Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor played on a pipe organ is quite possibly the very last music you’d expect to hear at a hip hop show, but there it is, midway through the Out of the Box showcase for 2012, providing the score for just-turned 16-year-old Riley Bourne’s Back to Bach, a trio stunningly presented by himself, Nathan Kara and Jackson Tuarae.

Out of the Box presents eight free form hip hop dance works choreographed by Auckland performers who are very well known as champions of hip hop choreography for dance beyond the competition circuit. They are:  Joe Ling, Andrew Cesan, Andrew Jones, Richie Cesan, Kat Walker and Josh Mitikulena, Simon Watts and Josh Cesan, and Allister Salavao.

On the basis of Back to Bach, Riley Bourne is well on the way to getting his name well known also.

The show’s format has each choreographer introduce their dance, and Bourne tells us the music was some random classical stuff he was given by a teacher when he couldn’t make up his mind what to choreograph to. Such an inspired choice! The music is very detailed and the individual notes are matched with gestures and steps, the blocks of music matched by modular spatial arrangements –  triangles,  wedges, diagonal and vertical lines, and the climatic crescendos trigger showy jumps and power moves. The performers have verve and look like they utterly love what they are doing, and the audience reward them with resounding cheers.

Also raising resounding cheers is another dance in the series titles M’nM  by Simon Watts and Joshua Cesan, a very slick inter-layering of music and movement from diverse sources for five dancers.  This starts as a duo, and progressively adds and subtracts dancers, with styling to match the music behind – Puttin on the Ritz (remix), a Dubstep tutorial, Dubsidia’s Kill Humans, a Jack Sparrow remix and Bare and Datsik’s King Kong.   There’s a definite feel of showbiz to this dance, with costume and footwear changes and sections backlit against electric silver-purple showing the dancers in silhouette.

Joe Ling’s Drowning or Swimming for six dancers is about the challenge of fitting in with the crowd but still sticking to your principles. Set to a mix from rapper Kendrick Lamar’s Swimming Pools (Drank) collection, the dance shows that you can always choose to follow your own conscience and step aside while the others go their merry way.

Andrew Jones’s Thoughts presents a chance meeting by two people in a waiting room  – himself and Odessa To’o, set to R&B duo Floetry’s Say Yes. With the help  f a table and two chairs, the dance loops from sitting to standing and walking about and dancing together. It’s flirtatious, and reveals their inner thoughts and desires through their dancing. It ends suddenly when he leaves for his appointment, and she’s philosophical but happy.

Andrew Cesan’s quintet  Still Under the Influence explores the influence of rhyme, rhythm and people in his life and muses on where he goes next, while Richie Cesan’s quartet The Game muses on the differences between the sexes. In both dances, Tracey Purcell and Kayla Paige Middleton Echave play “the girls”, self-sufficient young women with impeccable ballet technique who hurtle through the men’s lives, tantalizing them, raising their interest, flirting a little, dancing with them even, yet somehow they remain beyond the men’s reach. (It would be good to see the women’s movement become more comlex and varied — something these highly competent choreographers should be capable of.)

Kat Walker and josh Mitikulena reflect on past love and focus on the stories of three distinctive young women in Someone like me, with seven dancers – including members of Hopskotch Dance Crew – using an array of hiphop styles to portray the various personalities involved.  Adele’s broken relationship ballad Someone Like You provides the mood.

The show closes with Allister Salaivao’s very personal story of highs and lows in his life – running and hiding from violence, longing for love, and never giving up despite the odds. The narrative is nicely matched in mood to the almost a capella sounds of Imogen Heap’s Hide and Seek.

Choreography for all works is tight and spatial choices thoroughly considered. All the dancing is of a high standard, and the showcase provides a great hour’s worth of dance.

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Out of the Box is everything it promises: fresh, energetic dancing that breaks free from the rules,  melding hip hop, contemporary and tap dance into a vehicle for theatre art that will have you stamping in your seat! This group of young choreographers and dancers push the boundaries and definitively go beyond the genre of hip hop to bring us an evening of awesome fun.

What stands out most is the pure joy that the dancers clearly feel in doing what they love to do. The chance to tell a story through their dancing allows them to evoke emotions we are all familiar with: the wonder of meeting someone new with all the excitement that the unknown future holds; the pain of dealing with loss; and the struggle to think for ourselves – all told through a beautiful fusion of rhythmic hip hop, fluid contemporary, and raucous tap dancing. The dancers are a real pleasure to watch, having excellent rhythmic accuracy and wonderful body control.

The evening begins well before the show even starts. The audience knows they are in for a great time, and the crowd is buzzing. Endearingly, we meet each choreographer as they greet the audience between pieces, explaining their concept and giving us some tips on what to look for in each dance. What jumps out at me is the fresh immediacy of the inspiration behind each dance. The choreographers take very real everyday life scenarios and develop them before our eyes. The intimacy of each moment make the dances accessible and relevant, and we see bits of ourselves in each one.

Joseph Ling opens the show with his piece “Drowning or Swimming,” which explores our struggle to fit in to society while also attempting to maintain our individuality and be faithful to our own principles.

Andrew Cesan’s “Still under the influence” is next, and once again the audience is immediately engaged as we’re encouraged to think about what influences our own lives and actions. The contemporary dancing of Kayla Echave and Tracey Purcell meshes gracefully into the hip hop and adds yet another influence to the piece. The rhythmic complexity of the dance moves, from fast staccato popping to highly controlled slow motion is a definite standout in this piece.

“Thoughts” choreographed by Andrew Jones is a definite crowd pleaser, allowing us to eavesdrop into the thoughts of two strangers meeting each other in a waiting room. The sensual dancing of Odessa To’o evokes all the wonder and promise that meeting someone new brings, and the onstage chemistry between To’o and Jones is a pleasure to watch.

Christchurch gets its chance to shine, as home town special guest dancers take their turn on stage. At one point, I’m aware of the audience around me breathing in unison with the dancers. One of the female dancers shines in a solo demonstrating incredible core movement and a deep affinity for hip hop.

A little fast tap dancing duet/battle adds a bit of harmonious edge to the show, the strength of the dancers evident in their ability to create awesome percussive rhythms without relying on music.

Kat Walker and Josh Mitikulena’s “Someone like me” evokes all the pain of lost love, setting hip hop dance moves to the slow strands of Adele.

Richard Cesan’s “The Game” tells the timeless story of young men and women out for a night on the town. Again, the grace and beauty of Echave and Purcell make a lovely counterpoint to the Cesan brothers’ strong hip hop.

“M’n’M,” choreographed by Simon Watts and Joshua Cesan, steals the show – the five male dancers have the crowd screaming as they show us a variety of hip hop styles in a fabulous explosion of effortless body control and high energy dancing set to a strong selection of music and beat. One of the highlights being each dancer’s physical representation of the counterpoint between the five instrumental elements of the music.

Allister Salaivao’s “Hide and Seek” ends the show, wrapping up the night with a chance to think a little deeper about what it all means, and a reminder to stay strong in the face of hardships.

As the evening draws to a close, I find myself in wholehearted agreement with the producers – hoping that Out of the Box will encourage and inspire other hip hop dancers and choreographers to continue to develop the genre through new partnerships and explorations. If this out of the box today, I can’t wait to see what the future holds!

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