Rize- Go Rent It

Okay I was ready to recap So You Think You can Dance? My heart wasn't in it though. Mainly it's because I finally got to see "Rize" the documentary by renowned artsy fartsy photographer David LaChappelle. It knocked me on my ass it was so good. It makes me what to slap everyone on the polished homoginized SYTYCD in the face.

The documentary is set in L.A. and it introduces the birth and evolution of Clowning, a style of party dance started by Tommy the Clown. Clowning then had an off-shoot into Krumping a term that's thrown around quite freely when describing current Hip-Hop dancing. Krumping evolved from Clowning into a more fierce aggressive style which lends to actual battle dancing. After introducing us to the two differents styles and camps the documentary culminatites in an event called Battle Zone which is where the Clowns go head to head against the Krumpers in the Great Western Forum.

The documentary does a wonderful job keeping the focus on the dancing. Sure the violence and poverty of urban L.A. is there, but it isn't going anywhere and there's no need to call attention to it. Rize doesn't ignore the harsh realities that the subjects of the film have to experience either, but its used as a stark contrast to the energy and kinetic nature of the film as a whole.

The drawing factor is the dancing and Rize shows some of the most amazing hip-hop dancing I've ever seen. The movements aggresseive and downright scary at times as the dancers are more akin to powder kegs than people.

Seriously, check it out. It was as eye-popening a documentary into the urban world as Hoop Dreams was 20 years ago...

Tags: Rent It, Movies