>>PREVIEW
ELECTRIC SHADES OF GREY
Opens June 29
C.Stylz Dance Productions
The Playhouse, Vertigo Theatre (Tower Centre)
Those who see the world in black-and-white divide music listeners into two categories. On one side are hip hop listeners, who must be black, from New York and able to list the differences between Big Daddy Kane and Mos Def. Category two lumps together members of all other races who grew up outside a major urban centre, or danced in high school musicals, and forces them to choose between either JoJo or Fergie. Music aficionados like Melanie and Kristy Haywood, co-founders of Calgary's urban movement dance collective C.Stylz, don't see it this way. They know the world exists in shades of grey. Hip hop music, like the crew's newest show, Electric Shades of Grey, cannot be divided in two.
The Haywood sisters grew up in hip hop culture, dancing Caribbean folk and choreographing original pieces before they could see over the turntable. Pumping R&B, hip hop, funk and house out of their ghetto-blaster in the schoolyard, the girls also danced in musical theatre productions in high school before starting contemporary dance training and finally founding C.Stylz in 2002. The two sisters held auditions to develop a group of like-minded individuals into a full-fledged company. With Electric Shades of Grey, they aim to move past recital-style pieces into a full-scale production with a theme reflective of the Calgary urban experience.
"With this show, we definitely push the boundaries of hip hop or urban movement, because hip hop is so broad now," Melanie explains. "It's started to encompass so many different styles of music. It's actually a bigger genre than people imagine. Depending on who you talk to, you're always going to get different definitions of hip hop."
C.Stylz describe their particular style of fusion as "contemporary urban movement." Instead of confining hip hop dance to a box, completely separate from all other forms and influences, they see it as a sub-category of a broader urban movement. This umbrella definition allows them to explore multiple facets of their dance training, as well as allowing audience members to access hip hop in a way they otherwise couldn't.
"We've been able to introduce hip hop in its elements, and with its fusion ideas, to a lot of people who wouldn't normally be into hip hop or who have never experienced it before," says Melanie.
C.Stylz draws on various music sources for the show. The collective has networked within the city to find artists whose style complements their own and asked Möe Clark, a local spoken-word artist, to compose original material specifically for the show. In addition to the music, the Haywoods, with fellow choreographers Kaiti Pasqualotto and Carolyn Fraser, infuse their individual styles into the show. While some argue fusion of outside influences and styles leads to the dilution of the original material, C.Stylz view their interpretations and additions as pushing back defining lines and enhancing the genre. "Things aren't black-and-white – once you mix them, you get grey," says Melanie.
Whether building on a background of Caribbean funk, infusing R&B grooves, incorporating a social or political message, or just dancing to music with good beats, it's all hip hop to C.Stylz. "You can't say that one is more hip hop than the other," says Melanie. "They all add to the complexity and beauty of what hip hop is." |
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