to finish the
Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii. Right: The brothers at a 2012 triathlon in Georgia.
14 THE RED BULLETIN

T H E D E P A R T U R E
J.D. JOHNSON (2), GETTY IMAGES
30,000 runners toeing the
starting line, the maximum
field size for push-assist
athletes is 10 teams. Last
spring Kyle and Brent qualified
for the iconic race and will be
among those few competitors.
For the “Boston Pease
Party,” what’s the game plan?
Brent says they’ll aim for
speed but also to enjoy every
moment of the unique
experience. And, of course, to
use the race as a platform for
disability advocacy.
To help accomplish this
part of their mission, KPF is
partnering with the Hoyt
Foundation, a revered, Bostonbased
nonprofit that has been
building awareness for pushassist
athletes for more than 30
years, the work of the original
push-assist duo, father and son
Dick and Rick Hoyt. “The
Hoyts blazed a trail that so
many of us now follow,” Brent
says. “We will support their
local efforts in the New
England area in addition to
sharing our work with their
network.” With the common
goal of empowering disabled
athletes, the two nonprofits
will be placing a total of eight
teams in the race.
As they embark on their
second decade of competing in
endurance events, Kyle and
Brent have found that racing
together has fortified their
relationship. “We’ve always
had a strong bond, but racing
has allowed us to continue to
strengthen that bond at a time
when many families naturally
drift to follow their own
paths,” says Brent. “We are
incredibly fortunate to be able
to continue to share a path
together.” —Paige Triola
“WE’VE
ALWAYS
HAD A
STRONG
BOND.”
THE RED BULLETIN 15

T H E D E P A R T U R E
Kleiner
Valkastiel,
Austria
SKY FALL
Freerider Fabrian Lentsch and
alpinists Stefan Ager and Andreas
Gumpenberger made history in March
2019 when they did the first-ever ski
run from a Zeppelin. The trio rappelled
165 feet from the airship onto the
7,326-foot summit of Kleiner Valkastiel
in the Eastern Alps, then descended
down the untouched slope to a car that
was waiting for them at the bottom.
“We thought it was weird,” Ager told
Red Bull at the time, “but it was more
than that. It was totally surreal. It felt
like rappelling out of a cloud.”

MIRJAGEH.COM
17

T H E D E P A R T U R E
Los Angeles,
California
A PERFECT
BALANCE
Photographer Dan Krauss has a talent for
conveying motion, movement and emotion
that the audience not only sees but feels.
“I had worked with Joel a few times before
and knew he had an incredible gift for
fearless hand balancing and hucking back
flips off of just about anything,” says
Krauss about parkour athlete Joel Fridman-
Rojas, his subject here. “Joel didn’t seem
nervous at all and actually followed up this
image later that day with another
handstand three stories above the street
on the edge of the Walt Disney Concert
Hall. We were asked to leave shortly after.”
Instagram: @dankrauss

19

Emmanuel Jal and Nyaruach
LOVE CONQUERS ALL
From surviving the civil war in Sudan as children
to performing for Nelson Mandela, these Afropop
siblings are committed to promoting hope.
When Sudanese
musician
Emmanuel Jal
performs, he expresses joy
with his whole body: flailing
limbs, whipping hair, bouncing
on the spot. His sister and
creative collaborator,
Nyaruach—she goes by only a
single name— has more poise,
but is just as animated. On
“Gatlauk,” a song from the
duo’s 2018 album, Naath, she
sings in her mother tongue,
Nuer, castigating a shifty
potential lover over an
irresistible dance beat.
This uplifting experience
seems at odds with the
siblings’ stories. In the early
’80s, as small children, they
were separated from their
family during the second
Sudanese civil war, which
killed an estimated 2 million
people. By 7, Emmanuel was in
the Sudan People’s Liberation
Army, as detailed in his
memoir, War Child: A Child
Soldier’s Story. Nyaruach
endured rape by government
officials, and both lost
countless loved ones, some
killed in front of their eyes.
Ultimately, both were able
to escape to Kenya, where they
were reunited, and in 2005
they sang together on
Emmanuel’s breakout hit,
“Gua” (“Peace”). Since then,
Emmanuel has performed at a
Live 8: Africa Calling concert
in the U.K.; co-starred in a
movie with Reese Witherspoon
(2014’s The Good Lie) and
founded an NGO. While her
brother is now based in
Toronto, Nyaruach has been
living in a Kenyan refugee
camp with her two kids.
The contrast between the
trauma of their lives and the
buoyancy of their music is
striking, but, as they explain
from a north London Airbnb
the afternoon before a packed
gig nearby, it makes sense. “We
want to lift people,” Emmanuel
says. “We want them to walk
home light.”
the red bulletin:
Nyaruach, you had to leave
Kenya recently—why was
that?
nyaruach: When I came here
[to the U.K. on a 2018 tour]
and then went back to Nairobi,
government agents were trying
to call me on a private number.
If they can call you, they can
kidnap you and kill you, so you
have to run. So I don’t sleep in
the house where my children
are. I have to sleep in different
houses and switch off my
phone. I was scared. It’s like
the government of South
Sudan [are in contact] with
the government of Nairobi. I
got involved in politics because
of what I’ve seen. If you lose
your father, mother or sister,
you cannot keep quiet, even if
you will be killed; I have to say
it is wrong. This is not the way
women talk in South Sudan,
because they don’t have a
voice. Now there’s nowhere
to live. I ran away from South
Sudan, then from Nairobi.
I need to continue my music.
I’m now trying to get asylum
here. I’ve been in Liverpool for
two months, but I’m homeless.
We sleep in a big hall, like
soldiers, waiting for the home
office to give us housing.
ej: In the area we come from,
60 people close to our family
got killed. Our brother was
shot on the phone as he talked
to our younger brother. People
are being targeted, especially
where we come from. So now
I talk about it, she talks about
it. The issues that are hard to
communicate are rape,
kidnapping and mass killing. If
[Nyaruach] goes into a refugee
camp now, she’s visible; she’s
famous, so she can’t hide. And
there are spies there who could
get you kidnapped.
What are your hopes for the
future?
n: To be like [Emmanuel].
I want to help people who
need it. In South Sudan,
women are bowing down to
men. They don’t allow women
to have jobs. I want to fight
for women and teach them
through my music.
Are there other messages
you’re communicating with
your songs?
ej: The coolest thing with
music—and sport—is that
tribes fade away. When I was
a child soldier, I hated Muslims
and my desire was to kill as
many as possible. I don’t feel
like that now, but at the time
I was confused when they
brought a Muslim singer to
do a show for us. I couldn’t
understand. Everyone was
[fighting] to be at the front
[of the audience]: soldiers,
children, refugees. It was
amazing! Music has no
boundaries. It’s like the wind.
It’s like love.
Instagram: @ nyaruachmusic;
emmanueljal.com
IAN VOGLER/DAILY MIRROR JESS HOLLAND
20 THE RED BULLETIN

T H E D E P A R T U R E
“MUSIC HAS NO
BOUNDARIES.
IT’S LIKE
THE WIND. IT’S
LIKE LOVE.”
THE RED BULLETIN 21

Rising Seas Wetsuit
TOXIC WAVES
Two marine specialists have teamed up to envision
a future of surfing that’s terrifying and amazing at
the same time.
Imagine the scene: The
waves are pumping, so
you head down to the
beach for an early morning
surf session. On the sand, you
pull on your wetsuit, gloves,
booties and full-face mask,
then switch on your respirator
and look at the glowing
dashboard on your arm to
check the current bacteria
levels, water toxicity, radiation
and air quality. And off you
run toward the infected water,
safely protected by your suit’s
toxin-and-radiation-absorbing
bio-defense system.
This is the terrifying image
that surf brand Vissla and the
environmental nonprofit
Surfrider Foundation have
created with their conceptual
Rising Seas wetsuit—a
futuristic bio-defense suit
designed to enable surfers to
“face the emerging ecological
crisis” while in the water. The
suit will tell you when solar
radiation is dangerously high,
protect your body from toxins
and send messages of caution
through an LED display mask.
“We wanted to design
something high-tech that
people would really want, like
when the newest iPhone
comes out,” says Chad Nelsen,
CEO of the Surfrider
Foundation. “Hopefully they’d
then be hit with the reality of
how sad and scary it is that we
might need something like
this in the future.”
As yet, this suit is only a
concept, engineered by the
two companies to make the
public sit up and take notice,
but they claim we’re not far
away from it becoming the
new reality if we don’t change
our ways. “You could really
wear this wetsuit in certain
places in the world today,”
says Vince De La Pena, Vissla’s
vice president of global
marketing. “There are places
where the water pollution is
already that bad.”
1
4
5
3
2
1. LED DISPLAY MASK
Presents data from
the control center in
a visual form
2. GRIP PADS
Located on the torso,
shoulders, elbows,
knees and feet, to
ensure adhesion in
oily conditions
3. SMART SEAMS
Built-in iron-oxide
nanorods track
bacteria levels, water
toxicity and air
quality; seams light
up to indicate
dangerously high
radiation levels
4. CONTROL CENTER
Raw data from the
smart seams is
processed here; the
data is accessed via
the touchscreen and
sent to the mask
5. ANTI-R JERSEY
Woven from
polyester threads,
nanoparticles of
lead and anti-algal
substances to
inhibit radiation
and pollutants
VISSLA LOU BOYD
22 THE RED BULLETIN

T H E D E P A R T U R E
Playlist
HOW TO
BE CHILL
The Australian psychedelic
rock project Tame Impala
creates music to escape
from reality. Here are four
tunes that help its creator
switch off and relax.
Ever since the release of his
third album, The Current,
in 2015, Tame Impala
mastermind Kevin Parker has been
hailed as the new messiah of rock
music by the media as well as by
prominent fans such as Kanye West
and Rihanna. Which is surprising
in a way, because the millennial
hippie from Perth, Australia, with
hundreds of millions of streams and
a Coachella headline slot under his
belt, doesn’t write obvious anthems
but strange, psychedelic songs. His
latest album, The Slow Rush (out
now), was five years in the making
and took the recording-studio nerd
to the brink of exhaustion. Here are
the songs that helped the 34-yearold
to calm down, relax—and have
a good night’s dream.
tameimpala.com
NEIL KRUG MARCEL ANDERS
BEE GEES
“EVERY CHRISTIAN LION-
HEARTED MAN” (1967)
“Let’s start with early, early
Bee Gees. This is such a beautiful
tune, like super ’60s, kind of
psychedelic ’60s. It’s Bee Gees
before their disco era! Mark
Ronson showed me this song,
actually. It’s groovy but it’s
dreamy. It’s perfect music to
escape to—which is all I’m trying
to achieve in my own music, too.”
SUPERTRAMP
“GOODBYE STRANGER” (1979)
For me this song works just
like cannons and lasers. Anyone
who’s been showered in confetti
or experienced a laser show
understands the value of them:
It’s a way of giving people an
experience that they don’t have
every day. This song does that
for me. At the same time, it’s
the song that I would want to
fall asleep to most.”
AIR
“RUN” (2004)
“This is incredibly beautiful
and serene music. I’d say that’s
the song I really want to take me
off to the clouds. But I would also
equally use Air to wake up to.
Because it gets you inspired for
the day. Guess what: I’ve put it on
repeat and gone to sleep in the
same room and woke up in the
morning and it was still playing.
Made me feel really good.”
NEU!
“HALLOGALLO” (1972)
“That’s one of our favorites
from back in the day. We put
that song on a lot when we were
touring in the early days, like
driving through Australia. We’d
listened to the whole first Neu!
album, but this one’s my favorite.
It’s repetitive, hypnotic; it’s
perfect if I’m in my head too
much. If you don’t know that
song, give it a shot.”
THE RED BULLETIN 23

“I think the
arts can ignite a
global change,”
says McNeal, who
was photographed
in Kansas City
on January 13.
Flipping
the Script
Growing up in the hood in Kansas City, Angela
“Angyil” McNeal escaped adversity through
years of ballet training, but street dancing was
where she finally expressed her voice.
Words LAKIN STARLING
Photography ATIBA JEFFERSON
27

Inside her high school
alma mater, the Paseo
Academy of Fine and
Performing Arts,
Angyil resembles a
heroine in Fame.
I
n the lobby of Kansas City’s Paseo
Academy of Fine and Performing Arts on
a cold Monday afternoon, the smell of
used textbooks and cafeteria lunches
delivers a rush of high school nostalgia,
while the sound of a band rehearsal
rattles off nearby. Lining the walls are
photos of the mostly black alumni—
musicians, painters and thespians.
Farther down, through a winding
corridor and double doors that lead
into the school’s auditorium, worldrenowned
street dancer Angyil McNeal,
Paseo Class of 2010, is having a real fullcircle
moment. Today, her formative
alma mater is one of the locations for
our Red Bulletin photo shoot. Behind the
auditorium’s show curtain, Angyil is in
her element, slinking through nimble
moves as she performs for the camera.
It’s instantly evident why she flourishes
as a battle dancer around the globe. Full
of warm energy, she flows through each
flash like an exotic bird. Her arms are
contorted behind her back like wings,
and within seconds she’s in an upsidedown
backbend with the crown of her
head on the ground, looking straight
back into the lens.
She’s mesmerizing. And when it
comes to her body, Angyil knows what
to do to make each pose count. Her
burgundy-quilted Nike jogger pants
swish as she pop-locks and works the red
backdrop. “That wasn’t good; I felt it,”
she says after ending a jump with a twirl.
Without seeing the frame, she selfcorrects
the misstep and lands perfectly
on the mark. This precision is a result of
the ballet classes Angyil began taking at
the age of 10. Her years of discipline are
apparent in the poise and posture that
she weaves into her hip-hop technique.
“I started dancing with ballet, modern
and jazz when I was selected to be in an
Alvin Ailey dance camp,” she says. “At
the time, there was a lot going on around
me in my environment that I didn’t want
to be a part of. I was dancing to stay out
of trouble.”
28 THE RED BULLETIN

“I was dancing
to stay out of
trouble.”
Behind the curtain of
Paseo’s auditorium,
Angyil hits her marks
with the precision of
a trained ballerina.

Angela “Angyil” McNeal was born
in the late spring of 1992 in
Kansas City, Missouri. Raised by
her single mom, Angyil is the youngest of
eight siblings, whom she says sometimes
felt like “five mothers and three fathers.”
They all did their best to protect Angyil
from the harsh conditions of the
struggling neighborhoods they lived in
throughout Kansas City. Although her
family was able to help give Angyil
structure and steer her in a more
promising direction, she still has clear
memories of some of the pain she saw
and felt around her growing up. “We
moved around a lot,” she says. “Living in
a house for less than a year was normal.”
Out of the many neighborhoods where
Angyil’s family relocated, Troost and
Prospect are the places she stayed the
longest. “Prospect was actually one of
the worst neighborhoods back then, so I
saw a lot of destruction. There would be
drive-by shootings, people would get hit
by cars,” she says, revealing a nervous
smile. She knows it’s not a joking matter
and explains that laughing at the trauma
sometimes is a way for her to cope.
She recalls the cautionary instructions
her mother wanted her to follow while
walking home from school. It wasn’t safe
to take certain streets, and it was crucial
to keep walking ahead as she passed
corners packed with drug activity. “I
remember seeing that when I was a little
girl, but I really didn’t think anything of
it because I thought it was normal,” she
says. “Until I realized that it’s not.”
Once she got to high school at Paseo
Academy, Angyil was able to push
through a lot of the turmoil that
continued to crowd her adolescence. As
we revisit her school dance studio for
the shoot, I notice that all the walls are
covered with mirrors, seemingly
increasing the space in the light-filled
enclave tucked away from the busy
hallway. It was here that Angyil’s love
for dance grew into the one thing she’d
rather do more than anything else.
Angyil recently bought a house in
Prospect, so we find retreat there after
the photo shoot. It’s a humble but
spacious bungalow that sits at the top of
a block, not far from her old high school.
These days, Angyil is dancing with Red
Bull, Cirque du Soleil and World of
Dance, so it’s not outlandish for her to
travel to three countries in one week.
When she’s not on the road, it’s
important for her to feel at home back in
her community. There’s a basement that
she wants to turn into a gym and dance
studio. In the living room, there are tape
outlines on the floor for the furniture she
hasn’t had the time to buy yet, so we sit
on quilts that make the room feel like
a meditation lair. At 27, Angyil has
reclaimed some of the security and peace
she craved as a youth. Early on, she
learned that in order to be a dancer and
find success beyond her hometown, she
would have to be fearless.
As we discuss her childhood, it
becomes clear that the seeds of Angyil’s
greatness were planted in her backyard,
during summer parties with her family.
Young Angyil would get in the middle of
the yard and show off her dance moves,
but at first, her older sisters teased her.
“They would be like, ‘Oh, my God, you
can’t dance! What is wrong with you?’ ”
she laughs. But that didn’t stop Angyil.
Soon after those early ribbings, she’d
improved so much that her mother and
sisters realized she had a real gift.
To most technical dancers, beginning
the craft in middle school, as Angyil did,
would be considered a very late start.
But her countless hours of practice at
family functions, combined with her
hunger and natural talent, helped get her
up to speed. “I have this belief that when
you are passionate about something, it
doesn’t matter what time you start,
because your passion will help you catch
up,” she says. “You’ll stay up in the
middle of the night, like playing catch-up
for all the years lost.” This pursuit of
dance heightened when, at age 16, she
could no longer ignore the way that
ballet’s strict structure had been stifling
Angyil shares a hug with her former dance
teacher, Paula Lang.
30

“It doesn’t matter what time
you start, because your
passion will help you catch up.”
It was here, inside
Paseo Academy’s
mirrored studio, that
dance became the
passion of her life.

With ballet, Angyil’s
soul said, “This is
not who we are.”

TOMISLAV MOZE/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, GETTY IMAGES
As a contestant on NBC’s World of Dance, Angyil
surprised judges with her improvised routines.
her free spirit and expression. It had
become too rigid for the bursting teen,
who felt like she had more to say with
her body than ballet could ever allow.
“For a moment ballet was cool,
because I was ignoring a large portion of
my life that consisted of pain,” she says.
“But then as I got older, I’m like, You
can’t run away from this—this trauma.
You can’t run away from reality. I wanted
to embrace it.”
“I felt like in ballet I had to pretend to
be something that I wasn’t all the time,”
she continues. “I had to put my hair in
a bun, put on makeup and pretend that
everything was OK. My hair is an Afro,
and I got tired of slicking it down with gel
just to make sure it didn’t fizzle. My soul
said, This is not who we are. We’re raw and
we want to express how we feel in the
most authentic way and not have to edit
it. That life wasn’t for me anymore.”
After graduating early from Paseo
Academy, Angyil hung up her pointe
shoes and followed her heart to do hiphop—specifically
popping—full-time.
A lot of people were disappointed with
her for leaving behind what they thought
was a ticket to stardom. After being in
the elite Alvin Ailey Camp in Kansas City,
she appeared well on her way to New
York to work with the company following
high school graduation. There were high
hopes for Angyil to flourish in the ballet
world, but when she had a change of
heart, it shocked her supporters.
“Everyone was like, ‘We’re emotionally
invested in this. We’re living vicariously
through you.’ Maybe I would have
stopped sooner, but I didn’t want to let
them down,” she says.
For Angyil, there was no turning back,
and if she was going to step out, she had
to take chances. At 16 she moved to the
Bronx, New York, with the guts to make
it all worth something. At first her family
was skeptical of her moving so far away
at such a young age, but they were also
proud. “I was hungry,” she remembers.
“Figuratively and literally.” Hardened
by growing up in Prospect and Troost,
Angyil had some wisdom about how to
maneuver through life, and she quickly
adapted to the big city.
She made friends and started putting
on subway and street shows with other
female dancers. One time, her crew was
arrested for profiting from a train
performance, but she boasts about their
mugshots, where they all vogued for the
camera. “I was like, if I’m going to get
taken to jail, this is how I want to go,”
she laughs.
New York’s tough crowds didn’t deter
Angyil from dancing either. As she
established herself in the city, she
continued to do street shows for four
years. Most of the time she went home
with a profit, and similar to her backyard
sets, the setting offered free practice
space for her to sharpen her moves. “It
taught me to believe in myself,” she says.
“It was really tough some days. It gave
me a lot of character.”
At 18 she got an even clearer vision
of what her future in dance could look
like when she signed up for a battle
back in her hometown. Brimming with
ambition, Angyil returned to Kansas City
to compete, but there she says she lost
due to shady politics and biased judges
who assumed she was a New Yorker on
the opponent’s turf and not a KC native.
The frustrating loss became a turning
point in her journey, and it lit a fire
for her to study and work hard enough
to eventually make battling her bread
and butter.
It’s been a long day, so Angyil pauses
to pour herself a glass of white wine.
She doesn’t have many chances to
unwind, and even in moments of rest
or stillness, she makes sure to take the
time to warm up her muscles and get
in a few push-ups and squats to stay in
shape. Because she often lives in hotel
rooms across the world, it’s not
uncommon for her to assemble a
makeshift gym out of chairs and tables.
After our day together and a big meal
full of Asian food, Angyil mentions that
she wants to squeeze in a cardio session
and run the stairs. It makes sense. For
someone who’s known for her ability
to freestyle through most of her
performances, she makes it a point to
stay battle ready.
In 2017, after eight years of living in
New York, Angyil dared herself to take
another leap: move to Europe and get in
the ring. With just $90 in her bank
account, she first headed to Amsterdam
and spent months couch-surfing with
friends across Berlin, Paris and Denmark
for competitions. “I was winning all the
battles,” she says. “People eventually
were like, ‘Who is this girl?’ ”
Angyil was already known in the
U.S., but her reputation—along with
viral videos of her dominating her
opponents—were spreading fast. When
the jokey and easygoing Angyil switches
into battle mode, it’s riveting to watch;
she becomes laser-focused on taking
her challenger out of the running. Last
October, at the Red Bull Dance Your
Style World Finals in Paris, a mixedgender
competition featuring different
At the 2019 Red
Bull Dance Your
Style World Finals
in Paris, Angyil
finished second.
THE RED BULLETIN 33

street styles, she annihilated another
dancer during one battle with a dizzying
solo to Missy Elliot’s “Get Ur Freak On.”
All of her moves are unplanned yet
totally seamless, and packed with sparks
of energy. (At the World Finals, which
were the culmination of more than 50
events in 30 different countries, Angyil
finished as the first runner-up.)
Like a true Gemini, she accesses other
parts of her persona with ease. “I can
relate to and tap into different characters
from movies,” she explains. Maybe that
character can do supernatural things, like
climb walls. Or be a little sinister. “I also
have a side that’s similar to the Joker,”
she adds. “It just depends on the song.”
As bizarre as some of her contortions
look to the audience, I ask if making
these powerful shapes with her limbs
feels surreal for her, too.
“I’ve had moments of looking at
myself and thinking, that’s not me,” she
admits. “It’s a possession. There are
times when things take over and I’m not
in control anymore. At this point, this
feeling is definitely in control and
controlling me.”
There’s a real sense of spirit in Angyil
when she dances. Earlier in the afternoon,
the crew stopped to capture video
footage of her dancing out on the street,
and it was as if she commanded the
sunlight to shine over her as she lightly
glided through puddles of melting snow.
These higher commands are able to
speak through her because she works
hard to stay open. “When you allow
yourself and make yourself vulnerable—
I don’t know what’s going to happen
either. As the artist, I try to be vulnerable
and try to feel as much as I can,” she says
with humility.
But once she leaves a performance,
Angyil doesn’t linger in those moments
34 THE RED BULLETIN

“It’s a possession. There
are times when things take
over and I’m not in control.”
When Angyil creates
shapes with her limbs,
it can feel a bit surreal
for her, too: “I’ve had
moments of looking at
myself and thinking,
that’s not me.”
THE RED BULLETIN 35

for long. To her there are always
improvements and progress to make, so
she takes her wins in stride and remains
humble. A few years ago she got an
invitation from NBC’s hit competition
show World of Dance, with an offer to
bypass auditions for a guaranteed spot
to compete. This was after she was
honored as Freestyler of the Year at the
World of Dance Awards the year before.
Although Angyil was eliminated early
on in the second season, her audacious
style made an impact.
For one of her solos on the reality
show, Angyil smoothly entered the stage
in front of celebrity judges Ne-Yo, Derek
Hough and Jennifer Lopez. To C2C’s
quirky sampled blues track “Down the
Road,” she wowed the crowd with her
pulsing pops. The kicker? She freestyled
the entire piece. “They’d asked me not
to freestyle,” she explains. “I’m like, Oh,
absolutely. I’m not gonna freestyle. Are
you kidding me? I wasn’t going to say it,
but I was definitely going to freestyle,”
she laughs. To Angyil, creating
choreography is a bigger gamble than
getting out there and feeding off of all
the energies in the space.
Angyil has gained a lot of wisdom
through these opportunities, and she
doesn’t take them for granted. For the
past seven years she’s been teaching
classes around the world. At first she
wasn’t sure if she felt ready to take on
the role, but she knew what it felt like to
need a leader or someone to look up to.
“It helped to have people who taught
me,” she says. “It’d be selfish of me to rob
people of that same experience—to deny
them just because I felt a certain way in
my own personal life or felt like I didn’t
want to teach.”
This dedication to spreading her craft
leaves an authentic impression on the
beings and spaces that surround her.
There’s even tangible proof. In her old
neighborhood, there’s a spray-painted
mural of Angyil by the Kansas City artist
collective IT-RA, which we visited earlier
in the day. On a wall at 31st and Troost,
we see Angyil as a black angel, dancing
atop a rough cityscape. It’s life affirming
to witness her dancing in front of it. She
coasts in her ankle-length mudcloth coat,
embodying the triumph and resilience
that’s been immortalized in the portrait
behind her.
“Dancing has helped me work out
trauma and through a lot of craziness,”
she says. “I’m pretty sure it can do that
for many other people. I think the arts,
period, can ignite a global change.”
“Dancing has helped me
work out trauma and
through a lot of craziness.”
36

At 31st Street and
Troost Avenue in
Kansas City, a mural
by the artist collective
IT-RA depicts Angyil
dancing through the
city’s landscape.

THE ART OF
JAMAICAN
DANCEHALL
38 THE RED BULLETIN

Video still of Paula Ouch
at the dance from
Akeem Smith, Untitled,
2020. Multichannel
video installation
with sound.
COURTESY OF AKEEM SMITH
An upcoming solo
exhibit by
stylist and
multidisciplinary
artist Akeem
Smith uses
personal history
to offer an
intimate and
nostalgic window
into the heart and
soul of Jamaica’s
dancehall culture.
Words RAWIYA KAMEIR
THE RED BULLETIN 39

SMITH
IDENTIFIES
SQUARELY AS
AN INSIDER.
“My own family, this is
my source,” says Smith
of the inspiration for
key elements of his
upcoming show.
40 THE RED BULLETIN

Paula and Debbie
Ouch. Photographer
and date unknown.
PAUL SEPUYA, OUCH ARCHIVE/BEQUEATHED TO AKEEM SMITH
One day, when he was 6 years old, Akeem Smith
brought a dose of chaos to his primary school in
Kingston, Jamaica. He had popped a pair of colored
contact lenses into his eyes and strolled into class
like it was no big deal. Except, of course, that it kind
of was. “It was havoc. Everyone wanted to see,” he
remembers, a smile stretching across his warm
pillow of a face. The contacts, given to him by an
aunt, weren’t in themselves outrageous. They were
a fairly standard green or hazel, the kind that were
trendy in the late ’90s and early 2000s. But at an
age when many children are just mastering the
dexterous art of tying their shoes, Smith had already
planted himself in some far-off, fashionable future.
In a life peppered with evidence of what he calls
eccentricities, this was an early confirmation to Smith
of what he’d come to suspect about himself: that he
was a little bit different than many people around
him and a lot more willing to announce it. As a child,
Smith registered contacts-gate as permission from his
family to honor and pursue self-expression through
style. It was something cornily like destiny, then, that
he would go on to establish himself as a quietly
radical figure in New York’s fashion world, planting
left-of-center ideas that would trickle into the
mainstream. His CV includes work with the avantgarde,
post-identity brand Hood By Air, the legacy
Note from Photo Morris to Sandra Lee on the back of a photo. Chromogenic print, 1999.
house Helmut Lang and resourced, cool-obsessed
newcomers like Yeezy and V-Files.
But from the vantage point of time, Smith, now
28, can identify another, more complex motivator
underlying his experimentation. Born in the U.S. but
raised in Jamaica, he was acutely aware that the
gulf that separated him from his schoolmates and
neighbors in Kingston wasn’t just stylistic. It was
also structural. The ability to travel and to make a
life beyond the island offered access to a whole new
world. For the less fortunate, limited global mobility
often meant limited possibilities. “I think I was
doing things to show that I was a foreigner,” he says.
Even as its cultural production has for decades
been a galvanizing global force in the worlds of
music, fashion and dance, Jamaica sits at a complex
THE RED BULLETIN 41

SMITH ISN’T PRECIOUS WITH THE
MATERIAL BECAUSE HE DOESN’T
HAVE TO BE; HE’S LIVED IT.
intersection governed in part by the legacies of
colonialism, imperialism, capital and extractive
globalization. One unfortunate result: The nuanced
experiences of the real people creating the culture
are flattened to suit external narratives, beholden to
exploitative gazes and power-mitigated portrayals.
This intuitive understanding has long informed
Smith’s work as a stylist and creative director. But it
coalesces more obviously in a new creative endeavor
he is diligently embarking on: a major entry into the
formal art world, where sculpture, video and
installation offer new avenues to explore the layered
ideas and experiences that have shaped his worldview.
This spring, he’ll open his first solo gallery show in
collaboration with Red Bull Arts. The exhibition,
a multidisciplinary exploration of dancehall fashion
and culture called Akeem Smith: No Gyal Can Test, is
a bold step in manifesting his life’s work.
Photo of the Ouch Crew at the dance. Photographer and date unknown.
On a frigid afternoon in January, Smith has
commandeered a darkened corner in the
rear of Red Bull Arts’ West Chelsea location.
He’s wearing a tofu-colored T-shirt, a blue velour
Fubu zip-up with patriotic red and white accents
and slim navy pants that evoke something between
school uniform and contemporary athleisure.
Triangulated in a plush love seat, he dangles his feet
a few inches off the floor. A pair of brown snakeskin
square-toe mules from Martine Rose, adorned with
a gold chain, fits snugly over white athletic socks.
What would, frankly, register as a bizarre outfit on
anyone else looks perfectly chic on Smith.
In a few months, this space will be transformed
to host No Gyal Can Test. But for now, there’s much
work to complete. A collaborator is sloped over a
computer screen nearby, logging hundreds—maybe
even thousands, says Smith—of hours of ’90s
dancehall-party footage that will anchor the show’s
thematic, multichannel videos. He intermittently
drops out of this interview to call out directions to
his editor: This clip, of a woman in a transcendent
red leather outfit, should be filed under “Memory”;
that one, of a zebra-print-clad dancer writhing in
shallow water, belongs under “Reconstruction.”
Smith speaks slowly and deliberately, almost
Obama-like, as the proverbial wheels in his head
turn. And then he picks up where he left off, midsentence,
laser-focused on the thread of our
conversation long after I’ve lost it. On a back wall, a
generously sized whiteboard keeps track of his ideas
and progress. He’s only about a third of the way
through, he admits. But if he’s expressing little of
the panic you’d expect of a first-time artist pushing
up against a deadline, he says coolly, that’s because
he’s uniquely positioned to pull this show off.
“I know I have a certain eye. I know no one’s ever
going to see it [the same] way, so I’m not precious
with the material. There’s a bunch of dancehall
videos on YouTube. A bunch of people have tried
to do [similar] shit,” he says, a glint in his eye
suggesting he’s enjoying being shady. “But it’s just
not going to land because it feels like the intention
is, ‘Look what I’ve rediscovered!’ I’ve seen people
try to act like they’re some insiders or something
because they got a couple of clips.”
Smith, on the other hand, identifies squarely as
an insider. He grew up under the shadow of Ouch,
a custom tailoring shop owned and run by his
godmother. Ouch was home to designers who
shaped the look of ’90s Jamaican dancehall,
dressing both civilians and icons like Beenie Man,
Patra and Lady Saw, whose music and personal style
established them as some of the genre’s most visible
artists. Smith has since been passed the baton of its
legacy. Meanwhile, his grandmother co-owned a
club that incubated some of the fashion, culture and
music that defines dancehall. He’s not precious with
the material because he’s lived it. “The dancehall
community is not that big for it to have had [such
a significant] cultural impact on the world. And it’s
kind of even shunned upon in Jamaica,” Smith says.
The scene’s influence, which spread globally
through informal networks of party videos, is
indelible. Aesthetics like gravity-defying hairstyles,
42 THE RED BULLETIN

N/A, OUCH ARCHIVE, BEQUEATHED TO AKEEM SMITH
Four stills from Smith’s new video work capture his memory of
intimate moments that flowed between public and private
events. Clockwise from top left: a spread of refreshments from
a dance; a candid still of Photo Morris documenting a bashment;
being seen was sought after and celebrated in these spaces,
allowing room for creative expression and freedom to be as you
choose; a frozen moment at a funeral reveals the intimacy of this
community, from dancehall to real life; multichannel video
installation with sound, 2020. Bottom: a candid photo taken
outside a party illustrates the glitz that went into these affairs.
THE RED BULLETIN 43

Video still of dancehall queen Carlene from Akeem Smith, Untitled, 2020. Multichannel video installation with sound.
colorful, couture-style fashions and gymnastic
dances lent it an almost renegade cultural status.
And Smith was right in the middle of its boom.
Accordingly, No Gyal Can Test is informed by
Smith’s experience of being brought up between
Jamaica and New York. The show’s conceptual goals
are buoyed by his painstakingly collected archive of
images and videos of the dancehall scene at its peak.
It will also feature structures built out of material
sourced in the Kingston neighborhood he grew up
in. “My own family, this is my real source,” he says.
“Like, I don’t need to go far to find the inspo.”
After spending his first 11 years in Kingston,
Smith traversed a literal and figurative
ocean to resettle in Flatbush, Brooklyn.
Under the watchful eyes of his grandma and his
young mother, he quickly grew accustomed to life in
the U.S. The precocious kid skipped fifth grade—
he’d sidestepped third grade back in Jamaica—and
leaned into the unique nature of children who spend
a lot of time in the company of adults. Already a
clever student, he learned a slippery, intangible skill
that would help him navigate this new culture.
“Coming [to America], I realized I had a lot of
opportunity and I was going to take advantage of
that in any shape,” he says. “I realized pretty quickly
that there are a lot of shortcuts in America.”
Like many young New Yorkers, often grown
beyond their years and almost preternaturally
disposed to excel at one hustle or another, Smith
ventured into the real world early. His childhood
ambitions of being a broadcast journalist were
supplanted with plans to be a writer; in high school,
44 THE RED BULLETIN

Portraits by Photo Morris taken at dancehall bashments. Chromogenic prints, dates unknown.
NO GYAL CAN TEST ARCHIVE, BEQUEATHED TO AKEEM SMITH
he attended the famed Iowa Writers’ Summer
Workshop. In time, that too was supplanted by a
whole new interest: fashion. “I knew I wanted a
career that would align with my social life. And the
writing that I was trying to do was political writing.
I don’t think that would’ve worked,” he remembers.
“I was like, ‘Should I do fashion journalism?’ And
then I read fashion stories and I was like, ‘Oh my
God, am I going to write reviews on cuffs and shit?’ ”
A chance encounter with a stylist offered a
natural entry point to the fashion world. Smith
wasn’t writing about cuffs, but he was considering
them. By the time he went to college and worked
jobs in art and PR, Smith had accumulated another
decade’s worth of experiences that would sharpen
his perspective: A brief period of attending a Pan-
African Saturday school shaped his racial identity;
enrolling in a predominantly white Manhattan arts
high school opened all kinds of doors and
opportunities; being young and openly gay in the
city granted yet another set of experiences. His life
spanned so many seemingly disparate corners that
it necessitated a kind of self-awareness and facility
with fluid identity that would quietly steer his work.
“I wanted to create people, scenarios, themes
that covered all socioeconomic [classes]. Like, to
create a girl that cannot necessarily blend in, but
could be in any situation,” he remembers of his
point-of-view as a young stylist. “She can be in the
fucking hood, and be OK, and look great. And she
can be wherever else she’s at and look great, and
feel great, and just not be a weirdo. Because I think
that’s sort of what I was always looking for in a
friend, or I felt maybe that’s what I represented.”
THE RED BULLETIN 45

Photo of the Ouch Crew.
Photographer and date unknown.
OUCH ARCHIVE, BEQUEATHED TO AKEEM SMITH
46 THE RED BULLETIN

Fashion made it possible to do that. “The fashion
world is corporate. But I think why I like fashion
people is they definitely set the tone,” he points out.
“Fashion has the people with the open minds, and I
knew I wanted to be around open-minded people.”
And yet while fashion offered Smith room to
wiggle within an expanded worldview, it also
presented clear problems. The seeds of No Gyal Can
Test were planted a decade ago, when he saw an
editorial in a fashion magazine that made him
bristle. The story was intended as a reflection on
dancehall style and culture. But to Smith’s expert
eyes, the inaccuracies were clear, and dangerous.
They posed a problem for posterity, and for the
broader culture the piece incorrectly invoked.
“If someone gets that magazine in 10 years, it’s
far gone from what dancehall is. People are going
to think this is what it is,” says Smith. “And it got to
that whole erasure of culture. It struck that chord,
so I was like, I was destined to do something to
represent it accurately.”
Just outside Smith’s makeshift workspace is an
ad-hoc Kingston cityscape. The bright, whitewalled
space has been conquered by a newly
arrived shipment of materials he hand-selected on
a recent trip to Jamaica. Faded doors, corrugated
tin, scraps of all kinds lie in piles. Some, he says,
are from the remnants of his grandmother’s club.
Others were sourced in and around his childhood
neighborhood, objects that resonated with him for
one reason or another and that he is tasked with
turning into the structures that will anchor the show.
“I want to confront how people view images.
Some people do need to see certain things like
a frame in order to give it [meaning]. But I’m
somewhat challenging that. I’m so into
deprogramming people. Like, why do I think this
is cool? Because it’s in this frame on this wall?”
He’s careful to point out that he didn’t simply
take the items. He is concerned with ethically
procuring materials. That exchange is as much a part
of the piece as the objects themselves, a corrective in
the balance of power that often characterizes projects
of this nature. A similar ethos guided his acquisition
of a growing dancehall archive, including a trove
bequeathed from the Ouch family.
A few years after he decided to help archive and
preserve the history of his childhood, Smith went
to Jamaica to link up with a family friend, Photo
Morris, who had been tasked with documenting his
grandmother’s parties in their heyday. “He’s the one
that used to take most of the photos,” recalls Smith.
He was heartbroken to discover that Photo Morris
had been in a car crash that left him disabled from
the waist down and living in “squalor.” Smith began
to help out financially, eventually buying negatives
of Photo Morris’s work. “I was like, ‘Forget the prints.
Let me rescue the negatives.’ ” Soon he connected
with other family friends—photographers and
videographers who had between them amassed
years’ worth of dancehall documentation—and
began accumulating material. “They didn’t
understand [what I was doing] but they definitely
trusted me. They led on blind faith,” says Smith.
THE RED BULLETIN 47

Akeem Smith, Untitled, 2020 (still). Multichannel video
installation with sound.
People have tried to get video footage over the
years, and as a result, people like Photo Morris are
protective of their work. “They don’t let just anyone
in, especially if they feel they’re being lowballed or
something like that. And with me, I would just never
lowball anyone that looks like me. I made sure they
got how much I would’ve paid an American person.”
It was an investment. “I really used all my money
to do it because I just feel like it’s how you start
something,” he says. “I know what money equals in
a third-world place. It’s not just a financial thing. It’s
a domino effect. It’s just going to open more doors.”
The art world has long obsessed over identity, but
in recent years, the bounds of that identity have
expanded. As the author and cultural theorist Kevin
Quashie wrote, there has been lately, when it comes
to art made by black people, a will “to move beyond
the emphasis on resistance, and to suggest that
concepts like surrender, dreaming, and waiting can
remind us of the wealth of black humanity.”
When I mention this to Smith, pointing out
connections in black cultural expression between
Lagos and Kingston and Atlanta, he rejects the
conceit. “Is it black culture just because a black
person is doing it?” he asks. “With the show, I’m
not addressing anything that is obviously black.”
Still, No Gyal Can Test is at once a study and
repudiation of identity. “People always reference
black women in hiding. I wanted it to be obvious
Akeem Smith, Untitled, 2020 (still). Multichannel video installation with sound.
this is the source of everything that I know and like
and want,” he says. “It has an element of black
portraiture, giving name to unknown subjects of
history, shit like that. We go to museums all the
time and we see people on the walls that we don’t
fucking know what they fucking contributed. It’s
like, why can’t other communities, of any color,
have the same?”
Akeem Smith: No Gyal Can Test runs April 9 to
June 28 at Red Bull Arts New York before traveling
to Red Bull Arts Detroit in the fall.
48 THE RED BULLETIN

“I WANT TO
CONFRONT HOW
PEOPLE VIEW
IMAGES.”
PAUL SEPUYA
“I’m so into
deprogrammng people,”
says Smith.
THE RED BULLETIN 49

“I have a relationship
with the ocean,” says
Igarashi, who was
photographed at
Sunset Beach, Oahu,
on December 18.
50 THE RED BULLETIN

THE
FREE
ONE
For
fast-rising
pro surfer
Kanoa
Igarashi,
home
is where
the waves
are.
Words PETER FLAX
Photography JUSTIN JAY
THE RED BULLETIN 51

K
ANOA MEANS FREEDOM.
It’s a Hawaiian name that literally translates to “the
free one,” which is a fitting way to characterize the
barefooted 22-year-old watching waves roll onto
Oahu’s North Shore. It’s the morning after a contest
at Sunset Beach and Kanoa Igarashi is enjoying a
rare rest day, lounging on the deck of an oceanfront
rental house that’s got a panoramic view of the
beach and the break. The ocean is an undulating
patchwork of turquoise and white froth, and he’s
sitting close enough to the water’s edge to hear the
thrum of the surf, to smell and taste the salty mist.
Kanoa likes to talk about the physics and the
metaphysics of the water. “I have a relationship
with the ocean,” he says. “I spend four to six hours
a day in the water. I feel like I get to go out there
and play games with the ocean. I have this spiritual
connection, which might sound like ridiculous
craziness to an outsider, but I really do.”
This is not the usual blather of a professional
athlete, but the lean surfer with the beach-blond
highlights has a candid side that hasn’t been washed
away by his considerable fame. Kanoa has been
foreshadowing and showcasing elite talent for more
than a decade. His story line—a lifelong march to
the top of his sport—sounds like something out
of the Tiger Woods or Serena Williams mold. He
learned how to surf as a toddler; had sponsors by
the time he was in second grade; won more
scholastic surf contests than anyone in history;
and captured his first pro contest when he was only
15. And now he’s a top-ranked competitor on the
WSL’s Championship Tour, the top league in his
sport, and a leading contender for an Olympic
medal. When he attacks a wave, even the uninitiated
can appreciate the extraordinary precision and
improvisation of his movements.
52 THE RED BULLETIN

“I’ve been coming
here since I pretty
much started
surfing,” says
Igarashi of Oahu’s
North Shore.
THE RED BULLETIN 53

Even the uninitiated can see
the precision and improvisation
of his movements.
Normally, successful athletes this brilliant are
cagier about their feelings. “Like a pro tennis player
is not going to talk about caressing the net, you
know?” Igarashi says. “But when you’re in the
ocean, you’re surrounded by it—you feel it inside
your fingers. The waves are crashing at you and it’s
like this force of nature. So it might sound pretty
weird, but there are days where I get out of the
water and just tell the ocean how grateful I am to
have it in my life.”
He spends big chunks of time feeling the love
here on Oahu every year. Truth be told, he spends
big chunks of time in lots of surf spots—in Portugal,
in Bali, in Australia, in other beautiful places with
big-ass waves. Here on the North Shore, Kanoa has
a predictable routine: He surfs at Sunset Beach and
legendary local breaks like Pipeline and Backdoor;
he hits a local gym and goes on a long hike two or
three times a week “up into the hills, where I can
look over the whole North Shore and have some
time for myself.”
And, of course, he centers his day on the ocean.
“The first thing I do when I wake up every morning
is to go for a swim right in front of the house here,”
he says, talking about his morning rituals and also
his life. “I always just jump in and let the water go
over me—at that point, it’s just me and the ocean.
No matter what’s going on, as soon as my feet touch
the water, I know I’m good.”
The island of Oahu, which sits in the Pacific
amid the expanse between Los Angeles and
Tokyo, is the perfect place to trace Kanoa’s
journey to this point in his life. If traffic is light,
Sunset Beach is only an hour or so from the
gleaming resort community of Waikiki, where he
got his first surfboard on his 3rd birthday. His
family, on vacation from L.A., went into a surf shop
LEO FRANCIS/RED BULL CONTENT POOL
Igarashi says he typically spends four hours a day surfing.
54 THE RED BULLETIN

An ascendant
Igarashi finished
the 2019 season
ranked sixth
overall on the
Championship Tour.
THE RED BULLETIN 55

“When you’re in the ocean
you’re surrounded by it—you
feel it between your fingers.”
56 THE RED BULLETIN

Igarashi, shown here ripping at age 5, has been on an upward
trajectory since he learned to surf when he was 3.
and a neon-yellow board caught the youngster’s eye.
“The board was $720—a lot of money for a family
that was barely getting by on a Hawaiian vacation,”
he recalls. “I had no idea how much it cost, but I
loved yellow at the time.”
Kanoa’s parents said no at the shop but went
back the next day and bought the board. It would
hardly be the last time they’d take a leap on the kid
and his interest in the sport. And that afternoon,
Tsutomu Igarashi, a devoted surfer himself, took his
3-year-old son and that neon-yellow board out on
the predictably placid surf on Waikiki Beach. “It was
like a beautiful crystal-blue swimming pool with
tiny waves, and I loved it,” Kanoa says. “It was like
the best place to learn surfing ever.”
Kanoa feels at home here on Oahu. But as you
talk with him, you see why asking him where he’s
from is so complicated. Just before he was born in
1997, his parents immigrated to California from
Japan, so not surprisingly he’s always had a strong
Japanese identity and an intense connection to his
family’s homeland. But he also has deep roots in
Southern California. Kanoa was born in Santa
Monica, and after a stint in Hollywood (where he
says he attended preschool with the son of Red Hot
Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith), the Igarashi
family settled in the Orange County surf mecca of
Huntington Beach.
On paper, Huntington could have been a difficult
place for a Japanese American kid in an immigrant
family to grow up—after all, the community is
roughly 80 percent white—but surfing gave the
youngster a community and a pathway to success.
“Growing up in Huntington, I always stood out,
because I was Japanese—I was different,” he says.
“But surfing was the thing that put that racism aside
and brought my world together. And because I grew
up in a surf city, where surfing was a really cool
thing, me being successful meant that instead of
being an outsider, people treated me like a cool kid
who could surf. So it definitely helped me fit in.”
Kanoa’s school in Huntington was extremely
close to the beach—close enough that his mom
could pick him up after class with his wetsuit and
board in the trunk and he could be in the water
with his friends in five minutes. “Surfing was like
my playtime, my recess back then,” he says.
But before long, his playtime seemed to have
serious potential. He was featured on a local
newscast when he was 6. Educated admirers began
calling him “the next Kelly Slater,” referencing
the legendary pro (who clinched his fifth world
championship in the year Kanoa was born).
Sponsors came. Wins at local youth tournaments
came. Flights to faraway places came.
By the time Kanoa was in high school, surfing
was a way of life. He was traveling nine months
a year, and the pressure of balancing that with his
schoolwork was getting rough. His mother, who
had always prioritized his academic performance,
wanted him to finish high school, but Kanoa felt he
was ready to join the Qualifying Series Tour, a pro
circuit that’s the pathway to the CT. When he was
17, he convinced his mother to let him take the high
school equivalency exam. “That was crazy,” he says,
recalling what happened after he passed. “I was 17.
One minute I was traveling and surfing with friends,
and bang, the next minute I’m on tour. My mom was
just kind of dumbfounded. My dad was like, whoa.
And I was like, this is sick. Suddenly I was on a roll,
and it really hasn’t stopped since then.”
Igarashi says he’s come to the North Shore every
year since he was 9, and you can trace his rise in
competitive surfing over those years. “I’ve been
coming here since I pretty much started surfing,
and every year I come here I’m catching bigger
waves,” he says. Fittingly, the iconic Pipeline break
sits less than a mile away. He caught a wave at
Pipeline when he was 9, caught a “proper barrel”
when he was 13 and paddled out for “bigger days”
when he was 16.
If anything, his progression just accelerated from
there. In 2016, when he was just 19, Kanoa was
back at Pipeline, now as a pro on the Championship
Tour, and made the finals—beating his former idol
Kelly Slater in the semifinals along the way.
THE RED BULLETIN 57

”I feel like I’m maturing—
I’m professionalizing myself.
Like I’m going to go all in.”
As Kanoa’s consistency and explosiveness in
the water improved, so did his rankings on the
Championship Tour. In 2017 he finished as the
world’s 17th-ranked surfer, and the following year
he concluded the season in 10th overall. Last year
was yet another breakthrough, as he finished the
season ranked sixth, along the way notching his
first CT event win—a victory in Bali where he once
again beat Slater in the semis and then outsurfed
Jeremy Flores in the final.
Talk of his success on the circuit reveals a sharper
edge beyond his Zen-like, love-the-water mindset—
the instinct that many champions possess. “I love
that feeling of wanting to rip that guy’s head off,” he
says. “I love that feeling of wanting to just be better
than my opponent that day. I love walking away
knowing, like, yeah, I outsurfed him. And that’s that
competitive side of me that just becomes this animal
that shines on contest days.”
Nestled somewhere in between his mentality
as a trained killer and his emotional connection to
the ocean lies an increasingly methodical athlete
realizing that it will take more than natural talent,
tens of thousands of lifetime hours in the water and
conspicuous stoke to reach the very top of his sport.
“I feel like I’m maturing—I’m professionalizing
myself,” he says. “Like I’m going to go all in. If I’m
going to be completely honest, I probably put in
60 or 70 percent effort this year. And in the years
prior, I was probably putting in about 20 or 30
percent. I think slowly I’m getting closer to
sacrificing and giving it my all.”
To that end, Kanoa is focusing on lots of the
granular details that will bump his effort ever
closer to perfection. For starters, he’s working on
getting more regular sleep. (“I normally get around
seven hours, but I think eight is closer to optimal.
I just spent a week sleeping nine hours a night
and I didn’t really like it.”) Kanoa says that he had
eaten meat every day of his life until he recently
underwent a two-week experiment with veganism.
(“It felt amazing and I woke up feeling sharper, but
I had to come out of the water earlier every day
because I felt so hungry.”) Through nutrition and
weight training, he’s worked hard to bulk up a little
on his 5-foot-11 frame. (“I just got over 170 pounds
for the first time in my life and think that
something around 173 will be ideal.”)
Kanoa now has the maturity to understand that
he can’t just flip a switch to become the ultimate
professional who tackles every detail perfectly. “It’s
going to be a gradual pace up,” he says. “It’s not
possible to instantly go to 100 percent. But I’m
committed to all the little things that I think will
make a huge difference.”
58 THE RED BULLETIN

Igarashi says he’s
“committed to all the
little things” to reach
the top of his sport.
THE RED BULLETIN 59

“I love going out into heats
with no plan. You know, I just
let it flow.”
60 THE RED BULLETIN

GETTY IMAGES
“I love that
feeling of wanting
to be better than
my opponent,”
says Igarashi of
competition.
Now Tokyo beckons. From July 24 to
August 9, all eyes in the surf world—and
a far larger audience that does not normally
watch the sport—will be on Tsurigasaki Beach in
Chiba, Japan.
“It’s a huge opportunity for surfers to showcase
our sport on a different level,” Kanoa says. “It’s a
whole new audience. It’s the Olympics! Obviously,
surfers will be out there trying to represent their
country and win a medal, but I really hope we all
we go out there and represent as surfers. We have
a chance to put on a show for everybody and show
the world how unique our sport is.”
In October 2019, Igarashi was formally named
to the Japanese Olympic team, but the die had
been cast about 18 months earlier, when he
announced that he would become the first surfer to
represent Japan on the Championship Tour. These
decisions attracted a lot of attention—sometimes
for the wrong reasons. Some even speculated,
incorrectly, that he was seeking a shortcut to the
Games; in the end, with his year-ending CT
ranking, Kanoa would have unquestionably
qualified for the U.S. team.
When asked about the decision and the ensuing
controversy, Kanoa answers with calm, deeply felt
certainty. “I love Huntington Beach—it’s always
going to be home in my heart because I grew up
there,” he says. “But if people ask me where I’m
from it gets more complicated. I’ve grown up with
a lifestyle and in a generation where things can
seem a bit borderless. And so representing Japan
felt like a solid, comfortable decision. My blood is
100 percent Japanese. That’s something that you
don’t change.”
Family is important to Kanoa. And he
understands how much this opportunity means to
his extended family, especially his grandparents—
who have a calendar on which they are counting the
days until the first day of his Olympic competition.
They are among many of his relatives in Japan who
get up in the middle of the night to watch him
compete online but who have never seen him surf
in person.
“I was just in Japan,” he continues. “And my
grandma told me, ‘All I want to do is stay alive until
the Olympics, and after that I don’t care if I die.’ And
I was like, ‘What? Don’t say that.’ But she said, ‘I’ve
gone through a lot in my life. I’ve done everything
that I wanted to do. But once the Olympics were
announced and you told me that you were going to
be in it, that’s the last thing on my bucket list. Then
my life will be complete.’ ”
Kanoa admits that such talk, even if intended
with some humor, stirs a deep sense of Japanese
THE RED BULLETIN 61

“I feel most free when I surf,
and I’ve felt this freedom since
I was young.”
pride within him. “I feel very privileged and
honored to just have them be so proud of me,” he
says. “It makes me want to do my best.”
Americans and other foreigners might have
trouble understanding just how popular Igarashi
is in Japan. He’s the centerpiece of a reality show
that’s been on TV for years. He’s got major
sponsorships outside the surfing realm. He’s the first
Japanese to surf in the Championship Tour, and he’s
become a breakout star in a surf-crazy country
where the sport is more popular per capita than it is
in the U.S. After one big tournament result in 2018,
Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, asked to meet
with Igarashi, and the surfer still has trouble getting
his head around that encounter—on a skyscraper
rooftop with helicopter blades thwacking and
bodyguards patting him down and the best wishes
and expectations of a nation being delivered quite
officially. “I still have sleepless nights about it,”
Kanoa admits.
But beyond the sleepless nights, Kanoa is
enjoying his newfound fame. Like other professional
athletes at the very top of their game, he is realizing
that he can enjoy two public-facing identities—one
as a contest-winning competitor and another as an
outsized individualist, a stylish celebrity who can
live exactly as he wants. That’s a kind of freedom,
too. “It’s crazy when you realize that your fans are
so true that no matter what you do, they’re going to
love you,” says Kanoa, who cites David Beckham
and LeBron James as role models in that regard. “It’s
made me realize I can really be myself. All of sudden
all of my insecurities just fly out the window. I feel
like I can really wear whatever I want, be whoever
I want, say whatever I want—just be myself on some
profound level—and everyone’s going to be, like,
‘Oh, that’s cool, he’s being himself.’ ”
But as much as he loves the fame and the
personal freedom, Kanoa knows how important it
will be to make the most of his Olympic opportunity.
There will never be another surf competition in his
life quite like this one.
Kanoa is the kind of guy for whom every break
and every contest and every stop on his fast-moving
globetrotting life has meaning. But the break in
Chiba is not like any other break: Kanoa’s father,
Tsutomu, and his surf buddies were the ones who
discovered that spot decades ago. “Yeah, it’s true,”
Kanoa says. “He and his friends discovered that
wave. They climbed through fences and hiked
through the grass to find this wave, and they called
it the Dojo, and it was their little secret spot. And it’s
definitely a very emotional, special connection for
him—a wave that he discovered is where his son
will compete at the Olympics for the first time. It’s
such a crazy, full circle.”
Only a week earlier, in fact, Kanoa and his dad
were out in the water in Chiba, sharing a moment
in different ways. “I could tell that he was getting
emotional,” Kanoa recalls. “Meanwhile, in my head,
I was just looking at the waves thinking this is where
the Olympics are going to be.”
When asked to assess the Olympic break,
Kanoa smiles. “It’s definitely a wave that suits my
surfing,” he says. “It’s technical and precise. It’s just
in my blood, being Japanese, to be precise and
technically sound. Every little arm movement and
movement will make a big difference and there will
be little room for error. And the break is really close
to the beach, close to the fans. I’ve always been kind
of a show-off. I want people to be close. I want
people to feel it. I want to see people’s faces and
that’s when I shine.”
Kanoa means “freedom.” It’s not just the
etymology of his name; it’s the story of how
he lives his life.
When asked if he paddles out into competition
visualizing what he wants to accomplish, he shakes
his head. That’s not it at all. “I love going into the
ocean and going into heats with no plan,” he admits.
“I take my heats and competitions these days as if
they’re just another day of surfing with my friends.
I go out there and everything’s just on the fly. You
know, I just let it flow.”
As our interview winds down, the conversation
turns to questions of identity. Because of his choice
to represent Japan in international competition,
Kanoa has been asked far more than most to explain
what or where home really is for him. He’s got
Japanese blood; he was born and raised in SoCal;
he spends months at a time immersed in cultures
around the world.
Kanoa says he doesn’t have a conventional
homeland like most people do. But he also says he
has a real home: in the water. “People come up to
me and tell me how they can just see that I naturally
look like I’m really calm in the ocean,” he says. “And
it’s true. I’m at home in the ocean—free and open.
No doubt the truest form of myself is when I’m in
the water.”
The ascendant surfer whose name literally
means “the free one” stares out into the Pacific,
where waves tumble toward the shore, and ponders
the way he has inhabited the word “Kanoa.” “I feel
most free when I surf, and I’ve felt this freedom since
I was young,” he says. “Being in the ocean is where
I feel free.”
62 THE RED BULLETIN

“It’s a huge
opportunity for
surfers to showcase
our sport on a
different level,”
says Igarashi of the
Tokyo Games.
THE RED BULLETIN 63

GREENLAND
ON THE ROCKS
Canadian ice climber WILL GADD has scaled the walls to
a place that nobody before him has ventured—a glacial
cave deep in Greenland’s belly.
Words ANDREAS WOLLINGER
Photography CHRISTIAN PONDELLA

Ice Cathedral
For adventure sports photographer
Christian Pondella, this evocative
image embodies the surreal
qualities of descending into an
ice sheet in Greenland.
65

“After a half-hour
flight, the chopper
dropped us off. It
was ice as far as
the eye could see.“

White Desert
A moulin, or glacial mill, is created
when meltwater seeps from a glacier’s
surface into the depths below. Studying
how they form can help scientists
understand the rise in sea level.
67

Ice King As an ice climber, Gadd, 52, has mastered almost every known challenge in his
discipline, including being the first person to scale a frozen Niagara Falls in 2015. But climbing inside
a moulin is something no one had ever done before, a bucket-list item for the record-holding Canadian.
Ilulissat This village sits at the end of the world. Located in Western Greenland, Ilulissat
(it means “icebergs” in Greenlandic) was the starting point of the expedition. The nearby Ilulissat
Icefjord is a UNESCO World Heritage site, drawing tourists from all over the globe.

Into the Unknown
For the expedition team, the moulins
turned out to be significantly larger
and more dangerous than expected,
especially when ice is constantly
breaking off and plummeting
into uncharted territory.
69

A Vertical Ice Rink
The bottom can be reached after
a steep descent of approximately
300 feet. There, pools of water
have formed. Gadd entertained the
idea of going diving but ultimately
deemed it too dangerous.
71

“I celebrate every
moment I can live
intensely.”

In His Element
Gadd makes climbing out of the
abyss look easy, but the poor
quality of the ice genuinely scared
the seasoned explorer.
73

Shedding Light
Gadd and Jason Gulley, a professor
at the University of South Florida,
explore the bottom of the glacier
cave. The expedition yielded new
findings that will have an impact on
how researchers study ice melt.

Practice Makes Perfect Before going deep into the ice sheet, Gadd climbed on some icebergs off the coast of Greenland.
Photographer Christian Pondella was able to capture these practice runs and produce some of the most striking images of the trip.
THE RED BULLETIN 75

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THE RED BULLETIN
BEYOND THE ORDINARY

guide
Get it. Do it. See it.
THE PERRY HOTEL
HANG
LOOSE
Whether you want to chill out,
dine out, slow down, party
down—or just soak up the sun—
South Florida delivers the goods.
Words DAVID HOWARD
Rush hour in the
Florida Keys.
THE RED BULLETIN 77

G U I D E
Do it
There’s an old saying that Florida
isn’t really the South—it’s too
culturally distinct, too apart, just
too ... Florida. To take that bromide
a step further, South Florida isn’t really
Florida. Down in the funkier nether regions
of the archipelago, you hear Cuban-tinged
Spanish way more than “y’all,” and theme
parks and orange groves give way to
gleaming skylines and the likes of the
American Sand Sculpting Championship
(Fort Myers Beach) and the Conch Shell
Blowing Contest (Key West, for 58 years
and running).
The area is more fun to
circumnavigate, too: The
Brightline high-speed rail line
runs from Miami up through
Fort Lauderdale and West
Palm Beach (and will soon
extend to Orlando). And from
Fort Myers, you can halve the
six-hour drive to and from the
Keys with a ride on the Key
West Express. Instead of sitting
in traffic, you can lounge on
the upper deck of a big
catamaran, watching dolphins
and pelicans while sipping a
cold beer from the bar.
Here are some choice ideas
to experience a region where
vast labyrinths of water,
coral and mangrove swamp
increasingly exert their
influence, and where the land
gradually but inevitably
tapers into sea.
Graffiti is always in the picture at the Wynwood Walls.
Miami’s Perez Museum has a thoughtful collection of contemporary art.
Miami
The city is huge, so the wise
strategy is to dial in one
neighborhood at a time. The
most iconic is Little Havana,
a fiercely Cuban outpost
since before the days of
Castro. Make an obligatory
pilgrimage to the Ball &
Chain bar and lounge, an
85-year-old landmark where
Billie Holiday and Chet Baker
once roamed the stage. Be
sure to order a mojito criollo:
the old-world rendition has
extra sugar and undefiled
mint leaves, to amp up the
cocktail’s fragrance.
From there, head to the
rising, hipstery Wynwood
District, where the defining
trait is the mass of converted
warehouses. For Tony
Goldman, the late visionary
behind the Wynwood Walls,
these windowless monoliths
were the perfect canvas for
vast and elaborate displays
of graffiti (official tours run
daily). Other entrepreneurs
have converted warehouses
into an aesthetically appealing
array of funky art galleries,
craft breweries, boutiques,
bistros and bars. Shoehorned
amid the street art is
Wynwood Kitchen & Bar,
which sports a strong
selection of lambic and fruit
beers and pitchers of sangria,
and the duck empanada
comes with flavor-boosting
roasted tomatillos.
Over by the airport, the
Doral neighborhood is
newly home to the Doral
Yard, comprised of an everchanging
roster of pop-up
culinary and other businesses
that set up for months-long
residencies. A food hall is the
first component to open—
don’t miss the handcrafted
dumplings from Yip—and
NIKA KRAMER, ORIOL TARRIDAS, COURTESY OF RELATED COMPANIES
78 THE RED BULLETIN

South Florida
a live-entertainment stage
and bar area is forthcoming
later this year.
And you may have heard of
an area called South Beach?
Turns out it harbors a
nightspot or two. Not
necessarily unrelated, escape
the heat with a visit to the
World Erotic Art Museum,
home to historical artifacts
(like dominatrix Barbies)
and downloads on ancient
practices, the role of sex in
different cultures and other
stimulating takeaways. For
a gallery experience that’s
probably better suited for
water-cooler conversation
back at the office, patronize
the trailblazing Perez Art
Museum Miami, which is
running an exhibit on
contemporary Caribbean
art this year into June.
For outdoor adventure, pull
on some flippers and a mask
and troop to Emerald Reef,
one of the city’s largest
natural marine bars; various
colorful swimmers, including
lobsters during certain times
of year, flit about its folds.
For a deeper dive, visit the
Wreck Trek, a series of sunken
vessels off Miami Beach
including the 85-foot steel
fishing boat Miss Karline.
West Palm Beach
For an unexpected cultural
experience, head to Clematis
Street, a downtown area
undergoing a transformation.
First on the list: the massive
110,000-square-foot building,
formerly a Macy’s, that has
morphed into Culture Lab,
a freewheeling experimental
space. You’ll find multisensory
art experiences,
including a sound-art
installation called “You Are
the Magic” that fills the entire
second floor. If you decide to
hit one theme park during
your Florida holiday, aim for
Lion Country Safari, which
Inhabiting an old
Macy’s, the Culture
Lab is an immersive
arts center.
Clematis Street
is a downtown
area undergoing
a cultural
transformation.
THE RED BULLETIN 79

Do it
G U I D E
The SunFest music
festival begins on April
30 in West Palm.
Steel Tie Spirits distills three
different hand-infused rums.
sounds cheesy but takes
conservation seriously. It’s
an active participant in a
species-survival program that
seeks to maintain genetic
diversity in threatened and
endangered animals. More
tangible to your visit, you can
roll through open spaces and
experience ostriches and
other wildlife peeking in
your window.
The Grandview Public
Market describes itself as a
13,000-square-foot “epicureal
playground.” For an enginerevving
breakfast there, try
the chicken and waffle bits at
Clare’s—they’re deep fried
and slathered in Thai
blueberry maple syrup. And
if you can time it right, don’t
miss Dim Sum Sundays, a
new concept from Ramen Lab
that involves heartbreakingly
awesome buns.
Fort Myers has
plenty going for
it—wild nature,
tropical beaches,
fresh seafood
and authentic
local culture.
Evenings, head to the
Canopy, West Palm’s newest
hotel; even if you’re not
staying there, it’s worth
getting a meal or cocktail at
the Treehouse, a rooftop
edifice with walls made of
coral limestone. The views
from the hotel’s 13th floor—
the highest in the city—
deliver vivid panoramas of
the water and downtown.
Or stop by Steel Tie Spirits,
in the newly invigorated
Warehouse District; the
largest distillery in the
Southeast is run by a fatherson
team who ardently believe
in creative facial hair and
sourcing ingredients from
local farms. (Motto: “If it
doesn’t grow in the ground,
it’s not in our bottles.”)
The operation is now open
for guided tours with
complimentary tastings, and
if you can maintain your
balance afterward, you can
join in on one of the distillery’s
yoga classes.
Another event to time your
visit around: Late April and
early May is when you can
catch the SunFest Music
Festival, a four-day blowout
perched on the Intracoastal
Waterway, where you can
patronize a floating bar
between shows.
Fort Myers
Although it tends to get
overshadowed by Miami, Fort
Myers has plenty going for it.
For starters, more than 100
subtropical islands and 50
miles of Gulf Coast beaches.
To cozy up to the slithering,
splashing, flittering collection
of wild things, make your way
to the Six Mile Cypress Slough
Preserve, where the
boardwalk provides views of
otters, alligators, turtles and
wading birds. The City of
Palms is also the main
jumping-off point for visits
to Everglades National Park.
Sign up for Dragonfly
Expeditions’ Backwater Tour;
field biologists and naturalist
guides literally wade through
the water to point out
intricacies of the vastly
complex ecosystem.
For supremely fresh seafood,
head north of town to the
Cabbage Key Inn &
Restaurant, where the menu
features the catch of the day—
and that could mean your
catch, if you happen to have
Get waist-deep in adventure in the Everglades on a tour guided by biologists.
80 THE RED BULLETIN

South Florida
You’ll glide through mangrove
creeks and along “blue
holes”—underwater caverns
or sinkholes that run as deep
as 30 feet.
Back in civilization, head
straight to the raw bar at the
Thirsty Mermaid for freshly
shucked oysters; the chef is
also a local fisherman who
often hefts the catch from the
docks. After dark, Key West
Smuggler Co. recently opened
a tasting room, where it serves
samples of its line of grain-tobottle
bourbons. A stellar
place to crash is the Perry
Hotel, a boutique property
with fire pits and water views
from every room (either
a saltwater lagoon or the
marina and pool).
If you really want to get away, pitch a tent at Cayo Costa State Park.
SUNFEST FESTIVAL, STEEL TIE SPIRITS CO, GETTY IMAGES, MARC NOUS
hooked something earlier.
Bring your cleaned fish to
the restaurant and you’ll get
it back on a plate, either
grilled, blackened, bronzed
or sauteed.
Fort Myers is buzzing about
the downtown Luminary
Hotel, which opens this
summer overlooking the
Caloosahatchee River and has
entwined its narrative around
local history. For more rustic
accommodations, bring gear
to camp at Cayo Costa State
Park, accessible only by boat,
where you’re as likely to see
birds, dolphins and manatees
as you are other humans.
The Keys
The 110-mile chain of islands
is packed with adventure—
and naturally, it revolves
around the tropical blue-green
water. Heading south, stop at
John Pennekamp Coral Reef
State Park, the nation’s first
underwater park, covering
178 nautical square miles of
reefs, seagrass beds and
mangrove swamps. Rent a
kayak or paddleboard and
then strike out on a selfguided
adventure on and
under the surface of the
absurdly vivid seas.
For even more compelling
underwater views, explore the
wrecks and 25-mile reef line
from Key Largo to Islamorada
with Tavernier-based Conch
Republic Divers; it’s like
swimming in an aquarium
among blue tangs, parrotfish
and other tropical species.
The shop’s Discover Scuba
program lets noncertified
divers take the plunge.
Geeks of the series Deadliest
Catch can check in for a night
at the newly rebranded Conch
Key Fishing Lodge & Marina.
One of the show’s stars, Erik
James (known as James
Brown on the program), is
now an owner, and the stay
includes a saltwater pool, tiki
hut and a chance to extract
some insider anecdotes about
the show.
Still thirsty for saltwater
fun? Skip out on the masses
assembled on Key West’s
Duval Street and in Mallory
Square in favor of Lazy Dog
Kayak’s four-hour backcountry
paddle and snorkel adventure.
The magic of the Keys is best absorbed on—or under—the surface of the sea.
Laze in maritime splendor at the Perry Hotel in Key West.
THE RED BULLETIN 81

Do it
G U I D E
GET FIT LIKE A PRO:
“I BELONG
ON THE BIKE”
Motocross legend
Tarah Gieger explains
how she trains for
speed and durability.
Eight-time X Games medalist
Tarah Gieger is one of the most
decorated women in motocross.
She started racing at age 10 after
she became bored with surfing. “I
just wanted to go fast,” she says.
After turning pro in 2003, she
rocketed up the ranks. In 2007
she was the AMA female rider of
the year, and in 2008 she won the
first-ever women’s supercross X
Games race. Controlling a
220-pound motorcycle is a
full-body workout, so Gieger trains
hard to ensure that her compact
frame can handle it. Noted for her
versatility on the motorcycle,
Gieger has moved seamlessly
among disciplines; her current
passion is off-road racing. She also
views training as an insurance
policy against injuries. In 2005 she
shattered her pelvis. Shortly after
recovering from that injury she
broke her neck. “That was the first
time I thought maybe I don’t want
to race dirtbikes anymore,” she
says. “But that didn’t last long.”
While Gieger enjoys
dabbling in multiple
disciples, she still
makes time for her
original love. “It’s still
fun to go and bang
bars on a motocross
course,” she says.
82 THE RED BULLETIN

Fitness
STRENGTH
“I need to be really
strong—especially
my core.”
“Core strength is really important
when you’re trying to hold a
220-pound motorcycle between
your legs. It will do whatever
it wants. When I do my workouts,
I pick exercises where I need to
engage my core and balance.
So when I’m doing legs, I’ll do
one-legged squats on a Bosu ball.
I do stuff like that, where I have to
engage my core to stay balanced
while I’m lifting. I really like slowtempo
work. You don’t have to do
a lot of weight, but you have to
engage pretty much every muscle
to do it right.”
CARDIO
“In motocross my
heart rate is maxed
out the whole time.”
“For motocross, cardio is super
important. When I do an off-road
race, which is like 90 minutes, my
heart rate will be above 170 beats
per minute for about 85 minutes
of that. In the gym I’ll do 5,000
meters and then 1,000-meter
intervals on a SkiErg machine. That
thing is pretty gnarly. When the
weather is nice, I’ll go road cycling
three days a week—nothing too
crazy, maybe 20 miles. Sometimes
I’ll go mountain biking; that
definitely gets the cardio going.
Sometimes I get on a swim kick
and I’ll go swim 2,000 meters.”
“I WORK OUT FOR
INJURY PREVENTION.”
It’s not an easy sport.
There’s no way to prevent
crashes. That’s just going
to happen. So I try to make
my body strong enough
and limber enough so that
when I do crash, the injuries
aren’t as bad or I can
recover faster from them.
The goal is to keep with it,
because I really love it.”
SKILLS
“I can make a ride
as crazy as I want.”
NUTRITION
“I just try not to
get too depleted.”
GARTH MILAN/RED BULL CONTENT POOL JEN SEE
“Usually I’ll ride four days a
week for a couple hours at a time.
Today I’m doing sprints on rough
sand tracks. I’ll ride for 10 minutes
as hard as I can, take a five-minute
break and do it again. I’ll do that
for 90 minutes. Other days I
go trail riding. That’s where my
reactions get tuned in. I try to put
myself in a race mindset and
ask myself, ‘If I encountered
something like this, what would I
do?’ Then when I get on the race
track, I feel like I’ve already
experienced it and have the
confidence to handle it.”
“I try to keep food in me, because
if I don’t, I get fatigued. For the
amount of calories I burn during a
serious training block, I definitely
try to eat good food, but mostly it’s
whatever I can find. I definitely eat
real food. I’d probably rather eat
McDonald’s than substitute with
a protein shake. It just doesn’t
seem like liquid is a replacement
for actual food; I’ve seen that and
I’ve tried that stuff. When I’m
traveling, I try to drink plenty of
water, and lately I’ve been taking
vitamin C and zinc, which seems
to fight off a lot of colds.”
THE RED BULLETIN 83

Do it
G U I D E
April
20
April
Boston
Marathon
Since 1897, runners have gathered
in the small town of Hopkinton for
the world’s oldest annual
marathon. Today the race attracts
around 30,000 participants and
half a million spectators. Among
the racers will be a select handful
of push-assist and wheelchair
teams, such as brothers Brent and
Kyle Pease. To read more about
their inspiring story, see page 14.
baa.org
20
April
Something
in the Water
Created by Pharrell Williams
as a nod to his hometown, this
2-year-old music fest in Virginia
Beach delivers a week of A-list
performances by A$AP Rocky,
Beck, Chance the Rapper,
Meraba and more. Thru April
26; somethinginthewater.com
24
April
Stagecoach
If you’re a little more country
than rock ’n’ roll (but still want to
enjoy the scene at the Empire
Polo Club in Indio, California),
then don your dusty boots and
head to Coachella’s sister event,
Stagecoach, which takes place
the weekend after. This year’s
headliners include Thomas
Rhett, Carrie Underwood and
Eric Church. Thru April 26;
stagecoachfestival.com
24
April
100 GECS
Last year, the first full-length album
from this flaxen-haired duo—
composed of Dylan Brady and Laura
Les—started popping up on artiststo-watch
lists, launching a slew of
profile pieces from the likes of Vanity
Fair, Rolling Stone and MTV News
about their head-spinning combo of
pop-punk and emo-rap. In just 23
minutes, their eponymous debut
packs in 10 songs of frantic,
experimental fun that quickly racked
up millions of streams. Catch them
now, at the relatively intimate Music
Hall of Williamsburg, before they
explode. Their two nights of
performances are part of Red Bull
Music Festival New York. Tickets go
on sale March 18. redbull.com
April
Red Bull Grand Prix
of the Americas
At the state-of-the-art Circuit of the
Americas speedway in Austin, Texas, the
world’s best riders gather for this year’s only
MotoGP contest in America. Watch them
cheat death with gravity-defying moves
while accelerating to more than 150 mph
in a race to the finish line. Last year, Suzuki’s
Álex Rins beat Valentino Rossi to win his
first-ever MotoGP race. Could he do it again?
3Thru April 5; circuitoftheamericas.com
REMIX TRACK ART, GOLD&GOOSE/RED BULL CONTENT POOL
84 THE RED BULLETIN

See it
March/April
TAKU NAGAMI/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, UCI, ADAM KLINGETEG/RED BULL CONTENT POOL
AGAINST
THE
WIND
Experience the need for
speed in Japan, the rugged
beauty of the Swiss Alps
and the downhill obstacles
of Portugal—all from the
comfort of your home. Find
these highlights and more
this month on Red Bull TV.
WATCH
RED BULL TV
ANYWHERE
Red Bull TV is a global digital
entertainment destination
featuring programming that
is beyond the ordinary and is
available anytime, anywhere.
Go online at redbull.tv,
download the app or
connect via your Smart TV.
To find out more,
visit redbull.tv
4
Catch wheel-towheel
racing from
Japan with some
of the top talent
in motorsport.
April LIVE
SUPER FORMULA 2020
Super Formula is the fastest formula-car series outside of F1,
and Red Bull TV will be bringing you the excitement live from
Japan in 2020. The season has seven stops, including the Fuji
Speedway and the Twin Ring Motegi, but here’s where it all
starts: at the popular Suzuka International Racing Course.
This year comes with a new set of rules, where the top 10
winners will now earn points instead of only the top eight.
21
March LIVE
UCI PORTUGAL
For 2020, the World Cup for downhill riders has
a brand-new opening venue. Used in the past by
teams and suspension firms for testing, Lousã in
Portugal is a beast of a track that’s sure to be a
popular first stop.
28
March LIVE
FREERIDE WORLD TOUR
The jagged face of Bec des Rosses in Verbier,
Switzerland, is legendary among freeriders, which
makes it perfect for the finale of the Freeride World
Tour. Always a highlight, this is a course that
separates the best from the rest.
THE RED BULLETIN 85

Get it
G U I D E
A TIMEPIECE TO DIE FOR
Omega Seamaster Diver 300m “007 Edition”
There’s a moment in Daniel Craig’s first
outing as James Bond—the 2006 film
Casino Royale—when British Treasury
agent Vesper Lynd, played by Eva Green,
attempts to get a read on 007. “Rolex?”
she inquires of the inscrutable secret
agent’s taste in watches. “Omega,” he
corrects her. This is a defining moment
that sets apart Craig’s fresh take on
the famous spy from earlier, stuffier
incarnations. In truth, 007 has worn an
Omega ever since Pierce Brosnan’s Bond
debut in 1995’s GoldenEye, though his
Craig in 2006’s Casino
Royale, sporting an
Omega Seamaster
Planet Ocean 600m.
connection with the Swiss watch
manufacturer—and specifically the
Seamaster line—goes back further.
When author Ian Fleming created the
suave secret agent, he drew inspiration
from real commandos he’d met during
his WWII posting with the British Naval
Intelligence Division, making Bond
a Royal Naval Reserve Commander. In
1957, when Omega released the first
Seamaster 300, it was based on the
waterproof wristwatches worn by the
British military in WWII; the rubber
O-ring gasket was even inspired by
submarines of the time. The timepiece
proved a hit with British Navy divers,
and by 1967 the Ministry of Defense
had commissioned Omega to produce
a “mil-spec” (military specification)
version, engraved “055” on the back to
designate it the property of the Royal
Navy. Come 1995, when 007 costume
designer Lindy Hemming was fitting
Brosnan for GoldenEye, she decided that
“Commander Bond, a naval man, diver
and a discreet gentleman of the world,
would wear the Seamaster with the blue
dial.” There has been a Seamaster 300
on Bond’s wrist ever since.
To celebrate Craig’s final outing as
the stylish spy—this year’s No Time
to Die—Omega created this 42 mm
Seamaster Diver 300 “007 Edition,”
constructed from Grade 2 titanium,
in collaboration with the actor himself.
“I had some suggestions and they
ran with it,” says Craig. “When Omega
showed me titanium watches in the
past, I always thought, ‘Wow, it’s like
you’re not even wearing a watch.’ They
said, ‘Let’s make it.’ We’re talking about
a difference of grams, but it’s incredibly
comfortable.” Craig’s influence also
extended to its alternative NATO strap—
“I’ve been doing that for years, sticking
them on NATO straps”—and ensuring
military authenticity: “You have that
heritage with Omega and the British
army watches of the Second World War,”
he says. “All those things I wanted to
connect through, they’ve done it.”
Most telling is the serial number
on the caseback, which features an “A”
(denoting a screw-in crown); the selfexplanatory
“007”; “62” (the year of
the first Bond film, Dr. No); “923 7697”
(which identifies it as a diver’s watch);
and “0552,” the mark of a true naval
commander’s timepiece.
omegawatches.com
TIM KENT TOM GUISE
86 THE RED BULLETIN

Watches
Craig was given his first
Omega watch by his
dad on his 18th birthday.
It took 34 years—and
him becoming 007—
before he got the chance
to design his own.
Omega created
the new watch to
celebrate Craig’s
final outing as Bond.
THE RED BULLETIN 87

Designed to be
light and fast on
technical terrain,
the Mission LT
has an extrasticky
sole and
a socklike fit.
TRAIL MIX
Hiking is one of summer’s sweetest pleasures, and the right gear makes
the miles fly by. Here’s the footwear, packs and apparel you’ll want for
summit bids and seaside rambles.
Words KELLY BASTONE

G U I D E
FOOTWEAR
HOKA ONE ONE STINSON MID
GORE-TEX
Heavy backpacks and rocky trails can punish
feet, but not if they’re cradled by the super-plush
cushioning of the Stinson Mid. A fat plank of
compression-molded EVA foam buffers shocks,
while deep, 4 mm lugs bite into muddy trail. The
waterproof Nubuck fends off a days-long deluge,
and a soft, anatomically-shaped cuff supports
your ankle without throttling it. Women’s from
size 5; men’s to 15. $180; hokaoneone.com
SCARPA RUSH
Marry the lightweight agility of a running shoe
with a hiking boot’s underfoot shielding and you
get the Rush. The stretchy Sock Fit upper is more
breathable and less bulky than a traditional
tongue. Heel stabilizers built into the midsole
provide security on uneven terrain, and Scarpa’s
new Interactive Kinetic System outsole, with
two layers of lugs, improves traction in rocky
conditions. Men’s and women’s fits from Euro
size 36. $139; scarpa.com
Ocean trash gets
repurposed in this
shoe’s breathable,
knitted upper.
DANNER RIVERCOMBER
Famous for supportive, sticky-soled
mountaineering boots, Danner put its know-how
into a new amphibious shoe with a knitted
Cordura upper that resists abrasion and dries
superfast. Vibram’s water-specific Wavegrip
outsole grips slick rock, and a ported midsole
drains water. Yet the heel stability is just as solid
as in Danner’s peak-ready models. Men’s sizes
(and EE widths) to 14; women’s from 5. $140;
danner.com
BLACK DIAMOND MISSION LT
APPROACH SHOES
Using BD’s proprietary rubber, this sticky-soled
shoe is a scrambling ace that feels sure-footed
on slickrock slabs and talus piles. A nylon rock
plate and stiff midsole create a secure platform,
and a breezy knitted upper vents sweat on
scorching days. Equally cool is the styling, which
looks good on the trail and great at the pub.
Men’s sizes 6-14; women’s from 5.5. $140;
blackdiamondequipment.com
ADIDAS OUTDOOR TERREX FREE
HIKER PARLEY
Ocean trash gets repurposed in this breathable
knitted upper, which conforms to various foot
widths to eliminate hot spots and blisters.
Underfoot, Adidas’ Boost midsole provides
outstanding cushioning and rebound to keep
feet feeling sprightly, and the Continental rubber
outsole grips wet and dry trails. An anklehugging
cuff seals out debris. Men’s sizes to 13;
women’s from 5. $200; adidasoutdoor.com
OBOZ ARETE MID WATERPROOF
This Bozeman-based company geeked out on
foot shapes (analyzing thousands of feet to
develop its lasts) to make sure this lightweight
hiking boot is comfy and blister free. Its
cushioned, heel-cupping insole is leagues better
than the pancakes you find from most brands. A
plate under the forefront shields against sharp
rocks, and a sculpted cuff allows the Achilles
tendon free flexion while scrambling. Men’s 8-14;
women’s 6-11. $160; obozfootwear.com
THE RED BULLETIN 89

G U I D E
PAC KS
GREGORY CITRO 30 H2O
An ultrabreathable back panel invites crossbreezes
and makes this daypack tolerable in the
hottest climates. The hydration bladder is easier
to use than most; keep the drink tube in place,
and detach the hose inside to refill the reservoir.
Plus, smart storage on the shoulder straps and
hip belt secure snacks, a smartphone, even
sunglasses—eliminating the need to remove the
pack for pit stops. The women’s version is the
Juno. $150; gregorypacks.com
THE NORTH FACE NORTH
DOME PACK
Here’s the one pack you need for commutes to
work, the climbing gym and the crag. Store a
laptop or a hydration bladder in the padded
sleeve. Open the U-shaped zipper to display your
climbing hardware, or exploit the separate
compartments for clean and dirty gear. Outer
pockets hold a water bottle or coffee mug, and
100 percent recycled fabric scores major
sustainability points. $129; thenorthface.com
OSPREY ARCHEON 45
An urban aesthetic and recycled nylon make this
pack hip, but technical construction makes it
ready for any adventure—on trails or off. A tough
frame sheet and aluminum alloy stays support
heavy loads during multinight hikes. A padded,
ergonomic hip belt provides all-day comfort.
And at 4.4 lbs. (for S/M size) it’s light enough to
let you bring some splurges (camp slippers,
anyone?). For men and women, in two sizes and
multiple colors each. $290; osprey.com
CAMELBAK ZEPHYR VEST
Not even a long, hot summer packed with
running and hiking can stink up this hydration
vest: Its mesh is treated with a Polygiene
antimicrobial finish that keeps odors from taking
hold. Body-mapped ventilation dumps sweat,
and streamlined storage holds a smartphone,
trekking poles, snacks, rain jacket and
conformable flasks that keep water (and
everything else) within easy reach. In men’s
and women’s fits. $150; camelbak.com
MOUNTAINSMITH 2020 DRIFT
When a backpack seems like overkill, reach for
this streamlined waist pack: The 5-liter main
compartment holds just enough supplies for an
hour-long hike, beach-cruiser ride or bouldering
session. Collapsible holsters on both sides
secure two water bottles, and compression
straps snug up the load to keep contents from
bouncing. Inside, a bright yellow lining makes it
easy to spot your stuff. One unisex size. $50;
mountainsmith.com
90 THE RED BULLETIN

With vest-inspired
suspension, the
Distance 8 pack is
built to move fast—
but it still hold tons
of gear.
BLACK DIAMOND DISTANCE 8
Blending features of vests and backpacks, this
ultralight (12.5 oz.) option is optimized for
skyrunning: Its body-hugging suspension
keeps the pack from bouncing when speedhiking,
and taped seams minimize chafing.
A stretchy pocket on a shoulder strap holds a
windshell, collapsible poles tuck into the sides,
and the 8-liter main compartment is made of
Dynex fibers that are 10 times stronger than
steel by weight. Unisex fit in three sizes.
$140; blackdiamondequipment.com

RHONE RODE JACKET
Proving that an adventure-ready shell needn’t
look out of place on city sidewalks, this jacket
pairs an urban silhouette with Polartec Neoshell
fabric that’s ultrabreathable and weatherproof.
A stretchy internal gaiter at the wrists keeps rain
from dripping inside if your arm is raised to grab
a handhold or hail a taxi. The adjustable hood
stays put in high winds. And the chest pocket
serves as a stay-dry bunker for your passport
or phone. Men’s only. $298; rhone.com
The Rode jacket
has technical
chops as well as
urban style.

G U I D E
APPAREL
BUFF TREK CAP
Featherweight and unoppressive on scorching
days, this sweat-mopping cap shields your
eyes without hemming you in. The four-waystretch
fabric accommodates all hair styles,
the laser-cut perforations let sweat and heat
dissipate and the adjustable strap lets you
cinch it tight against hat-snatching wind gusts.
And the side panels provide UPF 50 protection.
Two unisex sizes, available in four colors. $36;
buffusa.com
This cap is
breathable,
stretchy, moisturewicking
and offers
UV protection.
ELEVENATE MOTION
DOWN JACKET
Attractively wavy baffles define this
summerweight puffy, which uses synthetic
insulation in the high-compression zones (across
the shoulders and elbows) but 750-fill goose
down everywhere else. Add in silky-soft shell
fabric and you’ve got a supremely comforting
warm layer that looks great, too: The striped trim
at the hem and cuffs lend it subtle style. For men
and women. $250; elevenateusa.com
OISELLE FLYOUT WOOL
SHORT-SLEEVE SHIRT
The fabric makes the tee—and this short-sleeve
crewneck gets its magic from a unique merino/
synthetic blend: The wool is next to skin, where it
feels soft and comfortable in all but the hottest
temps. And the outer polyester layer dissipates
sweat for faster dry times and tougher durability
(pack straps won’t abrade it). With clean, simple
seam lines, the Flyout fits in at work and on the
trail. Women’s only. $64; oiselle.com
OUTDOOR RESEARCH EQUINOX
CONVERTIBLE PANTS
For summer 2020, O.R. overhauled its zippy
pants to remove the dork factor. An angled
zipper avoids the dreaded “hoop” effect when
worn as shorts. Streamlined cargo pockets
secure a smartphone and other necessities. And
the stretchy, bluesign-approved nylon is tough
enough for continuous wear: It repels stains,
dries fast and moves wherever you do. For men
and women. $99; outdoorresearch.com
SAXX NEW FRONTIER 2N1 SHORT
Yes, you can hike commando. Because after
designing what might be the best-performing
men’s underwear (with a sweat-wicking “ballpark
pouch” that’s supportive during sports), Saxx
advanced to outerwear: Its first hiking short
combines the skivvies’ best properties with a
rugged, stretch-woven fabric that stands tough
against granite boulders and untamed scrub.
Available in three colors and five sizes from 30 to
38. $95; saxxunderwear.com
THE RED BULLETIN 93

BEAST
MODE
For hikes, car rides and fun at home, here’s the coolest
new stuff to keep your dog happy, comfy and safe.
Words JOE LINDSEY
RUFFWEAR GRIP
TREX BOOTIES
Protect your pup’s paws from sharp
rocks and other hazards with these
sturdy booties. The grippy Vibram rubber
outsoles offer sure-footed traction on
natural surfaces and resistance to cuts
and abrasion. The mesh upper breathes
for air circulation, and the hook-and-loop
closure keeps out debris and fastens tight
so the boots stay put even during the
fastest zoomies. Available in eight sizes.
$75; ruffwear.com

G U I D E
SLEEPYPOD CLICKIT SPORT
CAR HARNESS
Keep things safe on the drive to the trailhead
with the Clickit Sport, one of the only harnesses
that’s crash-tested and approved by the Center
for Pet Safety. The automotive-grade straps and
padded vest distribute forces in a crash, and the
Clickit Sport’s trim profile is perfect for walks
and hikes, even on warm days. Quick-connect
buckles make attachment or removal easy.
Available in four sizes. $75-$90; sleepypod.com
NITE IZE RADDOG
COLLAPSIBLE BOWL
When your pooch wants a drink or snack on
an adventure, just pull out this ultralight
foldable bowl for a trailside refreshment. It’s
made out of waterproof coated nylon, holds
up to 16 ounces of water (or treats) and then
packs down to the size of a pack of gum to
fit in a pocket or pack. Or you can clip it to
a backpack or belt loop with the included
carabiner. $10; niteize.com
I AND LOVE AND YOU
NICE JERKY! TREATS
Did someone say treats?! I and Love and You’s
line is made of whole-food ingredients, without
weird additives. This jerky is nothing but highquality
meat, a little brown sugar and smoke
flavor, all made in the USA. Three flavors
(chicken/duck, beef/lamb, chicken/salmon)
provide tasty options for the pickiest pup, and
you can break or cut them into smaller sizes for
training. $6 (4 oz. bag); iandloveandyou.com
This puzzle toy will
challenge your
dog’s brain to
steer them from
harmful behavior.
BLUE DOG DESIGNS
HELP ’EM UP HARNESS
Why should puppies have all the fun? This
harness assists senior dogs with strength or
mobility issues so they can join on walks. Handles
on the chest and hip segments let you safely and
securely lift your pooch into and out of vehicles,
or offer steady support when navigating steps
or uneven terrain. The harness is comfortable
for sitting, lying down and even for potty time.
Available in five sizes. $75-$125; helpemup.com
FILSON LARGE DOG BED
After a full day of adventures, let your best
friend stretch out in luxury on this premium
dog bed. At 43 inches long and 29 wide, it’s a
spacious suite for quality snoozing. The 5-inchthick
polyester fiberfill is soft and supportive,
with a baffle construction that will prevent
shifting and collapse with use. The quilted Tin
Cloth cotton cover is water and stain resistant
and removable for machine washing. $295;
filson.com
OUTWARD HOUND/NINA
OTTOSSON DOG TORNADO TOY
Dogs need more than just exercise. This puzzle
toy challenges their brains, directing their
energy away from destructive or harmful
behavior. (It also helps slow down fast eaters at
mealtime.) Put treats or kibble inside, close the
toy and watch Boomer figure out how to spin
each level to “unlock” his reward. Removable
bone blocks add difficulty when your dog
masters the basics. $25; outwardhound.com
THE RED BULLETIN 95

GLOBAL TEAM
THE RED
BULLETIN
WORLDWIDE
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features conservationist
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Madison Stewart.
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the ordinary, go to
redbulletin.com.
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96 THE RED BULLETIN

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F R E E A S S E S S M E N T

Action highlight
Rapids response
Riding the world’s wildest rivers is what extreme-kayak world champion Nouria Newman
(pictured) is all about. So last year, the French multiple medal winner joined fellow kayakers
Erik Boomer and Ben Stookesberry on a trip to Chilean Patagonia to tackle the region’s three
most notoriously fierce waterways—a challenge known as the Patagonia Triple Crown.
To watch Newman and her team face the surge and spray, go to redbull.com.
The next
issue of
THE RED BULLETIN
is out on
April 14.
ERIK BOOMER/RED BULL CONTENT POOL
98 THE RED BULLETIN

ALPHATAURI.COM

APRIL 2020
SEAMASTER DIVER 300M
007 EDITION
JAMES BOND’S
CHOICE
SHOP AT OMEGAWATCHES.COM