Dancing since 1997, Crazy Smooth, one of Canada’s top street dancers, choreographers, judges, and community leaders, brings his company, Bboyizm, to London. His piece, Crazy Smooth: In My Body, had its European premiere at Queen Elizabeth Hall as part of Southbank Centre’s Performance and Dance Programme, writes Bella Christy.
The award-winning street-dance company, founded in 2004, has been significant in preserving and growing street dance in both Canada and internationally. The company celebrates differences and unites generations, values evident in Crazy Smooth: In My Body, an exploration of ageing on the street dancers body, mind, and spirit.
Pre-performance, Saxon Fraser, assistant choreographer, invites the audience to cheer, cry, and clap: to express ourselves throughout the piece. This immediately cultivates inclusion and acts as a reminder that, despite the traditional theatre setting, hip-hop originates from the street, from parties and dance battles, with lots of engagement and energy.
A singular stripped body on stage, accompanied by a voice-over detailing the stresses on a dancer’s body: talk of ligament damage, surgery, a fear of never dancing again, and the determination to keep going. This lone body accentuates the vulnerability of street dancers, the extreme trust they put in their bodies, and seamlessly introduces an exploration of the body and ageing in dance.
The essence of street dance was pooled onto the stage. A multigenerational network of dancers cheering and championing one another. Respect and consideration are shown between dancers of all ages, spudding each other up, old and young. Characterisation and personality leap out through movement, as dancers express themselves as cheeky, competitive, supportive, and teasing.
The partner work is beautiful. Smooth and Nubien Néné’s duet showcases ageing in dance as a universal experience. These dancers are not going through it alone; they have support and love from one another and from their community. There is such trust in their movements, their bodies arching and intertwining, appearing almost as one. I couldn’t fully tell where one person’s limb ended and the other began.
Despite such strength in movement, there was an anxiety present within the piece. With words such as ‘How much longer can I do this?’, and ‘…now I see clocks everywhere’, there is a dread of the end of dance nearing. As the young dancers bound across the stage, drunk on time, how does the older generation keep up?
Yet, Smooth eases this anxiety. The coming together of what he calls the ‘OG’s’, ‘Mid Generation’, and ‘Young Ones’ is true of street dance; this mixture of ages is what you will find at battles and competitions. They compliment one another and support one another.
The beat goes on, as rhythms, handshakes, movements and melodies are passed on, shared and celebrated. With passion and with love, everyone can keep on dancing.
