Body popping in a contemporary context

Body popping in a contemporary context

Helly Minarti, Contributor, Jakarta

Another dance programme is on offer at Art Summit Indonesia 2004:
Urban Classicism, a British dance company by Robert Hylton.

The company will perform at Graha Bhakti Budaya, Taman Ismail
Marzuki, Central Jakarta, on Oct. 6 and Oct. 7 at 8 p.m.

Embracing both street dance culture and contemporary
traditions, Hylton has taken inspiration for his movement from
hip-hop culture -- body popping bred on the street -- as well as
contemporary techniques, together with their theatrical
vocabulary and conception.

Hylton first joined Bamboozle, a street jazz crew based at
Newcastle's Dance City and performed in Dance Umbrella 1990, the
UK's prestigious annual dance festival at Sadler Well's, London.

He then studied at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance,
before founding his own group, Urban Classicism.

For Jakarta, he would like to present three different numbers;
the first is titled Verse, a 15-minute solo, a work in progress,
meant to be the first part of the longer Verses, a dance concert
of five dancers scheduled to premiere in 2005.

Company DJ/producer Billy Biznizz sets the pace with his hip-
hop beats, hard rock guitar riffs and vocal harmonies, to which
Hylton will respond with his movement improvisation.

Both performers then try to reinvent their separate forms of
music and movement whilst pushing the boundaries and defining
possibilities of hip-hop-based culture.

Landscapes will be second, a 30-minute piece for two male
dancers and a female. Intersecting with a visual design created
by AllofUs group, this choreography illuminates the more
prevalent word-body relationship -- two elements that seem to
cross each other's boundaries, merging and colliding in the
advanced civilization of mankind.

It is a satirical commentary on the future we are shaping
today, a palpable hope of a more peaceful world.

Last is 2 Steps, based on Hylton's improvisation with DJ Billy
Biznizz music, his collaborator. Bizzniz mix takes the material
from the monologue of American comedian Bill Cosby.

What does Hylton's Urban Classicism suggest? Is hip-hop/body
popping/street dance culture a classical form from the British
urban scene?

Or, will it be just another merging of subculture and art,
which tends to merely touch the surface of style, but never
really goes deeper to the substance?