Bring on da noise, bring on da buck. That’s right, buck. Not funk. This Saturday night is all about “getting buck,” as the Buck World One performance shakes, shimmies, and slides into town.
For the uninitiated, “getting buck” is a variation on “krumping,” an urban dance form that began when Thomas Johnson, aka Tommy the Hip-Hip Clown, mixed clowning with dance at a kid’s birthday party. So, what does it look like? Picture people break-dancing in a mosh pit with some occasional gymnastics, spastic jerking, and face paint thrown in. Now the form is moving into mainstream pop culture, since music video director David LaChapelle featured the form in his documentary Rize and Missy Elliott picked up the moves for a video.
Watching people “getting buck” is amazing enough. But Buck World One combines the dance with original, student-written theater and spoken-word performances. Rickerby Hinds, a playwriting professor at UC Riverside, brings his 10-person student ensemble to Isla Vista, as part of the group’s California tour. Continuing the youth theater theme, UCSB students in the I.V. Live theater production course will provide all technical theater support for the performance.
Buck World One is a rare chance to hear the pure voices of urban Southern California youth before their concerns and style become diluted and co-opted. Exposing youth to art created by others their own age is another exciting aspect of the performance, according to Beth Wynstra, teaching assistant for the UCSB theater production course. She said, “I’m excited to bring to UCSB students a professional production made by other students.”
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Buck World One gets bucky on Saturday, November 17, at 8 p.m., at Embarcadero Hall (935 Embarcadero Del Norte, Isla Vista). See ivlive.net.