Friday, December 3, 2010

Why We Need More Produced Dance DVDs & Films

Funny Bones Crew, led by Burst Rock and Warlock, is one of the most prominent poppin' crews in Los Angeles. They're releasing a crew DVD with footage from the local community within the next few weeks. It's a production created by photographer Adam Roberts and preview clips have been circulating on Youtube and forums recently. Check out a trailer here:


Perhaps this production will jump start a wave of new filmmaking and documentation within Los Angeles' street dance scene. In an age when so much of what we experience is recorded on raw Youtube clips, it's refreshing to see a DVD that is filmed, edited, produced, and directed with aesthetic sensibilities. For any filmmaker, it's a creative process putting a story together in moving images. Our community can benefit from productions like this Funny Bones DVD because it acts as a curating experience into our culture. Anyone who isn't informed about our scene can watch this DVD and get a sense of who we are.

The DVD will certainly put Funny Bones on the map to a larger global audience. Our LA community knows and supports FBC but few of the members have traveled worldwide or done workshops. Now, they will have a wider reach through this media production. Another good result of this exposure is that the world will see a variety of dancers inhabiting LA's street dance culture. Many styles will be represented, which could also reflect the cultural mix of heritage, nationalities, and experiences in a sprawling metropolis like LA. The textures of our city will be visualized on screen.

So, this is an exciting time for filmmaking in Los Angeles dance culture. Higher end cameras are more affordable and it's easier to broadcast our images to a worldwide audience through online video sharing. Our stories can be produced faster and travel across greater distances to audiences on the other side of the world. Where will we take this next?

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