In the new documentary “Rize,” people talk about the dance phenomenon called “Krumping” in much the same way they talked about break dancing 20 years ago: it’s not just a dance, it’s a cultural instrument that could change the world of the inner city.
| New dance craze: Documentary about Krumping, a hot new form of inner-city dancing born in L.A.’s South Central neighborhood. Director David LaChappelle clearly believes this is not just a fad, but a culture-changing movement.
Rated: PG-13 rating is for language. Now showing: tk |
We’ll see about that. If a movie comes out in a couple of years called “Krumpin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo,” you’ll know the craze is played out.
In the meantime, “Rize” makes a good case for the spirit of Krumping, and gives background into how this dance emerged from the Los Angeles ghetto.
All credit goes to a clown. Tommy the Clown, by name, an ex-convict who got tired of selling drugs and decided he wanted to change his life.
In 1992, Tommy began performing at children’s parties, and quickly became the party clown of South Central. Along with his powdered makeup and multi-colored Afro, Tommy added some eccentric dancing to his act, and as his business took off, he taught his dancing to apprentice clowns.
Somehow this mutated into Krumping, which takes an even wilder approach to what the human body can do. A disclaimer at the beginning of the film informs the audience that no footage in the movie was “sped up,” and it’s easy to see why this was added.
Some of the dancing in the film is indoors, but much of it is on the streets, as kids shimmy and shake in a dance that often has them miming the actions of hand-to-hand battle. Interviews with some of the most accomplished Krumpers – who have names like Tight Eyez, Dragon and Ms. Prissy – show incredible devotion to their craft. (One practitioner says that if you miss two days of dancing, you’ll be sent packing.)
“Rize” is directed by David LaChappelle, a celebrated photographer and maker of music videos (for Christina Aguilera and Jennifer Lopez, among others). He came across Krumping while casting dancers in his music videos, and realized the subject was ripe for chronicling.
Most of the film looks like a straight-on documentary, albeit with a jumpy soundtrack. Then LaChappelle will cut to a sequence of well-oiled bodies writhing in slow motion, and his experience as a fashion photographer and TV-commercial director comes clearly (some might say embarrassingly) to the fore.
LaChappelle delves into the lives of Krumpers who’ve been saved by dancing, and more than one performer testifies that Krumping was pretty much the only alternative to the gang life. In which case, long live Krumping.
Lil’ C (left) and Tight Eyez (right) perform one of their dance movements in “Rize.”
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