Krumping brings out his “inner monkey?”
CVK
I was catching up on some Tivo’d TV on Sunday night and yes folks, I do quite enjoy the show So You Think You Can Dance. (Those Sickstep Crew kids are bad-ass!)
Anyway, Travis Wall, pictured, was paired up with Martha Nichols to do a krump routine, choreographed by Lil C, who was featured in David LaChapelle’s documentary Rize.
The performance was pretty lacklustre, if you ask me. But the judges raved and commended Wall for being able to really go for it and let go. So Travis Wall responded, saying that all the credit should go to their choreographer, and he proceeded to say something along the lines of “he really got me in touch with my inner monkey” — meaning, I guess, that he was able to let go and be wild and uninhibited. When the camera cut to Lil C, he did not look amused at the word choice.
It was an interesting moment because it made me think back to how little I liked “Rize” and how exploitative I thought it was. For one thing, LaChapelle engaged in some pretty unabashed fetishization of the black body. It seemed like there was a naked, muscular, oiled-up torso in every single frame of the film (very Mapplethorpian).
And there was also something really patronizing about LaChapelle’s approach. He shows what awful conditions the kids are living in (poverty, drugs, crime, unemployment), and yet, it seemed like the message of the movie was, well at least they can express their innate, savage, animalistic natures through krumping instead of getting caught up in crime. (And don’t get me started on the awful montage juxtaposing the random African tribal dancers with the krumpers.)
How is krumping an acceptable alternative to getting an education or living in a non-crime-ridden neighborhood or earning an decent wage? If these were a bunch of white kids, I don’t think any filmmaker would suggest that being able to dance and apparently not get paid for it (seems like Tommy the Clown was the only one in that movie making any money) is something we should applaud. But I guess to LaChapelle, for these kids, it’s good enough.
In any case, I’m glad to see that Lil C apparently has been able to translate “Rize” into some paying gigs.
daddy in a strange land wrote:
Check out the latest issue of Hyphen magazine, which has an interesting article about a Filipino krumping crew that got screwed out of screen-time in “Rize.”
Posted 27 Jun 2006 at 9:55 am ¶
mtevc wrote:
right on administrator…dave chappelle (not lachappelle) even jokes about this urge to push black kids to basketball or some other outlandish pursuit, instead of an education…
Posted 27 Jun 2006 at 2:19 pm ¶
gatamala wrote:
His inner monkey…..{sigh}
As happy as I am to see the creative elements in our culture, I am concerned as to what happens next. Sure they run the press circuit, do a few videos, make guest appearances, but then what??????????????
Posted 28 Jun 2006 at 8:01 am ¶
tmk wrote:
I own the DVD Rize and my main reason for the purchase was its artistic cinematography and amazing dance moves, but I agree to its problems in exoticizing the dance and imagining its “indigenous” roots.
LaChapelle also doesn’t forget to put the token white boy in the end. He appears once in a while after that, projecting his camaraderie among the black dancers, and although his presence may have been to symbolize krumping’s power to over come racial boundaries, its absurd. If any of you saw the additional footages of the DVD under “extra dance scenes” this white male appears again but he just seems very.. attached on… and I’m saying this by observing the body language of the dancers. Yes, I think its great if krumping can become more about the skill regardless of race but I just didnt understand these scenes that seemed more like an afterthought.
Anyway, Rize is a good movie, but its narrative and perspective resorts to the played out, look at the poor black kids but hey they provide great entertainment! I now just look at specific dance scenes and skip the narrative.. without a doubt though, the cast is a very talented group of people.
Posted 28 Jun 2006 at 6:26 pm ¶
jmh wrote:
Mtevc - It actually IS David Lachappelle - not Dave Chappelle…two different people. I think the kid is just ignorant - I didn’t get the impression he meant anything by that comment.
Posted 28 Jun 2006 at 9:53 pm ¶
SLR wrote:
So You Think You Can Dance?
I Luuuvvvv this show. The raw, unbridled talent of the dancers is energezing and infectious and I’m happy that a show is giving a platform to an underappreciated art form - dance! Martha and Travis did a respectable krumping routine. I was particularly impressed with Travis who is a contemporary dancer but managed to exhibit the “soul” of tha dance and had the choreography down. The music should have been a lot faster tempo for an authentic “krump” style dance but this wasn’t their fault.
Nygel Lythgoe’s comment about his “inner monkey” could be taken a couple of different ways. I don’t think he meant it as an intentionally racist comment, but then again he is a stiff, upper-lipped, white British mano is trying to sort of fit in and look hip in this Gen Y culture and he often comes off looking like a corny dude with a stick up his arse…but he’s trying to appreicate an art form of which he has no knowledge or skill to perform himself.
On Rize…
I loved this movie!!! I loved this movie for the dance — it’s a fast-paced, athletic, rythmic dance of expression. I had not scene krumping depicted on film before LaChapelle came out with his movie. No one in mainstream media was talking about it or showcasing it. So I give him credit for shedding light on a modern dance/ art form that was underappreciated. The dancing in the film alone was phenomenal and was enough to hold my attention but I also appreciated the subplots of the movie — the stories behind the Story. For me understanding what these kids face on a daily basis in their lives, their obstacles and challenges, their environment, their neighborhood violence — helps to contextualize and frame the story. If it were a film about surburban white kids “krumping” it would have been a totally different movie for me. So I thank him for that. In many ways, the fact that the kids in the film have an art form that is so unique that they can hold onto, master and feel good about in spite the many challenges they face living in underserved communities says something powerful. In the interviews they had during film festivals and premieres etc., they felt a sense of achievement, personal pride and power as a result of accomplished landing themselves in a movie on the “big screen.” That is priceless!!
Posted 30 Jun 2006 at 11:32 pm ¶
beepbeepitsme wrote:
RE your inner monkey
Embrace Your Inner Monkey
http://beepbeepitsme.blogspot.com/2006/08/embrace-your-inner-monkey.html
Posted 27 Aug 2006 at 7:15 pm ¶