Photo credits: Jerick Collantes
Crazy Smooth In My Body
Friday, September 29th – Saturday, September 30th | 8PM
Dalhousie Arts Centre – The Dunn Theatre
Co-presented with
Crazy Smooth (Yvon Soglo) is one of Canada’s top street dancers, performers, choreographers, instructors, judges, and community leaders. He is the founder and artistic director of Bboyizm, an award-winning street-dance company that has been instrumental in the preservation and proliferation of street dance in Canada and internationally.
He was named the 2020 Clifford E. Lee award recipient by the Banff Centre for the Arts for In My Body, created as a part of the 2019-2021 Long Term Artist in Residency at the Centre de Création O Vertigo in Montreal. The project has received a CanDance Creation Fund grant and significant investment from the NAC National Creation Fund.
In 2004, Smooth founded Bboyizm and the company has successfully brought authentic street dance into the professional theatre setting. Three of his full-length creations— The Evolution of B-boying, IZM, and Music Creates Opportunity—have toured throughout Canada. The company was nominated for a Dora award in 2012 and won the Atlantic Presenters Association Touring Performers of the Year Award in 2013 and the Ontario Presenters Network Emerging Touring Artist of the Year in 2012. Crazy Smooth has performed, taught, and judged competitions throughout North America and Europe. He continually strives to be a positive example for the community and an ambassador of the street dance culture at large.
In My Body
It’s said that the bravest thing a dancer can do is grow old – for a b-boy/b-girl, the experience is approaching heroic. In keeping with hip-hop culture, b-boys/b-girls present a façade of confidence and invincibility as they engage in battles to prove their value and establish their dominance. The resulting vocabulary is one of the most physically demanding and visually impressive of the dance genres and leaves no room for the expression of vulnerability.
For In My Body, dancer / choreographer Crazy Smooth brings together an intergenerational group of dancers and an international creative team for an intensely athletic investigation of the evolution of self and the effects of aging on street dancers.
In My Body is dedicated to the memory of Frosty Freeze, Marjory Smarth, Flash, Don Campbellock and others gone before – their legacy lives within us.
Personnel
Crazy Smooth | Choreographer
Saxon Fraser | Assistant Choreographer & Rehearsal Director
Julie Rock | Dancer
JC Fresh | Dancer
Montuu | Dancer
DKC Freeze | Dancer
JK 47 | Dancer
Vibz | Dancer
Tash | Dancer
Crazy Smooth | Dancer
Nubian Néné | Dancer
Anyo | Dancer & Social Media Coordinator
Melly Mel | Outside Eye
Sonya Bayer | Costume Designer & Stylists
Melly Mel | Costume Designer & Stylists
DJ Shash’U | Original Music
Alejandro Rodriguez | Writer
Chantal Labonté | Lights
Sophie Michaud | Creative Consultant
Thomas Payette | Multimedia Designer
Charles-Éric Gandubert (The interactive box) | Creative Programmer
Xavier Mary (mirari) | Set Designer
André Houle – CCOV | Production Director & Technical Director
Dominique Hawry | Video Director
Martin Lepage | Lighting Director
Gaétan Paré | Tour Manager
Gillian Reid | Agent
Centre de Création O Vertigo – CCOV | Executive Producer
Developed with support from the National Arts Centre’s National Creation Fund.
With co-production partners Bboyizm, The CanDance Network Creation Fund, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Brian Webb Dance Company, Yukon Arts Centre, dance Immersion, & Canadian Stage, and supported by the Canada Council for the Arts.