Today's Urban Creativity - Part III

by Lawrence Raysor

Part III

The beautiful thing about dancing is anyone can partake in the act. Of course there’s the obvious fact: 6/10 times you’re going to run into the guy with 2 left feet or the girl who looks like she has ticks and was so much hotter before you decided to dance with her. You can be sure that you’re dancing with this person when he/she starts calling out the names to these dances and there’s no reggae music playing (for some reasons all of the reggae dances have names now, I.e. “Scooby Doo”, “Pon de River”, “Slow Win’” etc). I’m no hater though. Do the dance that you’re comfortable with when you’re comfortable doing it. I’ve come to notice that most people, minus the liquor, stay within themselves when it comes to dancing. The problem, however, is when people start doing dances with little effort and skill and claim it’s a performance worthy of an audience or a competition.

So I’m walking down the street-I think it’s funny how a lot of casual stories start like that, I’m actually considering putting out a book of one-line starters to stories that are totally out of line ( I.e. So I’m punching this nun in the face; So I’m robbing this 8 year old for his lunch money; So I’m stealing this cops gun…damn, those were so much funnier in my head… ) ok, so maybe that‘s not a good idea. Anyway, I suddenly hear the all-too-familiar chant accompanied by the percussive clap that is the beat. Who needs music when you’ve got hands and feet. That much I love, but the love stops there. The group of 20 or middle school kids, give or take an attitude and a funky fashion statement or two, are standing in a circlein the park yelling and clapping in unison, “NO MUSIC! (CLAP CLAP-CLAP CLAP!) NO MUSIC (CLAP CLAP-CLAP CLAP!).” Of course, me being the nosy man I am, I slow down, hoping to witness something worth retelling. What I see, however, is this group of kids encouraging a young black child, let’s call him “Kaseem” for stereotypical purposes, while he performs an interesting three-step dance move that’s followed by what appears to be the self expressive portion of the dance. Immediately, I’m intrigued. I’m all about self expression.

In a testament to Ritalin and how valuable it is, allow me to go off on a tangent about something closely related, since I took my medicine 2 hours later than scheduled. I’ll come back to this scene in the park, I think I promise. Anyway, I was intrigued when I first saw the documentary, Rise, about the new dance culture in the urban society. Of course the documentary briefly touched on a few dance styles such as B-Boy dancing and the “quick feet” style in the Midwest, but the primary focus was on “Krumping”. “This is brilliant,” I thought as I watched the DVD, while sipping on a cocktail (Vodka and O.J. or “screwdriver” for whomever is buying…yea that’s cool I’ll be over here by the bar let me know). These were kids from tough towns and cities who were getting out their frustration, pain, disappointment, and energy through a style of dance that was aggressive and completely improvised so as to capture true emotion. I dug it and very much so. This was a true case of self expression through the art of dancing. Although it was geared towards aggression, competition, and abrasive behavior, it was done to the music, it was authentic to the dancer, whomever he/she was, and it was beautiful. I was, and still am a fan. It’s not easy to be an individual and it’s certainly not easy to be creative, what with all of the history that lies in our arts. This, style of dance and its dancers, however, was both creative and geared towards the individual, and it was the product of the urban youth. Beautiful!

I wish I could say the same for our beloved Kaseem. Surrounded and encouraged by his peers, he broke into a freestyle dance that I’ve since come to know as “Getting Lite”. At first, honestly speaking, I just didn’t get it. As I watched some more -from a far of course, I’m way too cool to be caught observing this, according to some test I‘ve taken (moot point, I know)-I realized the self -expression portion of this dance. After his three step, he proceeded to move his arms and legs as though he were jogging in place and, following another three step, he pretended to take an imaginary cup of water from one of the audience members. He then pretended to drink the imaginary water and douse himself with the rest, much like a marathon runner would do on a heated run. That was cool. I appreciated the way his freestyle artistry was attempting to imitate real life. Then…the mierda hit the fan. I’m guessing that little jogging thing was his go to move. You know how the guy that’s been two-stepping all night long finally hears “his” song and decides it’s time to spruce it up? Then all of a sudden you see his shoulders hike up, his hands wave about in front of him, and his knees bend, all the while his feet are moving frantically, and if it weren’t for the look of utmost confidence on his face, (cue the puckered lips and the wind-in-the-eye look) you’d think he was having a bad “E-pill” trip. That, however, is the go-to move that he’s been waiting to unleash, as sad as that may sound (let’s remember the 6/10 statistic; you should’ve known better when he hit you with that line, “Are you a cop?…Because you certainly are one of New York’s finest…). Well whatever the case was, I’m willing to bet your next pay check that that was poor “Kaseem’s” go-to move because everything that followed was a quarter of what it could have or should have been. His next move was a back flip that featured him landing on his stomach and face, unintentionally. Now here’s where the “that’s so cute that he even tried that move” people chime and try to defend Kaseem. After yawning, I point out that the crowd went crazy, as though Kaseem had done the greatest move they’d ever seen.

Now, I’m a pretty opinionated person, and I can be rough on performance artists in general, but I’m going to “keep it real” with you, Kaseem’s dancing was riddled with mistakes, half -way developed and danced out moves and the kids treated him like a superstar. In my “No Music” memory bank, however, Kaseem ranked second to four young men, who rode the train and asked for donations after what they called a “performance”. I was all prepared to hear the speech: “Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. I apologize for the interruption. I’m not here selling candy for no basketball team. I’m basically selling candy so I don’t have to rob yo’ a** in the street. Consider yourselves lucky, son!!!” At least that’s how I remember it; I could be off. That, however, was not the speech I heard. Instead I heard, “Yo me and my friends is about to put on a show for ya’ll and we appreciate ya’ donations afterwards. Hit it!” They clapped and sung the no music ballad and what I saw next was (hmmm what’s a safe word) “something”, yea that work…“something”. Not only were these kids falling all over the place, they were off beat and had no fluidity whatsoever. The activities and/or actions they were trying to depict fell short, thanks to movements that were far from deliberate or practiced. Come on people, even freestyle rappers practice freestyling! Now I know some of you might say, “Lawrence, they’re just kids. Leave those poor babies alone.” NOPE, I shall not! I’m trying to save urban creativity people!

I could easily sit here and tell you about the underdeveloped and far from deliberate dance moves, that look like the half-speed rehearsals of a dance routines that were created while on acid, being hosted on the ever educational youtube.com, but I trust that all of you get the point. The fact of the matter is, most of these kids are operating under the “monkey see, monkey do” system. For them to perform and claim to be skilled in the “art” of “gettin’ lite”, all they have to do is watch one of their friends. There’s no studying or research involved. I’m convinced that some of these kids don’t even know what dance styles factored into this new dance style that they claim as their own. In addition, there’s not much practicing going on, outside of the public forum.

If I’m being difficult than so be it. I’m on the side of creativity. Creativity requires hard work, dedication, and an overall (or even a basic) knowledge of the subject at hand. At this rate, the “two step” will be considered a choreographed dance worthy of a standing ovation in Madison Square Garden. I’m not saying let’s take it back to the days of the “Electric Slide” and the “Cha - Cha Slide” (okay so maybe this line was completely unnecessary but if anyone wants to throw a party I’m first on the dance floor to either of the aforementioned songs, I’m just sayin’ hook it up), but at least do a dance that emulates and/or embellishes on a real -life movement. We miss you creativity. Come home soon, please!

Comment please, but please limit your responses to the contents of this blog. Any personal comments should and can be sent to the author's email. Remember this is a blog, and opinions on such are very welcome.