Dancing has always been thought of as a medium, but for this blog entry, I wanted to highlight the movie Rize. The film, which chronicles the krumping dance movement in South Central Los Angeles, highlights key insights into the evolution of the style. Krumping, which is a fast paced, aggressive dance created in Los Angeles looks more like a ritualistic fighting ceremony than a dance routine. In the film, the director juxtaposes the expressive dance moves done by the characters with a tribal African dance. To most people who haven't been exposed to krumping and its style, it looks like nothing more than a series violent body movements. To put it quite simply, it is comparable to an entertaining seizure, in which the dancers' bodies convulse to express their anger and passion. This movie is a perfect example of how class experiences shape the way that we decode the message of the dance. The film concludes with an epic battle between two crews that prepared for months to get a shot at the crown. For people who think that krumping is an obnoxious and unimpressive dance style, this battle seems superfluous. But to the competitors in the final battle, it is their life. Their entire livelihood depends on the outcome of this single battle. This is a perfect example of polysemy, in which this event means so much to one group but nothing to another. In the end, the underdog team was victorious and the main team (called the Clowns) was extremely distraught. As an outsider, it looked as if they had lost a member of their family or as if a traumatic event had just occurred. However, the style that the created and had held so dearly, failed them.
Due to the success of the movie, krumping has become a mainstream part of hip hop culture. From its humble origins as a crazy street dance, it was able to evolve into a message that can appeal to the masses. Now, people appreciate the style that was once deemed too erratic and obnoxious. Here is a clip from the film:
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