The evening commute on BART is Eric Bassett's time to shine.
Bossett, 20, who performs as Kid Strobe, leads his seven-man crew onto a train at Powell Street Station in San Francisco and carves out a small dance floor by the doors. Weary riders make way -- faces flecked with a blend of curiosity and annoyance.
Then the beat starts thumping and feet begin flying.
As the train roars through the tunnel, Bossett and his Oakland-based troupe take turns performing solo dance routines for the captive audience, stopping abruptly to collect donations in a shoebox before the doors open at the next stop -- "They say the best nation is a donation."
The Turf Feinz, as they're called, are among a growing number of groups of mostly young men on BART who perform a kind of street dance called turfing, a distinctive Oakland-bred style -- some say the progeny of breakdancing -- that came to prominence in the early 2000s (TURF is an acronym for Taking Up Room on the Floor).