Sneakers tell a story: a story about those who make them, those who wear them, and those who dance in them. Antics’ new show, Sneaker Suites, tells the story of sneakers through the virtuosity and hyper-physicality of street dance vocabulary.
Antics performs Sneaker Suites at the Ivy Substation in Media Park at 8 o’clock on the evenings of Friday, July 8, and Saturda, July 9.
Sneaker Suites is a performance collaboration between Antics and story architect Mark Gonzales, featuring 11 dancers, live spoken word poetry by Gonzales, animated paintings by Matt Sheridan, and five short films with OG BBoys Ken Swift, Kwikstep, and Zulu Gremlin (OG BBoy = original generation breakdancer).
Sneaker Suites delves into the diverse and personal relationships that street dancers have with one of the most highly-purchased fashion items in the world, sneakers. Hip-hop dance choreography intersects with the text of provocative poetry, childhood memories, instrumental beats, and voiceovers as Sneaker Suites unravels the iconic importance of sneakers through this multi-layered performance.
Sneakers represent both empowerment and exploitation, and Sneaker Suites embraces the contradictions of this symbolism with funk and style. The pieces in Sneaker Suites search for the complex truths between the personal importance of sneakers to hip-hop dancers, the role of sneakers in material culture, and the global implications of sneaker consumption.
Antics is a hip-hop dance theater company based in Los Angeles under the artistic direction of Amy (Catfox) Campion.
Antics creates multimedia urban dance performances that incorporate bboying/bgirling (breakdancing), krump, house dance, locking, popping, waacking, capoeira, DJs, MCs, poetry, theater, and film into hand-clapping, foot-stomping performances.
Founded in 2007, Antics company members represent the best street dancers in Los Angeles with credits that include Step Up and America’s Best Dance Crew, amongst others. Antics is committed to innovating the realm of hip-hop dance theater as well as participating in community engagement through workshops, residencies, and special events.
Ms. Campion received an MFA in choreography from UCLA’s Dept. of World Arts and Cultures. She has been bgirling, training Capoeira, and studying various forms of street dance for more than 17 years.
To give back to the community, Antics partners with Soles4Souls to host a shoe drive at the Sneaker Suites performances. Soles 4 Souls is a not for profit global services enterprise committed to fighting poverty through the collection and distribution of shoes and clothing. Since 2006, Soles4Souls has collected and distributed 26 million pairs of shoes to those in need in 127 countries around the world. Audience members are encouraged to bring their lightly worn shoes to Antics’ Sneaker Suites performance. Shoes will be collected in boxes in the lobby of both performances, and guests can drop them off upon arrival.
This performance is made possible in part by a Culver City Performing Arts Grant with support from Sony Pictures Entertainment.
For tickets visit
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2555010