Monday, April 30, 2012

Review of Girl Walk All Day



Girl Walk All Day, for those of you who don't know, is a compilation of videos, and "is a feature-length dance music video and tale of urban exploration that follows three dancers across New York City. They turn the city's sidewalks, parks, and architecture into an evolving stage as they spread their joy of movement." This is perhaps an understatement of the incredible choreography and talent exhibited in this series of music videos. The raw power of these dancers is seen clearly, from the first instant to the last. Video one, which can be seen here, is merely a prelude to a mind-blowing world of emotion and dance.

  As you can see, the cast of Girl Walk All Day is made up of incredibly talented dancers. Despite the obviously modern movement and soundtrack, each dancer almost impecably demonstrates their particular baseline style of dancing.The "Girl" clearly utilizes a style based heavily on ballet, which can be observed both from the beggining scene and throughout. as the video continues, the changes become more and more drastic, butthe underlying ballet themes are unmistakable.
The "Gentleman" has a style that has very strong roots in swing and tap-dancing. we can see a very heavy influence of Fred Astair and Bob Fosse in his moves. the quick, light footmovements also gives light to his tap dance roots, especially as it can be seen that he is putting ona pair of tap-shoes in the beggining.
Lastly, the "Freak" has the most interesting dance style of the trio. His style is almost completely derived from a singularly unique dance-style knwn as tutting, of which the "Creep" is clearly a master. It can be seen that his tutting is so advanced, that at times it almost seemsas if video editing was involved, or that the video was lagging. When one realises the truth,it drives home the skill of this cast.


As the videos continue, the dancers noticably develop their style to reaches far beyond their baseline styles. This change is reflected by a noticable change in costume. Additionally, as the three dancer dance their way across the landmarks of New York, others begin to join in and out, causing rather humorous and inexplicable moments. The climax of this video series is quite something to behold, and puts a very satisfying finish to the developing story, as vague as it is. This is a very legitimate rendition of what cnonly be described as art, and i recommend it highly.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

This is my blog for Art Writing and Criticism. Enjoy.