Asian Bro can Dance
Reality shows don’t have to be bad. In fact, they can be damn good. The last few weeks, I’ve been sucked into the trials-and-tribulations of hip-hop dance crews from around the U S of A in Randy Jackson’s America’s Best Dance Crews. Thanks Randy.
I admit I’ve never taken a fond liking to ballet what with its devotion to the feminine ideal of the prepubescent white girl. But hip-hop dance is something else altogether with its bombastic dynamism and hard physicality.
So here’s a clip from San Diego’s “JabbaWockeez” who won the competition tonight, showing off their intricate and theatrical style, with a piece from an earlier round, a piece based on the evolution of hip-hop dance. To quote the judge Lil Mam, “that isolation was dope”. You know what’s dope? The extended head-spin at the end of the piece:
It surprised me to see so many asian brothers and sisters in the last few rounds, including much of the winning crew. Is there something in hip-hop dance that jives with the Asian mind-meld? They’ll surely be celebrating over a good bowl of Ramen tonight.
p.s. The masks may seem gimmicky but proper mask work is a distilled crystallization of pure theater. Think Commedia Del’Arte. JabbaWockeez own their masks.
Not to get all jingoistic, but America totally has lost the b-boy arms race to Asia. The kids out of South Korea can do some crazy stuff. The documentary “Planet B-Boy” is a sort of fun movie to check out that demonstrates this fact.
Or you can just check out some youtube-y goodness of crazy dancer Hong 10.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ2iSYhQL9w&feature=related
Well, now I feel I’ve probably opened up your blog comments section to posts of “Hong 10 sucks. [Foo] can totally serve him.” So sorry about that.
Oh so entertaining. Thanks for watching the show (so I don’t have to) and culling the good bits (so I can see them). And I’m firmly in the Hong 10 camp, yo!