Calling All B-Boys and B-Girls!

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Last night I had one of the most enjoyable theatrical experiences of my life. I went to see the SJ B-Boys production of The Ballerina who Loves a B-Boy. Check out their site because there are some really cool pics and a video <a href="/go?l=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sjbboys.com%2F&tracking=external" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.sjbboys.com</a> . You DO NOT want to miss the video. It has some amazing dance moves and the best parts of the show. The English part of it may or may not work. I was extremely excited to see the show because I love dance, hip-hop, and b-boys/b-girls. For those of you who are not familiar with this term, they are what we would call "breakdancers." This is a totally legitimate form of dance, derived from the streets of Brooklyn and the tribal dances of the African ancestors of the first b-boys and b-girls. It is an amazing thing to see live and up close. It's like seeing Cirque du Soleil and Mos Def collaborate. <blockquote></blockquote>Of course, the title of the show would lead you to believe that it is a simple production, but the only thing simple about it was the storyline. The dancing was top-notch. Breakdancing is really popular in Korea and the Koreans could give the kids in the States a serious run for their money. The show was packed and there was an incredible give and take kind of energy with the performers and the audience that is rarely achieved in the modern theatre. Being set in an intimate black box theater helped. For the theatre geeks among you, this was the best black box I have ever seen. It was orgasmic. There was the usual performace arena on the ground floor, but there was also a decently deep procenium stage behind that. There was balcony seating house right and left, so they were able to fit in a lot of people (and the balconies could be useful as a set device in other productions). If I ever get my own theatre, I will build one just like this. <blockquote></blockquote>One of the coolest things about the show was that they embraced all the dance forms of hip hop. There were some amazing poppers and some straight up hig hop chicas waggin their asses. There were the b-boys and a kick-ass b-girl who totally held her own. Then, there were some really great ballerinas (not part of hip hop culture, of course). The story is, as I'm sure you have guessed, that ballerina meets b-boy and falls in love. She ditches the tutu for some killer baggy pants and learns how to break with the best of them. The show was totally in keeping with the generosity of hip hop culture. You could tell that everyone in the cast was completely supportive of one another, cheering on each other's bodily feats, and loving the crowd. <blockquote></blockquote>One of my favorite parts was the use of mask work. There were a few scenes where the ballerina has this nightmare and the b-boys are all in really cool modern dance rag costumes and they all wear eerie white maskes. The music is dreamy and creepy and the b-boys combine lyrical, modern, and breakdancing with amazing ease and fluidity. Seeing these dance forms come together successfully was truly unique and moving. The masks worked so well. I always get shivers when masks are used because, to me, they are more real. Maybe that's because masks were used in the earliest days of the theatre. I also think that masks free up the actors and the story is told much more expressivly. I'm a physical theatre fanatic, though! There was one part where a dancer did a back bend, but had slipped the mask around so that the face was upright. That was unreal! <blockquote></blockquote>There was also some comic relief with two b-boys who would come out between scenes and say things that were supposedly really funny in Korean. Koreans love slap stick comedy and cross-dressing and all that, so the guys were really clownish and funny. It was nice, though, because they got to interact with the audience more, which created even more intimacy between the audience and the performers. Oh, they also had this really inventive set of walls on stage right and left that looked real, but were, in fact, entirely composed of thick black rubber bands. During a fight scene, one of the b-boys was hurtled through it. Love it! Wouldn't that be great in Act 1 Scene 1 of Romeo and Juliet? <blockquote></blockquote>As a director I had a few issues with the show (of course!). The romance between the b-boy and ballerina was completely non-exsistent. I think this is because none of the dancers are actors. I read in a recent article about the company that they are trying to explore that more. It is clear they need some help in the area because all of the acting was very fake and over the top. Luckily they were dancing most of the time. Dancers are incredibly expressive when they don't have to "act." Also, there were some set elements that didn't work for me, but it was a pretty simple set to begin with (which was good in that respect). There were over-the-top sound effects, the kinds of things you would see in a high school show run by the students. But again, the dancing was so dynamic and the performers so giving that you couldn't hold anything against them. <blockquote></blockquote>The actor in the lead role was not the best choice. He was too sweet and cute and the role needed a hot guy with a big ego. Yes, the storyline is cliche, but it's cliche because it has worked forever. We love it when bad guy meets good girl. Especially when they're dancing. Did anyone see the recent movie Step Up? Look, I am not lauding the cinematic abilities of dance films, but I don't care what the story line is, let's see some good dancing and romance! I also would have liked to see them get a little more creative with the setting. The show only went between the ballet rehearsal room and the street. These worlds should have been less isolated. Have some people walking around talking on their cell-phones and reading newspapers. It was pretty choppy, just back and forth. However, it worked well enough, considering there was absolutly no dialogue. This was very fortunate for me, since I don't understand Korean. Since the whole thing is not real to life, we can forgive them their single-mindedness. <blockquote></blockquote>Anyway, I was really excited to see something new in the theatre. Hip hop is such a big part of our culture now and youth need theatre that speeks to them. I need theatre that speeks to me! There is a growing movement in the states with people like Danny Hoch, but I really have never seen anything like this. When you bring the street and the club into the theatre, only good things can happen. I'm over the old, tired shit. And, you know what, I am so sick of Pinter and Beckett. Really, can we move on already?? I mean, really, how many of us are moved, and I mean really moved, by those guys? I'll take Sarah Kane over them any day of the week (and she's not so hot). <blockquote></blockquote>At the end of the show, the audience called out "Encore" (except that pronounced it en- core). Zach, my husband, turned to me and said, "can you imagine calling for the third act to be re-done as an encore?" It was such a refreshing departure from the usual theatrical fare. And, boy did we get one too! I should have guessed something like this would happen, since someone came out before the show and explained that we should all be comfortable waving our fists in the air and yelling woo!woo!. It was like being given permission to behave like a groundling! After the show, the performers all hung out around the black box and some of them were walking home with the audience in their street-clothes costumes. It was such an authentic experience. I seriously smiled, clapped, and tapped my foot for an hour and a half! The fact that the show was sold out and everyone paid $50 for the tickets just goes to show that this kind of theatre CAN work! To top it all off, they gave everyone a tray of dok (Korean rice treat) to take home for free. When I asked for a poster, not only did they not charge me, but they took great care to roll and tape it up for me. It was nice how the overall gernerosity of the show extended to the lobby. On the way home, I could only think about the show as I listened to Jurrasic 5 and The Roots. After something like that, you can only listen to some good hip-hop and dance. If you are interested in hip hop culture, rent the documentary RIZE. It's amazing and eye-opening. If you get a chance to check out some hip-hop theatre, do it. 2007-05-11T11:54:20-07:00

293601281

2008-03-05T16:00:00-08:00

0 -9223372036854775790 169104

4505140

380985

168493

0.0420695801046511

2006-07-09T17:00:00-07:00

Published

25.0 Calling All B-Boys and B-Girls!

2007-05-11T12:03:28-07:00

100761