Culture Shock Los Angeles. Photo by Ja Tecson.
“Are you ready for your solo?” Anthony Lee, artistic director of Culture Shock Los Angeles, asks a small boy this question, as he lifts him to the sky. The kid shakes his head enthusiastically as the two head toward the rest of the hip-hop dance collective gathered on the top floor of the South Bay Dance Center. Lee calls places for a final run-through of Roy Meets World, a one-off performance this Friday at Ford Theatres.
It’s not the only night hip-hop will hit the Ford stage this summer. On October 5, Versa-Style Dance Company will premiere Furious Beauty, its latest evening-length work. Ford Theatres continues to support LA’s growing hip-hop dance community, and troupes like Culture Shock L.A. and Versa-Style are leading the charge to bring street dance to the stage.
Featuring 65 dancers ages 5 to 35, mostly from Culture Shock L.A. with a few special guests, Roy Meets World takes cues from Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist and the Hindu tradition of the seven chakras, or energy centers of the body. It’s an adventure story about a boy who encounters and overcomes challenges as he journeys through life and, ultimately, becomes a man.
The inspiration for this year’s Ford show (last June’s was titled BEauty) was personal. …
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Jessica Koslow 