Virtuosity and Virtues in Danceworks' 'Hip Hop Dance Experience'

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Photo credit: Christal Wagner

Sixty-some dancers and two kids from the audience delighted spectators in the sixth annual Danceworks DanceLAB showcase Ignite: A Hip Hop Dance Experience. Thirteen pieces and a traditional freestyle finish (which the kids graced) made last weekend’s show the biggest ever. As always, the virtuosity and virtues the style emphasizes were impressive.

Members of the Danceworks Ignite Performance Workshop led by choreographer Paul Webb III, including several pros, opened the show with brief solos and bursts of group dancing. Performers came and went with shifts of rhythm in the accompanying hip-hop mixtape; uniformity was never the point; it was individuals working together. Next was a dazzling performance by virtuosos Nate Ramos, Jasper Sanchez, Clay Savage, Regina Stieber, Sophie Sullivan, Juni Yang and master choreographer Joshua Yang. There followed a solo by Rae Bu that seemed born of yoga. I felt her sharing energy—drawing ours and giving it back in spades. I could hear the hush among the audience.

AJ Johnson’s shocking “3 Stages of Freedom and Slaves” dared to link contemporary domestic abuse and self-abuse to slavery. Powerfully danced by Chancie Cole, Johnson’s anguished, angry central character committed suicide. By contrast, “We Just Wanna Dance” by Samantha Mesa, Gabi Sustache and Juni Yang followed; and dance they did, as equals and brilliantly. Their obvious bond was also important; Nate Ramos’ dark solo as a lonely, anxious depressive reminded us of that.

Richard Brasfield (he of many names and personas) is another urban dance master. What’s thrilling in his dancing and choreography now is that all genders are present, not just the traditional two. He embodied that twice; first as a dancer in a long group work, then as co-choreographer and dancer in the invitingly weird world of the wonderfully titled “Sophistirats.”

Girl children from Studio One Dance Company, wearing suits and ties in bright modernist prints and fedoras, stole the show with their thrilling, perfectly executed “Am I Wrong.” Their choreographer was Morgan Williams of SueMo Dance Company. SueMo II, teens training for dance careers, provided another concert highlight with Leila Henry’s “Fair and the Weak,” a deeply felt feminist work that these young women clearly understood.

Further virtuosity in Clay Savage’s and Angela Peters’ “Untitled” (most notably by Jasper Sanchez), a gorgeous duet by Gabi Sustache and jazz/modern dancer Gina Laurenzi, and Joshua Yang’s moving “Origins,” a kind of community dance/prayer, completed the program.