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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Let's hear it for the Bessies!

Last year, our awards ceremony sold out, and that's a final answer to whether the community wanted these awards to come back. They did. They have. And we're here!

--Lucy Sexton

I'm psyched about the revitalized New York Dance and Performance Awards, now unmistakably back by popular demand and the enormous effort of dedicated organizations and individuals. The "Bessies"--produced by Lucy Sexton and overseen by a steering committee chaired by Dance/NYC's Lane Harwell--deserve our full support as they unfold a new era of inclusiveness and diversity. And that inclusiveness and renewed energy certainly was vividly heralded by hip hop queen Rockafella and her multicultural crew, toasting The Bessies's July 18 press conference with a blistering opening dance act.

Some news from The Bessies:

• Downtown is heading uptown. Way uptown. The 2011 Awards Ceremony will be held at the landmark, world-beloved Apollo Theater, thanks to a new, ongoing partnership announced by the Apollo's Executive Producer, Mikki Shepard. (Ms. Shepard is also chair of the Board of Directors of the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, a major supporter of The Bessies, and she was a co-founder of 651 Arts.) Put Monday, October 24, 8pm, on your calendar. See you uptown!

• The new Juried Bessie Award, given to a choreographer selected by a jury of top-flight peers, will include touring opportunities for "the most exciting, most interesting work presented in New York during that year," as explained by steering committee member Reggie Wilson. The Bessies's first partner in this initiative will be Nazareth College Arts Center Dance Festival (Rochester, NY). Choreographers Elizabeth Streb, Ralph Lemon and David Gordon will serve as its first team of jurors.

• For the first time, The Bessies Selection Committee has announced finalists under consideration for nine newly-reconfigured awards (selected by a variety of subcommittees):

Outstanding Production (of a work performed in a larger capacity venue of more than 400 seats):

Thirteen Diversions--Christopher Wheeldon--American Ballet Theatre, Metropolitan Opera House

Quartet--Merce Cunningham--Merce Cunningham Dance Company, The Joyce Theater

The Bright Stream--Alexei Ratmansky--American Ballet Theatre, Metropolitan Opera House

Outstanding Production (of a work that stretches the boundaries of a traditional or culturally specific form):

Remembering Jimmy and Three to One--Michelle Dorrance, Danspace Project

Los Muñequitos de Matanzas with Max Pollak and Barbaro Ramos, Symphony Space

Caribbean Soul Dancers--Ismael Otero, Salsa Congress, Hilton Hotel

Outstanding Production (of a work performed in a smaller capacity venue of less than 400 seats):

Them--Ishmael Houston-Jones, Performance Space 122

Etudes for an Astronaut--Lance Gries, La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival

Nameless Forest--Dean Moss in collaboration with Sungmyung Chun, The Kitchen

Outstanding Production (of a work not technically considered dance but happening in and influencing the dance community):

Selective Memory--Brian Rogers and Madeline Best, The Chocolate Factory

Lili Handel--Ivo Dimchev, La MaMa

Montgomery Park, or Opulence--Karinne Keithley, Incubator Arts Project

Outstanding Visual Design:

Walter Dundervill for Aesthetic Destiny 1: Candy Mountain (choreographed by Dundervill, performed at Dance Theater Workshop)

Patricia Forelle for La Folia (1700/2011) (choreographed by Raoul Auger/Lynn Parkerson as part of From Baroque to Hip Hop performed at the Performance Space at the Schermerhorn)

Bjorn Amelan, Robert Wierzel, and Janet Wong for Fondly Do We Hope...Fervently Do We Pray (choreographed by Bill T. Jones, performed at the Rose Theater)

Outstanding Sound Design or Composition:

Stephen Vitiello (in collaboration with Patrick DeWit, drumming segment) for Nameless Forest (choreographed by Dean Moss in collaboration with Sungmyung Chun at The Kitchen)

Jon Moniaci for Electric Midwife (choreographed by Beth Gill, performed at The Chocolate Factory)

Rodrigo Marçal for ID: Entidades (choreographed by Sonia Destri, performed at City Center)

Savion Glover for SoLe Sanctuary (choreographed by Savion Glover, performed at The Joyce)

Outstanding Emerging Choreographer:

Souleymane Badolo

Beth Gill

Bouchra Ouizguen

Justin Peck

Outstanding Individual Performance:

Camille A. Brown in The Evolution of a Secured Feminine (choreographed by Camille A. Brown)

Rebecca Serell Cyr in beginning of something (choreographed by RoseAnne Spradlin)

Caleb Teicher in A Shared Evening (choreographed by Michelle Dorrance and Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards)

Marcelo Gomes in Giselle (performed by American Ballet Theatre)

Sustained Achievement in Performance:

Rashaun Mitchell in the work of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company

David Thomson in the work of various choreographers including this season's performance in Muna Tseng's STELLA

Wendy Whelan in the work of the New York City Ballet

To keep up with Bessies news, visit this page and/or connect with the Bessies on Facebook.