Sunday, August 9, 2009

K R U M P


Mother nature has not been kind to residents of New York City this summer. In fact, summer has consisted of humidity, torrential down pours, umbrellas and goloshes. So, of course, I've been a hater! Dogging NYC and talking up Berlin as a center of avant guarde culture and day trips - even though there's a comparable climate (!)

Alas, yesterday I found myself in the heart of Union Square, between the corporate big box Whole Foods and the bucolic greenmarket, pleasantly surprised by the smorgasboard of sub cultures present. I found myself watching hip hop kids from the Bronx in slim fitting blue and purple jeans, rainbow Nikes, adorned with rosary beads getting KRUMP! If you're unfamiliar with this term, krumping is a dance movement that originated on the west coast and documented in David LaChappelle's movie RIZE.



But Tommy the Clown and Tight Eyez were nowhere to be found. This is East Coast style and these kids - the oldest of the group are still a few years from 25 - meet in Union Square to start a cipher of dancers. Then, as momentum builds, battles are called where dancers challenge each other to an exhibition of their skills.



New moves are tested out, hats fly and t-shirts whirl. Dancers with pseudonyms like Nightmare and Destroyer transform in front of their peers from young men into warriors - the expressions on their faces are as impassioned as the movements of their limbs. Scrunched lips and tense abound - the dance technique is a combination of miming, breaking and acrobatics. Through these muscles and veins flow the marriage of cultural traditions that cross from Africa and the Bronx.

Check them out for yourselves on You Tube. They call themselves EO - Entertainers Only or WeaponsOfFate. Click HERE for EO at Baruch Fashion Show. Or HERE for Weapons. More KRUMP.

There is a big battle scheduled this Wednesday night but I don't know where. It will also be a celebration for Nightmare's twenty-first birthday.