Decadancetheater brings hip-hop to the Arsht Center

Photo courtesy of Decadancetheater

 

By Amy Reyes1/27/2012

Hip-hop dance has long been an effective vehicle for displaying great feats of athleticism and technique, but its creative use has expanded beyond urban cyphers where bravado and one-upmanship were the narrative.

Choreographers create ballets and vignettes inspired by hip hop sensibility (remember Alex and Twitch?), with dancers who have mastered popping and locking, the six step, the windmill and other ammunition from the b-boy arsenal, yet refuse to limit their playbook.

Jennifer Weber, director of Decadancetheater, an all female hip-hop dance troupe that performs at the Arsht Center Feb. 3-4, wants to challenge the accepted perception of the hip-hop dancer.

“One of the questions we are always asking in our work is how to make hip-hop vulnerable, because it’s all about showing off. What happens when you take away the need to say ‘I’m awesome,’ which is cool for, like, 20 seconds.”

Weber’s crew gained national attention after her hip-hop remix of Stravinsky’s ballet, Decadance vs. The Firebird, was awarded Best Choreography Award at the 2004 New York International Fringe Festival. Since then, her crew of a half dozen dancers from all points on the map has created performance-length pieces using unique and often obscure sources for inspiration.

“Hip hop is all about sampling,” says Weber.

The Massachusetts native concedes that Decadance’s creative process is unique. “We ask ourselves how we can make hip-hop emotional. Can we make hip-hop look like water? Can we make hip-hop look like the sky? We ask questions that people in modern dance ask.”

Weber’s interest in hip-hop dance began during her years at the University of Pennsylvania, hitting the clubs in Philadelphia, New York and London (as a study-abroad student). She got her first break as a choreographer when she was approached at a nightclub and asked to choreograph a piece for a recording artist. As director of Decadance, she has choreographed six original hip-hop ballets.

The company will perform three numbers this weekend: The Cage was originally inspired by the Jerome Robbins ballet about animalistic women who destroy men. “In the rehearsal process, our version went another direction than the original concept,” says Weber. “It’s really rare that women destroy men, but more often women destroy each other.”

When the Sky Breaks is a 3D experience (the audience will be given 3D glasses for this number) that was inspired by the movement and manifestations of water and features visual projections by Holly Daggers. For the final number, In City Breathing, the stage is dark and the dancers wear illuminated costumes, giving the audience a blinding light show of flaring limbs.

“The girls in DECA are top dancers from around the world.  They do all the things that boys can do,” assures Weber.  “But it’s not about booty shorts. It’s about being creative, pushing hip-hop as a creative language. It’s a shame there are so many people who want to use this language to just say one thing.”

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