Jessica Koslow

Photo by: Fiona Cullen

Indonesian choreographer Ery Mefri does not speak English. His company Nan Jombang is in New York City the week before coming to Los Angeles, busily performing at Fall for Dance and at Asia Society. Both circumstances slim my chances of an interview. Fortunately, company manager Suzanne La is happy to answer my questions — and provide me with several of Mefri’s own reflections via email —  about his West Coast premiere of “Rantau Berbisik (Whisperings of Exile)” at REDCAT this Wednesday through Sunday (with the exception of Friday).

Mefri is a part of West Sumatra’s Minangkabau ethnic minority. He is very deliberate in exploring issues facing his society, like the ambivalence toward migration, or merantau, the traditional departure of young men from villages to establish themselves economically elsewhere. The guys often land in major Indonesian cities where Minangkabau cafes are popular. Around 80 percent of the men who leave Minangkabau villages never return. Mefri is an oddball. He was born in Solok and chose to settle in nearby Padang. But the nostalgia, longing, resentment, and loss this outmigration sparks remain on Mefri’s mind, and inspired this work.

“When people don’t come back, it hurts development and our ability to progress in West Sumatra,” Mefri says. …

Full article at Culture Spot LA

After filing out of Walt Disney Concert Hall this past Sunday after the second and final performance of Benjamin Millepied’s “L.A. Dance Project,” I couldn’t help but think that I had witnessed the real L.A. Dance Project the previous evening at the Fifth Annual J.U.i.C.E.Hip-Hop Dance Festival at the Ford Amphitheatre.

Saturday evening’s fest was an exciting showcase of street dance from local companies. Powered by grants and community support, producer Emiko Sugiyama has pulled together a night of hip-hop dance for the past three years to benefit the nonprofit weekly hip-hop arts program called J.U.i.C.E., Justice by Uniting in Creative Energy. The collective meets every Saturday afternoon at the MacArthur Park Recreation Center and every Thursday evening at Chuco’s Justice Center in Inglewood and provides instruction in the four elements of hip-hop: MCing, DJing, B-boying and graffiti writing.

While Millepied’s Project boasted beautiful dancers and playfully intricate choreography, there was nothing particularly L.A. about the performance, except for the costumes designed by Kate and Laura Mulleavy of L.A.’s Rodarte. …

Read full article at Culture Spot LA

Photo by Peter Griffith

Amy “Catfox” Campion’s arms are sinewy — evidence of her hard work. A longtime b-girl and capoeirista, she is petite, strong and confident. The founder of Antics Performance is standing in front of the 13 street dancers in her crew. Her expression is earnest as she emphasizes the importance of the dancers connecting to their characters. This is something new for everybody. It’s the first time Campion is producing a long-form theatrical piece with a narrative.

“You are assassins,” Campion reminds the two men crouching on the floor. Another dancer portrays a monster, another a tyrant. It’s the second Thursday of September, and inside Campion’s loft on the northwest corner of MacArthur Park, Antics is rehearsing for its premiere of Illuminated Manuscript, which will bring breaking, popping and krumping to Los Angeles Theatre Center (LATC), September 28-30.

The dancers have been running through scenes all afternoon. They break to eat and then head out to the Downtown LA Art Walk to freestyle in the lobby of LATC and hand out flyers for their upcoming show. It’s all part of creating and promoting a new work, which Campion hopes will live on after its debut.

Campion has been involved in street dance and in the Brazilian martial art form Capoeira since her years when she was studying for a BA in dance from the University of Washington. …

Read the full article at LA Stage Times

Krystle Bueno, center, and other cast members rehearse “BEauty.” (Irfan Khan, Los Angeles Times / June 21, 2012)

Many of the images in last year’s “Beauty CULTure” exhibition at the Annenberg Space for Photography provoked discussion: the blank stare of a child beauty contestant, a pair of taut lips being poked with a surgeon’s needle. The exhibition touched on issues of vanity, acceptance and self-worth. After catching the show, a handful of dancers from the urban dance collective Culture Shock L.A. were inspired to put their own spin on the concept. This Friday at the Ford Amphitheatre, they will premiere “BEauty,” featuring their own work alongside contributions from contestants of “America’s Best Dance Crew,” guest MCs, and actress and Culture Shock L.A .board member Tamlyn Tomita.

For 19 years, Culture Shock L.A.’s main focus has been on outreach and education. The nonprofit community dance organization offers in-school, after-school and public classes in urban dance styles, mostly in neighborhoods lacking arts education programs. Armed with music and dance, they aim to cultivate dignity and combat stereotypes. In 2005, the collective decided to produce benefit shows. “BEauty” will be its eighth, and its third big production this year.

Allison Tanaka is one of Culture Shock L.A.’s co-executive directors. She is slight, almost fragile. One week before “BEauty” premieres, she is gliding graceful as a feather …

Read full article at latimes.com

Jessica Koslow listens as Sarah Reich talks about the trouble tap dancers have earning a living and achieving fame. But the 22-year-old Los Angeles native is not stepping away from her big tap family.

Listen to podcast at Annenberg Radio News Detours

Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet performs Alexander Ekman’s “Tuplet” at UCLA Live on April 28. / Photo courtesy of UCLA Live

Several times on April 28, Benoit-Swan Pouffer, the French-born artistic director of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, walked through the lobby of Royce Hall looking like he was nervous. He made eye contact with passersby, stopped to chat with other young, stylishly dressed people, but mostly, he looked as if he couldn’t sit still. That evening’s performance was his company’s second of a two-night engagement at UCLA Live. It’s surprising to think Pouffer would be worried, considering he’s incredibly gifted at spotlighting beatific dancers, with just enough impeccable training mixed with the gift of free flow. Cedar Lake’s versatile movers wrap their bodies around choreography like Silly Putty. Toned, flexible and funky, this performance was a prime example of how they ease from one choreographer’s work to the next, shifting effortlessly from one particular style to another.  If my attention ever wandered throughout the night’s three sets, it was no fault of the dancers.

Especially not Jon Bond, who makes 28-year-old Swedish choreographer Alexander Ekman’s “Tuplet” piece his own. The scene opens with a white screen, Bond standing as a black silhouette. Every time he moves, a sound escapes. An arm causes a whirring, a foot evokes a beep, and a shoulder lets out a hum. Simple, but evocative. By replacing counts of eight with noises, the body becomes a toy and the movements more relatable. The rhythmic exercise roots dance firmly in everyday life. But there’s nothing ordinary about Bond’s graceful execution. He plays his body like a virtuoso. Or, more likely, Bond acts as DJ, his body acts as turntables that blend and create sounds with every revolution.

“Nothing isn’t a rhythm,” a voice blares out…

Read Full Article on Culture Spot LA

Photo by Dan Carino

Though all dance styles are welcome at the 818 Session, the spotlight is on krump, a dance form created circa 2002 in South Central Los Angeles. Dave LaChapelle’s 2005 documentary “Rize” introduced mainstream audiences to krump and clown dancing — the latter adds face paint and costumes and has since subsided in popularity. Krump, however, has managed to gain momentum worldwide.

The economic and social conditions of South Central Los Angeles at the turn of the 21st century contributed to the brewing of repressed emotions and explosive atmosphere that birthed the essence of krump: a defiant attitude, extreme movement, and intense release.

Moving locations from its origins in South Central L.A., the 818 calls North Hollywood home (the session is named after its area code). As B-boy, a former breaker and one of the founders of the 818, explains, a dance community already existed in and near NoHo, which supports the circle: Debbie Reynolds Dance Studios, Millennium Dance Complex, and Evolution Dance Studios are all located in the area. The existence of these studios as well as the relative niceness of the neighborhood makes NoHo a present-day mecca of krump.

“There are no gang bangers out here,” assures Krucial. …

Click here to read the entire article and see more photos by Dan Carino on KCET.org