Hip-Hop’s Real Deal
Director Benson Lee of “Planet B-Boy” sees hip-hop dance for what it really is, an art form still struggling to be legitimately recognized as it spreads its influence throughout the world.
In 2006, David LaChappelle’s “Rize” caught the attention of mainstream media and audiences with its raw energy and real message: Kids from L.A.’s ghetto found ways to grapple with gang violence and poverty through a dance form called krumping. In much the same vein, director Benson Lee’s “Planet B-Boy” has captured and captivated viewers with its relevance and realism. Dancer spoke with Lee about his vision for the film, why hip-hop is such a universal language and how he plans to change the tone of dance films in the future.
B-Boy Beginnings
Growing up in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia in the ’80s, Lee wasn’t personally exposed to the new dance called breaking developing on the streets of the Bronx. It was through movies that he had his first encounter. “I saw B-boys for the first time in the movie “Flashdance” and was mesmerized by them,” he says. “I fell in love with the dance and started doing it on my own. I was a closeted breaker.”
As the decade wore on, Lee moved away from his hobby. Breakdancing had lost its luster, due to overexposure in the media, and association with some of the ’80s more cheesy dance films. Suddenly, the movement that started in the street lost its cred. In 1998, Lee revisited “Flashdance” and wondered what happened to the B-boys he once idolized. “I went online and realized there was this whole world that was still out there,” he says. “I discovered that it was global now, and they had this huge event in Germany called Battle of the Year. And from that point on, I told myself I was going to make a documentary on it.”
Claude (Phase-T) in front of the Eiffel Tower
Photo by Benson Lee
Taking Action
With his pet project in mind, Lee began fund-raising and researching in order to get his documentary off the ground. It took six years, but finally in 2005 Lee was ready to begin filming. After having difficulty finding a backer, Lee decided to produce the film independently. “Documentaries are a different kind of film. You don’t have a script so you don’t know what the results will be,” he says. “That ended up being a great thing for me because I could make the film on my own terms.” Lee traveled to five countries and found one inspiring story after another, all leading up to the climatic Battle of the Year. “The more I learned about B-boying, the more I realized that there were so many issues being interpreted through movement: cultural, sociopolitical ideas,” he says. “When you watch my film, you see that in Korea a performance is created around the whole North and South Korea issue. The French choreographed around issues of racism. Basically, I came to the understanding that dance is not just a physical movement, but also an interpretation of a person’s environment and what they go through.”
Lee’s exploration of the multifaceted applications of global hip hop garnered buzz for the film, which opened at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2007 to rave reviews. The documentary was chosen for an outdoor screening and attracted crowds by the thousands. “We were the second most covered movie next to ‘Spiderman,’” says Lee. “It showed us that people were ready and curious about this dance again.” “Planet B-Boy” showed at festivals around the world, gathered awards and momentum and finally got a distributor for theatres in New York and L.A. in March of this year. Later, the film opened in Canada and other U.S. cities and had a huge release in Asia. At this year’s Cannes Film Festival, MTV picked up the documentary for a January 2009 television premiere.
The Root of the Matter
The success of “Planet B-Boy” is due largely to Lee’s refusal to gloss over the deeper issues of hip-hop dance in exchange for flashy showmanship. While certainly touching upon larger cultural, racial and political topics, Lee also hits close to home for dancers themselves, exposing the strenuous struggle for respect not only from outsiders, but also from factions within dance. “It’s hard enough being a dancer within the institution, but at least there’s a light at the end of the tunnel that they can work toward where they can be legitimately recognized, whether it’s a ballerina getting into Lincoln Center or a jazz dancer on Broadway,” he says. “The street dancers aren’t recognized by the dance world as legitimate in terms of public funding. Just like every other dancer, they put their body through punishment. People walk by crews practicing in the train station and think they’re rejects for rolling around on the station floor instead of in a dance studio. Little do they know that they’re going to be in Germany in front of 10,000 people.”
Yet for all the dance form’s troubles, hip-hop is receiving positive reinforcement from films such as Lee’s and LaChappelle’s, as well as dance reality shows like “So You Think You Can Dance” and “America’s Best Dance Crew.” Choreographers such as Tabitha and Napoleon and Shane Sparks have showcased “lyrical hip-hop” as a means to tell emotional stories through the dance form. Rennie Harris’ Puremovement and Kwikstep and Rokafella’s Full Circle theatre companies produce stage shows using hip- hop as the narrator. “Hip-hop culture is so translatable and so adaptable for any kid who lives in the same condition as kids in the Bronx,” says Lee. “The success of this culture is that it allows all kids to get involved in it. You have a very diverse group of people because this dance is so focused on personal expression. It shows that it really is not about color. It’s about enthusiasm.”
Moving Forward
Through his years of research and immersion in hip-hop culture, Lee has developed a unique understanding of not only the B-boy, but also the dancer psyche: The thirst to be recognized, the passion for their art, the frustration at mainstream’s inability to see past hokey stereotypes. Through “Planet B-Boy” he has tapped into a well of virtually unexplored dance film territory and plans to expand audiences’ understanding with a feature film adaptation. “My goal is to make the first film about real B-boying,” he says. “I want to tell its history and global presence through a feature that isn’t about a ballerina falling in love with a street boy.” Hoping to follow in the footsteps of Bob Fosse, Lee is currently working on a screenplay that departs from Hollywood’s typical treatment of dance. “I’m trying to get to B-boying the way Fosse got to jazz,” he says. “It’s a real world, not a fake, corrupted studio world. There’s so much to say in so little time. I feel like I could do it through dance much better.”