enCounter Culture

For this art review, I went to go see "enCounter Culture 2008" a showcase of student hip hop dance groups presented by Stanford's premiere group dv8 at Kresge Hall on Sunday night. In total there were 8 different groups all with distinct styles and all labeled under the umbrella title "hip hop dance." For me, this was a pretty different experience than my normal interactions with art, as I am not only ignorant about hip hop but about dance in general. Therefore, you might say that my criticism suffers from difficulties contingent to a more knowledgeable vocabulary in these styles of art. That said, I did enjoy some performances and appreciated what I thought they were trying to do. On the other hand, there were many times were I felt lost at what I was supposed to be watching.

For example, there were a few groups who tried to incorporate some theatrical elements to the dance performance, namely the Stanford Steppers (aka The Bomb Squad), Armageddon Crew, and Dv8. The Steppers attempted to depict a storyline about Oompa Loompas (as reflected in their costume, song choice, and intermittent dialogue) and specifically about a new recruit who is trying to prove herself to the Oompa Loompa group. To me, I wasn't sure why they even needed to do this or why they would choose this specific theme. I understand that offering some theatrical elements like dialogue and acting keeps the performances interesting, but this theme was very underdeveloped and seemed quite unnecessary. However, it is important to note that the Steppers' actual performance was pretty remarkable and entertaining. They are a very talented group who "stepped" (stomping, clapping, and slapping parts of the body to create percussive beats) very much in sync. I was also impressed with how they created rhythms with their steps that undoubtedly reflected some of the melody lines they were singing earlier in the dance (like the Oompa Loompa theme from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).

As for the other groups, I had a similar experience with dv8's performance, in which at a few seemingly random parts of their performance they decided on choreographing scenes depicting physical abuse. Perhaps, there were other more subtle ways they tried to reflect this motif in their movements, but for me it was hard to pick up on. The Armageddon Crew, however, were pretty successful in their theatrical choices, in my opinion. As a duo of break dancers, they dressed up their performance as a type of martial arts duel/boxing match in which the two performers competed with their moves. Though this is a bit cliche of a theme, it worked well as a complement to the art form of break dancing.

One of my favorite performances was Jam Pac'd, which featured the best and most intricate costumes (faces painted white, and variations of black and white clothing among the dancers), an original soundtrack (less mainstream hip hop with more musicality and interesting rhythms). They didn't seem to imply any distinct themes with their performance/choreography but the sheer beauty of their appearance and sounds made me forget that I was watching humans dance, and instead appreciated the surface aesthetics of the performance.