These Full Circle Souljahs refuse to be “Boxed in”

Kwikstep (left) and Rokafella
of Full Circle Souljahs
(photo: Ian Douglas)

From start to finish--and even throughout its post-show Q&A--Full Circle Souljahs's Boxed In aims to smack down barriers between dance techniques and traditions as well as who can and should perform what. If you think you've got classical ballet over here in this corner and street dance way over there on that far end and maybe a few discrete modern and postmodern things floating between, this hour-long show will simply break up alla that.

Holding court at Danspace Project now through Saturday evening, the troupe is the winning handiwork of two famed Bronx street dance veterans--the married couple of Kwikstep and Rokafella. Diverse in race and ethnicity, Full Circle Souljahs collective is also remarkable for its performers' diverse training background. And that's the point of Boxed In. What all have in common is a passion to do their art, to perform, and most have eagerly soaked up experience from all sectors of their art. Watch stately Shaneekqua Woodham and gymnast-sleek Odylle "Mantis" Beder switch gears from ballet to b-girl moves, you realize that you're looking at the smart, multiple dimensions of today's youth and their can-do spirit.

The show includes sequences that suggest the two choreographers might have Broadway audiences in mind--for example, the cirque nouveau-style Cyr wheel hooping of Gabriel "Emphasis" Alvarez who eventually puts distance between himself and some vaguely menacing characters in commedia dell'arte masks. The piece deals with issues of ambition, the temptation to sell out and the wonder of freeing your creativity to work outside of set rules, categories and expectations.

It’s the sort of show that would be great for youngsters, and there were many in the smallish opening night audience with parents plus a contingent of college students. People I did not see: the typical “downtown” Danspace Project audience. The troupe has two more shows, and—who knows?—that might change. But maybe the message they’re bringing—step out of whatever box confines you—needs to reach more of us.

Performers: Raymond “Spex” Abbiw, Jennifer “Beasty” Acosta, Gabriel “Emphasis” Alvarez, Odylle “Mantis” Beder, Michael Bond (pianist), Gabriel "Kwikstep" Dionisio (aka DJ KS 360), Deana Richline,  Sharmaine Sheppard, Gene Shinozaki(beatbox), Janice Tomlinson, John “Flonetik” Vinuya, Shaneekqua Woodham

Lighting: Carol Mullins

Boxed In continues through Saturday, May 19 with 8pm performances at Danspace Project. For information and tickets, click here.

Danspace Project
131 East 10th Street (at 2nd Avenue), Manhattan
(map/directions)

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Good times. These. Are. The. Good. Times.

To read the news from across the states and abroad, you wouldn’t think so. These are certainly not good times for everybody.

But Nile Rodgers–that giant of popular music--knows that every day that you draw breath is a precious day, as he deals with nerve damage from an aggressive cancer now in remission. And every day that this gifted artist brings joy to an audience lost in his music is a good day for him and for us.

Nile Rodgers at Lincoln Center Out of Doors (Photo by Darial Sneed)

Case in point: last evening at the Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival (Damrosch Park Bandshell), where DJ KS*360 (aka Kwikstep of the Full Circle hip-hop empire) primed the party pump before Rodgers and his Chic Organization took the stage. As the head-spinners and Hustle dancers cleared out, I expected a lengthy wait for the main act. But Rodgers quickly took over. Everybody dance! Clap your hands, clap your hands!

The first several rows of folks immediately lurched up, of course, and would not sit down. So, I ditched my press seat and headed for the dance pit--backpack, water bottle, notebook, pen and all. I found a good spot to see, to write, to dance myself into a sweat, and soon wondered why anyone would bother hanging out back in those seats.

(Photo by Kevin Yatarola)

The weather graciously smiled on Rodgers and us. No blistering heat, no rain. Yowsah, yowsah.

Before long, we felt the old tug of that spare yet funky, insistent, intoxicating chugging (Rodgers on guitar, Jerry Barnes on bass, Ralph Rolle on drums, Rich Hilton and Selan Lerner on keyboards), that swirling, flute-y tenor sax (Bill Holloman) and rip-roaring trumpet (Steve Jankowski). I need your love. Please don't make me beg.

Rodgers and The Chic Organization, including vocalists Folami Ankoanda-Thompson (at right) and Kimberly Davis-Jones (Photo by Darial Sneed)

[See more of Darial Sneed's concert photo set here.]

"See that round building?" Rodgers said, pointing at a spot high behind our heads. We all looked around at an imposing tower with curved (if not quite entirely round) details in its design.

"28B." He gave the building's street address, too, which I'm not sure I got right. "We and David Bowie were up in that tower"--the other person in "we" being his great musical partner, Bernard Edwards, who died in 1996. "Chic is not a cover band. All these songs you hear us do, we did for everyone in the first place."

He was talking about little items like "Let's Dance" (for Bowie), "I'm Coming Out" and "Upside Down" (Diana Ross), "Like A Virgin" (Madonna), "We Are Family" and "He's The Greatest Dancer" (Sister Sledge) and an unbelievably massive number of worldwide hits. Throw in the entire slate of music written, arranged, produced and/or played in by the creative partners or each one alone for artists like Robert Palmer, Duran Duran, Rod Stewart, Luther Vandross, INXS, Steve Winwood, Debbie Harry, Grace Jones and so many more, and it's easy to come to the conclusion that without these guys, popular music--spanning and fusing a number of genres--would be unrecognizable.

When me and Bernard were sitting around the studio for hours on end, we always said we were lost in music....

And I remember being lost in that tune--caught in a trap, no turning back--playing and dancing to that particular Sister Sledge song as if I were in an endurance contest with the vinyl LP. We both survived.

It was a great show at Damrosch Park and a great party. I treasure Nile Rodgers and wish him good health and many more years of happiness in his work.

*** 

The always handsomely diverse Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival, now in its 42nd season, runs through August 12. For a calendar of events, click here.

"Looking for the perfect beat..." and finding it

Full Circle--those endearing hip-hop dancers, Kwikstep and Rokafella--are showing a new version of their popular Innaviews, directed by Gamal Chasten, at Dance Theater Workshop now through Saturday evening, and the update works. It's a two-person show now with lots more of the full-out dancing for which this married couple is rightly acclaimed. It's partly a wry look at how mainstream media and the entertainment industry get hip-hop all wrong and a tender account of the spark and flight of a love relationship (and working partnership) that's still going strong. It lovingly and deftly traces the history of a couple and a culture undergoing change.

The show engages the audience from its very first moments. Full Circle and their creative team have added new visual elements--clever sets and set-like backdrops, videos and photos--and they have more sharply focused their spoken word segments, stories and comedic vignettes. But they also let their versatile hip-hop dancing do much of the talking, and that dancing speaks with conviction.

For more information and ticketing, click on Dance Theater Workshop. And check out Full Circle's home site here.

The East is Burning!

DTW's two-night studio showing of The East is Red by The Legendary House of Ninja--heirs to the legacy of the late, extraordinary Vogue master Willi Ninja--ends this evening. Curated by Hip Hop artists Kwikstep and Rokafella of Full Circle, conceived by house father Benny Ninja, and written by Paris Greeneyes Ninja, this work-in-development liberally combines drag ball culture, elements of Asian culture and martial arts and Hip Hop, showcasing the personal style and sometimes mindblowing movement skills of each of its performers. About half of the small studio's space is taken up by a very lucky group of watchers. So the audience gets an up-close-and-personal infusion of energy and fabulousness. Such fun!

Admission is free. Seating is very limited. Reservations are required, and you'd best be on time! To try for a reservation, contact DTW's box office at 212-924-0077 or click here. While you're there, you can also get information on DTW's upcoming studio showing by Michel Kouakou/Daara Dance, curated by Bessie Award winner Nora Chipaumire.

On YouTube:

Willi Ninja on Vogue

Deep in Vogue

Father Almighty -- Willi Ninja and the House of Ninja