Compagnie Kafig And Full Circle Souljahz. - Review - dance review

Dance Magazine, Jan, 2000 by Kate Mattingly

COMPAGNIE KAFIG AND FULL CIRCLE SOULJAHZ HOSTOS CENTER FOR THE ARTS AND CULTURE MAIN THEATRE BRONX, NEW YORK OCTOBER 15-16, 1999 REVIEWED BY KATE MATTINGLY

Introducing events in the New Europe '99 Festival, producer David White compared hip-hop to classical ballet, calling it a now-universal movement vocabulary. Performances by France's Compagnie Kafig and New York City's Full Circle Souljahz confirmed his statement. If, as some say, hip-hop originated in the Bronx, it's no longer an isolated phenomenon. French and Americans use the same moves, which are radically different from ballet in look. Dancers pirouette on one hand, their bodies perpendicular to the floor. They are quadripedal, using their arms like legs to propel their bodies in some gravity-defying feats--and sometimes their heads get into the action: apt appendages for spinning like tops.

If the vocabulary is universal, the outcomes were very different. Kafig dressed the stage with sumptuous light effects (designed by Yoann Tivoli) and abstract, sometimes comedic, interactions. Full Circle told us stories about police shooting kids, and a DJ and a human beat box challenging each other to a duel. These differences may be explained by the fact that American hip-hop is intertwined with the music, freestyling, and graffiti that were created along with the dance.

Performing after the Frenchmen, the Americans had the home-team advantage. Based in the South Bronx, Full Circle consists of men and women of all shapes and sizes. Klown recalls former Chicago Bears lineman William "Refrigerator" Perry. In Soul Control, he played a massive robot. The audience hollered as DJDP One scratched records with his fingers, elbows, and knees in Amped Up. Blessed with a knack for freestyling, Baba created an impromptu poem using words from the audience: love, confidence, Snapple, toothpaste. The show ended Saturday night with group leader Kwikstep proposing onstage to his partner--the group's best female dancer--Rocafella. She was shocked and ecstatic; she answered yes and the audience cheered.

Compagnie Kafig described Recital as a choreographic piece for six dancers and one musician. All of the dancers have Algerian roots, yet the choreography steered clear of racial or political commentary. There were violins, music stands; tuxedo tails were worn over shiny track T-shirts and pants. If the dancers were commenting on the replacement of classical music with new technologies, the statement was abstract. The music stands were strung up and lifted off the stage; were they hanging in effigy or just interesting disco balls? Spectacular feats included running up the proscenium wall and flipping. Yet when the group's artistic director, Mourad Merzouki, performed his solo, a new strain of hip-hop was shown--one without aggression--beautiful and meditative.