Crosswalk.com

Rize

compiled by Jeffrey Overstreet

from Film Forum, 08/04/05

Another documentary getting some attention is Rize, music-video director Dave LaChapelle's look at "krumping," a new form of street dancing in South Central Los Angeles that has political, historical, sexual, and even spiritual overtones.

Maurice Broaddus (Hollywood Jesus) writes, "The movie makes the case that this radical dance form plays an enormous (potential) role in the black communities in South Central Los Angeles. The dancing is important as a serious form of spiritual and artistic expression—and as an alternative to gang participation … . I don't have to make spiritual connections with this movie because it does it for me. There is a natural connectedness between worship and dance, worship and spirit. This exploration of dance took the dancers back to their roots as they danced from their spirit. 'I get my Krump from Jesus,' Miss Prissy says plainly. 'God started me on this way,' and she uses the gift that she's been given."