Rize

I would call this Mad Hot Ballroom meets The Paper Chasers except that, to compare this film to anything else would do it an injustice. This fresh, inspiring DVD from photographer/music video director David LaChappelle offers an alternative to the shlock constantly put out there for teens. It’s the story of young people on the Rize from the darkest of starts.

In Compton, Watts & East LA, your choices are Crips, Bloods or Clowns. If you’re not aware of the Clowns, you should be. The Clown Academy was started by Tommy Johnson, a.k.a. Tommy the Clown, after the Rodney King riots, in 1992. There are now over fifty clown groups that feature an eye, not to mention butt, popping dancing that is, believe me, very hard to do. The various companies operate as businesses that entertain at parties.

The film compares it to pure tribal dancing, mixing footage of African dance into a montage. There’s full make up and the dancing itself is very primal. It helps these poor kids release their pent-up anger. It gives them a forum for self-expression and a structured setting complete with huge competitions.

There’s a related dance form called Krumping that’s more of a spiritual form of the same dance, which is more about trance. It goes on primarily in the churches but the big competitions feature dance-offs between members of each group.

There’s discussion of how clowning is also spiritual and very much about rising above one’s adversities and staying pure in your art and expressiveness. The mother of one clown is a krumper and she says she just clowns for god, it’s all the same.

Like the hip hop music used to underline clowning, it has stayed a pure artform, relatively untouched by mainstream media. I think this will continue to infiltrate dance the way hip hop slowly filtered its way into white America. The choreography coming out of the winter music awards shows are showing some of the movement and Beyonce took the stripper dance straight up for Crazy in Love, which was a huge video for her, made the song a hit.

This is an important film to see. Make sure you check out the commentary track, which is under “Set Up”. It will give you a lot of perspective about how these groups are viewed by major artists and how articulate they are about their place in society and the opportunities afforded to them in life.