Hip hop’s original liberation ethic is alive

By Paul Ransom  

As a cultural phenomenon hip hop certainly has its detractors. Criticised for its misogyny and glamourisation of violence it nonetheless persists as a vibrant artform, whether as the predominant pop music staple or as an athletic, uplifting street dance style.

For Marco Selorio, the man behind November’s World Supremacy Battleground event in Sydney, hip hop dance is about liberation and expression. So much so that despite its obviously competitive nature it offers both the crew and the communities they represent a source of pride and uplift.

“It was pretty much born out of the streets,” Selorio explains, “So the competitive nature of it stems from that. They’re up against each other and it’s very competitive; but if they win they’ve got the bragging rights.”

Whilst that very bragging can easily lurch into excess, Selorio insists that it goes deeper than mere self-aggrandisement. “If I win that battle and I represent my team, my town, my people, there’s a real sense of achievement in that. In hip hop people really come up to represent their own block, their own city and when they go back home they go with pride and everyone celebrates that.”

At the dance crew level hip hop culture works far more directly. As Selorio explains, “A lot of these kids are focused on dance and that takes them away from drugs and alcohol; and that’s probably the biggest thing to come out of this hip hop thing.”

In his role as the head honcho of Hoopdreamz and organiser of huge events like World Supremacy Battleground, (in which over 100 crews from around the Asia Pacific region competed over two days and nights), Marco Selorio sees even more subtle positives. “It builds relationships,” he says. “I mean, they come up battle ready cos they’re pretty rugged already from the streets, these kids; but then they get a sense of family from the crews. They become close because they train every day together.”

This is perhaps never more evident than with krumping, the high energy style created by legendary US dancer and WSB celebrity judge Tight Eyez. With its jabs, chest pops, stomps and arm swings, krumping is aggressive, improvised and often very emotive.

However, far from being just a dance craze, krumping is a fully fledged faith based artform. For its creator, krumping (Kingdom Radically Uplifted Might Praise) is an antidote to poverty, street violence and dissolution. Its Christian roots and social activism remains front row centre.

As its creator says, “Krump led us to Jesus and got us saved.” Indeed, for Tight Eyez (born Ceasare Willis) that salvation was literal. Still sporting a bullet wound from an earlier run in with South Central’s notoriously trigger happy street gangs, he is now a global hip hop star and an inspiration to those who are looking for a creative path out of generational poverty and violence.

However, critics of krumping point out that its aggressiveness is simply a commodification of violence. In contrast, krumpers talk about the dance as a kind of ‘ghetto ballet’. It is this schism – the interplay of competitiveness and liberation – that sits at the heart of hip hop and creates its energetic, enigmatic edge.

From Marco Selorio’s perspective big ticket hip hop events like WSB have a combination effect, one in which the discipline of competition and the liberation philosophy that hip hop embodies work neatly together. “When you put those two things together it lifts people up,” he argues. “They see it as something worthwhile to work hard for and when results come their way, if they win something or get recognised, the whole community celebrates their victory.”

The fact that the competition was intensified by the presence of high profile celebrity judges like Tight Eyez, Filipino legend Lil Pat and the sensational 19 year old world champion Parris Goebel only magnifies the benefit. “It really makes these kids wanna step up,” Selorio states. “That has to be a good thing.”

Yet, despite all the talk of faith and positive uplift, hip hop remains outside the dance mainstream. This might seem strange to a generation of young dancers well used to hip hop moves as part their regular classes or even to television fed fans of shows like SYTYCD, but to Marco Selorio getting media interest is still problematic. Even a huge, celebrity judged event like World Supremacy Battleground was greeted with widespread media silence.

“Major media shies away from hip hop, at least here in Australia,” he notes. “If I was doing the World Ballet Championships then people would probably go, ‘oh wow’ and pick it up but because it’s hip hop it’s a bit of a struggle.”

Away from the glare, however, hip hop dance forms are flourishing in communities around the world. Wherever there are mean streets, there will be crews dreaming of a way out.

Sadler’s Wells- Peacock Theatre, London
November 2011

By Lara Bianca Pilcher

Some Like It Hip Hop is an original and highly entertaining dance theatre masterpiece that is fun, fun, fun! This innovative production showcases company founder Kate Prince as the director but also as lyricist, co-choreographer and co-writer.  

ZooNation attracts an audience to the theatre that is varied from long time dance lovers and children to even those who usually just watch MTV; attracted to commercial music and dance.

Many children were in the audience. It’s so refreshing that founder Kate Prince has made a family friendly show that will encourage many children to pursue the arts. The stereotypes of hip hop being violent and overly sexualised are broken and hip hop is portrayed in a way that creates a safe show for anyone to come and see.

The story hooks the audience in, continually introducing more dance characters and further evolving others. The live song and acting moves the company from a dance only company to a revue.

The number ‘Invisible Me’ was like a hip hop version of Chicago’s ‘Mr Cellophane’, showing an oppressed character.  It demonstrates how hip hop dance can be fused with music to further evolve the dance narrative and allow dance to be a much more communicative theatre language. 

I’m a big fan of clean comedy (believing that it takes more skill than reverting to toilet humor) and there are so many moments to make you smile. Natasha Gooden’s doll like face is simply delightful as the dance character ‘Oprah Okeke’. The dancers’ faces and acting skills move them beyond dancers alone into true performers.

The lighting design by Johanna Town, is intricately designed and sets by Ben Stones are well integrated. The sets are as big and transformable as any top West End musical. So often dance is executed on a rather empty and bland stage but not in this show, the sets move and are constantly changing. There is never a dull moment.

The music by DJ Walde and Josh Cohen is original, enhancing the dance communication. There is a symbiotic relationship between the movement and music, true to the foundation of hip hop in the 1970s in Bronx NYC. 

The big numbers at the end are a bonus and the whole cast, including the vocalists each have a short freestyle solo, reminding us of the spontaneous and competitive nature of street dance. Many of the performers move with explosive speed and risky air-born lifts and flips. The show is simply invigorating.

Melbourne International Arts Festival
Malthouse Theatre
October 2011

By Grace Edwards.

Indonesian choreographer Jecko Siompo’s Melbourne Festival offering, We Came From The East, is a light-hearted exploration of the roots of hip-hop. “Hip-Hop was born in Papua, you don’t have to believe me, but my great grandmother told me,” says Siompo. Starting with this simple premise, Siompo traces the journey hip-hip may or may not have taken from Papua, through Indonesia and finally to New York.

Performed in Siompo’s trademark “animal pop” style, this piece is nothing if not energetic. It’s a frenetic blend of contemporary and tribal dance styles infused with the shuddering movements, screams and yelps of wild animals set to a lively and highly percussive soundscape. The ensemble dancers handled the fast-paced choreography reasonably well, whilst the acrobatic displays of the male performers added an extra physical dimension to the piece. The popping and locking sequences were less well-executed, perhaps owing to the different backgrounds of the dancers, though this did not prove a major hindrance to the overall design of the choreography.

The piece could, however, have benefitted a great deal from a stronger conceptual direction. The overarching theme of the show was hinted at only briefly, most explicitly in a vocal mosaic of interviews and musings on the origins of hip-hop. In the final scene, the dancers donned bright-coloured jackets, marking the arrival of contemporary hip hop; how we got there, however, remains a mystery. Meanwhile, a few odd quips and some seemingly out-of-place references to Pinocchio only further obscured any insights to be gleaned.

The choreography also suffered from a lack of light and shade. There were indeed signs of progression throughout the piece; the heavy use of floor work in the initial stages of the performance was replaced by more upright passages, the plain costumes and heavy tribal body paint was balanced by the contemporary final sequence. The dancers’ verbal passages progressed through several different languages, presumably Papuan and Indonesian dialects, through to English. Nonetheless, Sempo’s choreographic style proved somewhat limiting in this respect, at times becoming overly repetitive.

Soloist Jakob Yaw, stunningly painted half in black and half in white in perhaps a nod at his heritage, performed his role with strong presence and assurance.

The shortcomings of this production were ultimately minimised by Sempo’s playful, joyful approach to this piece. We Came From The East is a show to be embraced not for its profound insights nor its technical wizardry, but for its most basic contribution as an energetic and uncomplicated tribute to the ever-evolving and awe-inspiring world of dance.

Photo: Jecko Siompo’s We Came from the East (c) Riduan

By Kristy Johnson.

They may not have taken out the title as America’s Best Dance Crew in Season Six, however this all-female hip hop group are winning in their own right. Winning back-to-back titles at the World Hip Hop Dance Championships in 2009 and 2010, and recently performing at the Australian Dance Festival, it seems there is no stopping these girls from New Zealand in their quest for world recognition.

Dance Informa caught up with ReQuest, to chat about their stint on America’s Best Dance Crew, and what they’re up to next.

How did you find the experience of competing on America’s Best Dance Crew? Did it meet your expectations?

It was amazing, and one of the highlights of our time as a crew thus far. It met our expectations. Our goal was to just make the show and we weren’t focused on necessarily winning it. We totally enjoyed the journey of just being on the show. It was surreal for us to watch the show over the years and think, ‘wow imagine being on that show’. We never thought it would be possible as it was ‘America’s’ best dance crew, but we always had a dream of what it would be like.

You may not have won the sixth season, but there’s no doubt you’ve had success outside of the show. Are you glad for the exposure that comes from the TV show?

The exposure of being on the show was more the general public and those outside the dance world. We had already achieved a high degree of recognition through being the world champions in 2009 and 2010 so most dancers knew us. Definitely being on TV increased our fan and supporter base all around the world.

How has competing on ABDC influenced your success as a dance crew?

We really dance for the love of dance and to share our gift, so we felt we were successful already. Being on the show just exposed us to more people and I guess you can say we were successful by just getting chosen to be on the show.

Besides the winners of each series, are there any other ABDC crews that stand out to you as being at the top of their game?

Definitely. Jabbawockeez are really the main crew everyone knows as they won season one and have gone on to bigger and better things. Beat Freaks and Fysh N Chicks who are both all female crews really stood out for us and they showed the way for the ladies.

Were you a bit intimidated at being the only international crew to compete on the show? Or do you think this was to your advantage?

We weren’t intimidated at all, but knowing we were the world champions meant we had to bring it. It was really a huge disadvantage not being American as it is a popularity show and we suffered when it came to public voting. We knew this from the start so we didn’t let the voting get to us.

Who are some of your dance idols?

Parris Goebel from The Palace Dance Studio is really our driving inspiration. When you get to dance, train, sweat and learn from her everyday then you can’t help but be inspired. For everything she has accomplished with ReQuest and all the crews from The Palace Dance Studio at the age of 19, makes her our idol. We all get to dance full-time because of her driving force and she has shown us how to follow our dreams.

How often do you rehearse together?

We train and dance six out of seven days. Our day is made up of fitness training, ReQuest training, teaching our hip hop classes and then Palace crew trainings. We did have a contemporary class we all took once a week.

What’s the one thing your fans would be surprised to know about you?

Not one of us actually has red hair!

What’s next for you? What are you currently working on?

We have a busy month in October for Rugby World Cup performances, and then in November we have a tour to the Philippines and Japan.

By Kristy Johnson.

He’s worked for the likes of Britney Spears and Jason Derulo, yet LA based hip-hop and house choreographer Tony Czar remains a teacher at heart. Dance Informa caught up with the in-demand choreographer, fresh off the 2011 Source Dance Hollywood Tour, to talk teaching, career highlights and how Aussie dancers fare in the American dance scene.

You have been to Australia numerous times now. How do you find the standard of dancers?

The dancers are becoming amazing. I have seen the transformation in the dance scene all over Australia over the past four years.

Australian dancers are known to be quite versatile. But are we really on the same level as dancers in the United States?

Many of the dancers are on the same level. There are several dancers from Australia who are getting so much work in Los Angeles. They have the drive and the heart to make it work.

Are there any particular Aussie dancers or choreographers you feel have the potential to make a name for themselves in the States?

There are so many dancers in Australia who could dance in LA. Since you ask for a particular dancer – I believe Anti Fischer from Brisbane definitely can work in the US if she can get her visa. I have watched her transformation since she first came on the Source Dance Hollywood Tour four years ago. She has so much passion and determination.

When you visit Australia and have downtime, what do you like to do?

We really don’t have much downtime when we are on tour in Australia. However we love the Gold Coast!

Your experience as a choreographer is impressive, having worked with some of the best names in the business like Britney Spears and Jason Derulo. Do you ever stand back and think ‘wow, am I really doing this?’

I have always believed in what I do. In addition, I have been working with the right people at the right time to be given these opportunities.

Are there any music artists that are on your choreography wish list?

Missy Elliot, Beyonce, and up and coming Rye Rye!

Your workshops are always a great success. What do you enjoy the most about teaching?

I love having fun and passing on my passion of dance. I love watching the students when they have the ‘aha’ moment and get what I am teaching both physically and mentally.

Reality television has made a huge impact on the dance industry. Given the chance to have your own show like The Dance Scene, would this be something that interests you?

I am a teacher at heart so my favourite jobs are always going to be teaching jobs.

What’s next for you? What projects are you currently working on?

My schedule is fully booked with teaching jobs all over the world. I teach in Poland, Taiwan, Russia, Japan, Korea, and Guam, to just name a few of the places I will be going.

Win Tickets to Jecko Siompo’s We Came from the East.

In an Australian premiere, Jecko Siompo and Jecko’s Dance present We Came from the East at this year’s Melbourne International Arts Festival. First you hear the noises, a cacophonous array of yelps emerging from the blackness. And then the bodies appear, contorted and animalistic, folded backwards and leaping toward the ceiling with bestial vigour. It’s a long way from breakdancing, yet it seems so familiar.  Could it be true? Could hip-hop really have come from Indonesia? This is the question mischievously posed by Jecko Siompo in We Came from the East. Siompo conjures up a furious display of the apparently indelible links between traditional Papuan dance and contemporary hip-hop.

To Enter
Email Dance Informa at info@danceinforma.com with
Your Name, Date of Birth, Full Address, Phone Number and ‘Why you love Dance Informa’.
Good luck!

We Came from the East
Tue 18 – Sat 22 Oct, 8pm
The CUB Malthouse, Beckett Theatre
Bookings: M-TIX (03) 9685 5111 / malthousetheatre.com.au
Ticketmaster 1300 723 038 / melbournefestival.com.au

NSW Permit Number : LTPM/10/00971CLASS: Type B
Competition opens on Oct 4 2011. Competition closes on October 12 2011. Winners will be selected at random on Oct 12 at 5:00pm EST and notified by email and/or phone. All entrants must provide an email address, a postal address, full name and date of birth. All entrants who are not a subscriber to Dance Informa will be given a free subscription. All subscribers can unsubscribe at any time by visiting danceinforma.com/unsubscribe. Minimum entry age is 13 years of age. Prizes will be drawn in Highbury SA. Winners will be published at www.danceinforma.com after they are announced. If not all prizes are claimed, a Second Chance Draw will be held. This competition is held by Dance Informa Pty Ltd of SA. Phone 1300 783 120.

Top photo:  (c)Riduan

Theatre Works, Melbourne
June 8 2010

By Rebecca Martin

Paul Malek’s Project Y followed up the previous week’s performances of The Dream Machine, choreographed by Rain Francis, with tonight’s premiere of Move.  The night promised a performance that would not let the audience sit still and a piece that combined contemporary and hip-hop dance styles.  Move delivered on both counts.

A performance without a story, Move presented us with a dance piece purely for the sake of dance and entertainment, which is a glorious thing for an audience member.  There’s nothing quite like being inspired and entertained by dance that is fun, well executed and choreographed with innovation.  The concept was a collaborative effort between Malek, Zoe Marsh, Jack May and Freya List, and their vision came to life through impressive use of the stage, lighting, music, and video footage.  Combined with urban choreography and costumes, the addition of street footage of Melbourne transported our city into another version of Los Angeles. 

While the choreography wasn’t groundbreaking – there are many creative hip-hop/contemporary works around – it was still inspired and imaginative.  The dancers themselves were in their element, clearly having the time of their lives.  The audience responded in kind, cheering and clapping enthusiastically throughout the piece.  The looks on the performers’ faces during the curtain call was quite something – they must have felt like rock stars with the enthusiastic reception the audience gave them.  While they may not (yet) be rock stars, the cast of Move were definitely stars this evening, and their youthful exuberance left me wanting to bust a move.

Shaun Parker and the teenagers of Western Sydney

Seymour Centre, Sydney
May 27 2011

By Elizabeth Ashley

With 40 teenagers tutting, locking, hip-hopping and booty-shaking, choreographer Shaun Parker evokes the western Sydney school yard in all its multicultural diversity and underlying tension.

A collaboration with CAPTIVATE, the performing arts program of the Catholic Education Parramatta Diocese, ‘The Yard’ is both joyful and poignant, expressing a living contemporary dance language. As Shaun Parker explains, ‘what you see here is the contemporary movement language that these kids live in, the crumping, jerking, hip-hopping of their everyday.’

The recently appointed resident choreographer of the Seymour Centre in Sydney has once again explored a microcosm of real life and revealed it to us through dance. Just as in ‘Happy as Larry’, showcased at Sydney Festival 2010, Parker both confronts and enchants the audience with a snapshot of contemporary life, this time the school yard.

The students are individuals using their own unique style of movement language to intimidate, coerce, bully or attempt to cross cultural divides. As one of the dancers explains, ‘it could be about bullying, it could be about sadness and emotion.’

With a cast consisting of teenagers and a plethora of recently arrived migrants the central theme that emerges from this work is the forms of belonging that shape the life of many of the adolescents.  The fluidity of belonging to an institution, a culture, a clique or a couple is explored in a multiplicity of short dances capturing the hurried and flexible lives of this “social networked” generation.

A bare stage, apart from one slippery-dip, is the yard where students – all in school uniform or sports uniform – enter, interact, form clusters, disperse, play, perform and fight. We are not mere observers but rather ‘feel’ this yard that resonates with the diversity of cultures heightened by the sensitivity and energy of adolescence.

Parker’s choreography, while emphasizing the group life of many teenagers, avoids the mass synchronized feel of many School Eisteddfod events that minimise an individual focus.  Instead, Parker draws out individual personalities through their individual dance styles. Parker should be commended for blending the style and character of these relatively untrained performers, allowing their street culture to provide shape and narrative to drive the performance.

As two boys show off their hip-hop moves or twins zip around the stage adding confusion, the audience cannot help but interact with applause and laughter or gasp at the balancing acts that take place. The “Yard” that emerges is predominantly a male stronghold with all the usual braggadocio, faux aggression and testosterone that characterises street culture.

Technical musicality isn’t always strongly felt, apart from a memorable krumper who takes possession of the beat. His powerful krumping, locking and popping converts his limbs into a singular percussion instrument for the girls’ admiration. There is a standout performance also by a lanky student, who moonwalks, juggles basketballs and balances precariously using random props.

It’s a simple scenario and structure complemented by a youthful, electronic ‘street-feel’ soundtrack by Nick Wales and Bree Van Reyk.

Parker started working with a group of 40 students 3 years ago, traveling 3 times a week out to the western suburbs of Sydney. And so they come to centre-stage in Sydney’s CBD, focused and committed with their youthful enthusiasm and bravado to create a heart-warming and joyful celebration of unity in diversity using the medium of dance. In Shaun Parker’s words, ‘it celebrates the extraordinary in the ordinary.’

By Linda Badger.

Jesse Rasmussen is a well known dancer and choreographer, who has had an expansive and exciting career in the dance industry. Jesse is fresh off the Tap Dogs tour and New Zealand Stan Walker tour and is gearing up for the biggest dance convention of the year – Flow City Australian Dance Convention. Flow City will be bringing some of the latest and greatest local and international choreographers to our shores, and it is not to be missed.  There is also a hip hop competition and scholarships being given away!  Dance Informa had the chance to chat to Jesse about his creative journey, and find out what Flow City is all about…

Tell us a little about your dance background. What drew you to hip hop and tap specifically?
I grew up and learnt to dance on the Gold Coast, beginning at the age of 10 at the ‘Paradise Performers Academy’.  Back then I was your typical dance eisteddfod kid trying to compete and win as many solos as possible because I had a pretty competitive nature.  I loved it. The school that I trained at was a very technical jazz and musical theatre school where we learnt every style of dance 5 nights a week…. thank you mum!   

I booked my first big gig at the age of 17 touring around Australia playing the role of ‘Tip’ in Hot Shoe Shuffle.  I didn’t know it at the time, but this was the beginning of my professional dance career and I have never looked back. From there I went on to perform and tour with four other musical theatre shows.   It wasn’t until I moved to Sydney that I discovered the commercial dance world and fell in love with hip hop.  From there I made it my goal to spend three months of each year training over in LA to learn from the best, and I’ve been doing that for six years now. As for tap, I have always loved it since the very beginning and I think I will be tapping long after I hang up my hip hop shoes!

What was it like being involved in the recent tour of Tap Dogs?
WOW. Tap Dogs – what an incredible show.  I had a great time working on the recent tour.  Tap Dogs is definitely the physically hardest show I have ever performed in.  While we were over in London the reviews said that we were the hardest working show on the West End, and it was true! It’s hard work, but it was worth it. I had a great role in the show and seeing the way the audience responded to us eight times a week drove me to get up the next day and do it all again.  The success Tap Dogs has had over the past 16 years has been incredible.  Dein Perry created an amazing product that managed to stay hip and up to date for two decades and I take my hat off to him.

What is your personal creative statement and what drives you creatively?
‘If you want something bad enough and you put your heart and soul into it – then anything is achievable’.  

I think the thing that drives my creativity is that I like to succeed in whatever I put my mind to. I’m not one to give up easily.  I like getting to the end of a project and saying to myself ‘Yes! I did that ‘.  I’ve learnt that once you think you know everything, that’s when you close your mind and you stop learning.

What will be different about Flow City – Australian Dance Convention?
It’s hard to create a product that sets itself aside from all the other dance workshops that come to town, especially in this day and age when I can already name four international workshops that have toured this year.  That’s the industry we live in now. There is always a workshop or dance event happening every other week.  People have caught onto the market, which is a great thing because people no longer have the excuse anymore that there is nothing going on in Australia.

The thing that is different about the Australian Dance Convention is that I strive to bring the very best from around the world to five major Australian cities every year. This year in 2011 the two international choreographers I have on board, I believe, are two of the greatest hip hop dancers that have ever lived apart from Michael Jackson.  They are the most in demand, every country wants these guys, and they are teaching in Australia for the first time. The Squared Division on the other hand have just got back from directing and choreographing KE$HA’s world tour and are currently the highest working choreographers in Australia, booking dancers on a weekly basis.  For working professionals NOT already working for The Squared Division, you would be crazy to miss them.  Tap and commercial jazz have been introduced to Flow City this year for the first time, so we are building a convention that caters for everybody.

Jesse in Tap Dogs

What do you want dancers to come away with from the convention?
I want people to walk away from the Australian Dance Convention and say… ‘WOW that was amazing, I am so inspired and I want to be a better dancer.’  That is what it’s all about. All it takes is just that one moment or feeling in class or on stage that can change your life. 9 times out of 10 it’s when you’re watching someone that inspires you to dance. We do most of our learning when we’re watching. And that’s what this convention is all about, it’s about spending the day dancing with the best in the biz, watching, learning and being inspired.

What are the future aims for the convention? 
I definitely have big plans for the future of the Flow City.  I want to get it to a worldwide status where people from around the world travel to Australia for our events.  Funnily enough this has happened this year, with dancers from Singapore and New Zealnad booked in for our 2011 event .  Exciting stuff!  

Flow City – Australian Dance Convention is not to be missed if you want to be inspired, keep up with the latest in the hip hop scene and further your tap and jazz skills.  For all aspiring professionals, Jesse is one to watch and learn from.  He is definitely carving the way for those who take initiative to the next level, having such a positive influence on the Australian and international dance scenes.  

For more information on Flow City and to register, check out the website www.flowcity.com.au

Video: Courtesy of youTube.
Dance Informa/Dance News International takes no responsibility for the content of any videos viewed through youTube.

Dance Massive
Arts House, North Melbourne Town Hall
March 2011

By Rain Francis

I LOVED this show.

I appreciated the ingenious simplicity of Adam Gardnir and Mitch Alcorn’s set. It was a moveable, two-sided wall of blackboard with ever evolving chalk drawings and a happy arc of coloured balloons.

I laughed out loud and at one point had to will myself not to indulge in an all-out laughing fit. At another point I was moved to almost tears, and at yet another moment I literally gasped at the beauty and the poignancy of a sequence. In short, I was moved. Mission of art – accomplished.

I relished the uniqueness and outstanding performances of the cast, each subtly representing one of the nine Enneagram personality types.

I enjoyed the way the music, bouncing between poppy electronica and achingly beautiful strings, worked in harmony with the choreography and Luiz Pampolha’s lighting.

Shaun Parker effortlessly fused contemporary, hip hop and ballet in the one work. In fact one scene contained the signature move of every dance style and craze ever known to man! This eclectic language, along with the personalities of the performers, eloquently expressed the elusiveness and the fragility of happiness, its reliance on so many factors, our projections and expectations of it, and our disappointments in it. Parker created a sense of community by expressing something so human, and so common to us all. I found it comforting to know that what I think of as my neuroses are in fact just part of the threads which link us all as people. The illustration of this idea did indeed fill me with happiness.