Flex and Lite Feet dancers say there's "No Such Thing as Neutral"

BARNARD CENTER FOR RESEARCH ON WOMEN

presents

NO SUCH THING AS NEUTRAL

NYC STREET DANCE SYMPOSIUM

Leaders from the Flex and Lite Feet urban dance
communities gather for a lecture-demonstration and dance battle

Ali Rosa-Salas 
lectures on
No Such Thing as Neutral

Saturday, November 8, 3pm-8pm

Event Oval, The Diana Center
Barnard College

A day-long symposium about two distinctive New York City street dance forms (Lite Feet, founded in Harlem, and Flex, started in Brooklyn) will explore how these urban dance forms—known for improvisation, informal teaching methods, and the central role of marginalized communities of color in their production—are often figured in opposition to more traditional dance forms, but are making significant contributions to the contemporary dance world.

Countless forms of dance created and performed in public spaces are bundled under the umbrella of “vernacular” or “street,” which are recognized for their emphasis on improvisation, informal teaching methods, and the central role
 of communities of color in their production. Yet they are often figured primarily in opposition 
to traditionally valorized forms
 of dance such as ballet and modern dance. With this project, Ali Rosa-Salas highlights the contributions of women who participate in movement-based styles that engage notions of subjectivity and the body in their work while utilizing the technical formalities of abstraction. These New York City-founded dance forms speak directly to the centrality of gender, racial, and community identity in art-making and how such inquiries propel local art forms into international cultural movements.

Symposium schedule:

3pm-5pm: Join pioneers of the Flex and Lite Feet communities for a lecture-demonstration and discussion moderated by Ali Rosa-Salas. Panelists include Chrybaby Cozie, Tatianna "Tati B" Butler, Alora "Gaia" Martinez, Reggie "Regg Roc" Gray, Diedra Braz, Shelby "Shellz" Felton, and Andre "Dre" Redman.

6pm-8pm: Rep Your Style co-founder Melanie Aguirre will host the first-ever all-women Lite Feet and Flex exhibition showcase. Featured dancers include renowned female Flex and Lite Feet dancers Shellz, KitKat, Android, Betty Spaghetti, Lil Spank, Tootie, Cleo, and Gaia.

Information: bcrw.barnard.edu

Event Oval, The Diana Center

Barnard College

3009 Broadway (entrance at 117th Street), Manhattan
(directions)

Let's dance! Rennie Harris rules the Joyce

 

Top: Kyle Clark, Bottom: Ryan Cliett
of Rennie Harris Puremovement
(photos by Brian Mengini)

Rennie Harris Puremovement's just-opened retrospective at The Joyce Theater, running through Sunday, finds Philadelphia's fiery hip hop ensemble dropping knowledge about the best way to stream street and club dance moves through conventional dance venues. We're talking two different worlds here, mainly because of who pays attention to the social, vernacular sphere vs. who pays attention to contemporary theatrical dance and how they pay attention and respond. If those aesthetic borderlines have gotten more porous for dance artists since Harris founded RPHM in 1992 and went on to win strong popular and critical success, give credit to the man for meticulous leadership--laying down a foundation of technical authenticity and skill.

Watching b-boying, voguing and related arts of the body in an official Hall of Dance shifts one's way of seeing: You're looking for a less sporadic and less frontal presentation, something more kaleidoscopic and something with interesting context. You're also looking for kinds of variety and subtlety that the excellent Harris crew are perfectly prepared to show you over a leisurely stretch of time--rhythmic precision, uncommonly supple physicality, footwork that can rival tap dancers for agility and complexity, and a gymnastic approach to the body that utilizes more body surfaces and levels and directional orientation and speed that we're used to. Crazy stuff. It's particularly great to watch the ensemble's women dancers--Danita Clark, Katia Cruz, Mai Le Ho Johnson and Mariah Tlili--no less forceful for adding a gleeful, distinctive juiciness to their propulsion.

The Joyce program, nearly two hours with an intermission, includes the 1997 Rome & Jewels (Harris's striking, award-winning take on Romeo and Juliet crossed with West Side Story, Shakespeare filtered through the ways and lingo of a couple of "star-crossed homies"), Continuum (1997), P-Funk (1992), March of the Antmen (1992) and Students of the Asphalt Jungle (1995).

Rennie Harris Puremovement continues at the Joyce through Sunday, February 2. For schedule and ticketing details, as well as the January 29 Dance Chat and January 31 Master Class information, click here.

The Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Avenue (corner of 19th Street), Manhattan
(directions)