One of my favorite sections, Once Upon a Time, led by Lindsey "OUTTHERE" Blaufarb, mimics a circular assembly line as dancers representing different robots move around the line and manipulate her. We see a lot of "roboting" and mannequin in hip-hop, as it is a derivative of styles that came out of poppin’; I particularly enjoy this section for it cleverly mixes this style with a thematic presentation. OUTTHERE just "kills" her isolations with such exciting intricacies in the choreography... She's amazing! Kudos also go out to stand-out, John “JROCK” Nelson, who delivers some of the sickest robotic moves in the business. Holla!
Another scene, entitled The Audition captures “a dancer audition” on-the-nose …and often when everybody laughs, I think to myself, "They don't even know the half of it!” The characters at the audition are a "girly girl" or "strip-hop" dancer, a musical theatre or jazz dancer ridiculed for being at a hip hop audition, and a girl who hits the movement too hard... a hilarious realistic touch! Mistakes are even choreographed into each dancer’s act, a small detail that probably is unnoticed to the untrained eye!
Other stand-outs to this production is Julie "LADY JULES" Urich, who is one of the illest b-girls on the scene, and Daniel “CLOUD” Campos. Lady Jules' skills are really incredible; no doubt, she is strong and really has that "power freestyle" to hit her moves head-to- head to even to the best b-boy on the block. She is so good that I would have loved to see her even more featured in the show. Cloud (one of the leads in the show), quite simply, is the "The Truth." His skills are MAJOR. He flips, then hits,... goes from smooth, a slide, a turn, a jump tour, then a freeze without blinking. In other scenes, he has a brilliant ability to put "presence" into the contemplative, more silent moments opening the audience to connect with his story with sincerity. When Cloud dances, there is a glow literally around his body that excites the audience no matter what he does. Only a true artist has that glow. He's a gift to the hip hop/freestyle world.
It’s no surprise that these dancers have worked professionally in L.A., as they dominate the balance between entertaining and playing characters. Although the show is very dynamic, I would have liked to see more originality and risk in the thematic ways that the story is told. For Hip Hop Dance to break into the world of touring conceptual shows, more depth and range of aesthetic and perception needs to be coupled with those neck-breaking head-spins. Can anyone say back flips landing on the elbows? (Ouch!) Ivan Velez (aka Flipz) even flips off the back balcony - at least 8 feet high!
All in all, if you want to see illest, most wicked skills of some of the best freestyle b-girls and b-boys on the planet, go see the Groovaloos. Groovaloo is hot show, and an excellent step forward in hip hop and break dancing on the world stage.
Groovaloo runs December 1, 2009 through January 3, 2010 at Union Square Theatre, New York City.
iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by JoiLynn
Editorial Contributions by Candice Rox and Sheena DiMatteo
Performance: Groovaloo
Venue: The Joyce Theater New York City
Date: Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
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