Buddy Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 (edited) Gia Kourlas “Looking for something new in dance doesn’t interest me as much as watching it morph and grow. As George Balanchine, the founding choreographer of City Ballet, used to say, “There are no new steps, only new combinations.” “Imagination gets to the heart of what new combinations can bring. In a way, that was best epitomized not on a stage this year, but in the viral video for the song “Back on 74” by Jungle, the British electronic music band, from its album “Volcano.” “The album is available as a motion picture, choreographed by Shay Latukolan, and tells a story — as far as I can tell — that loosely follows two extraordinary dancers, Will West and Mette Linturi, throughout a love affair. They move like silk — their fluidity, their precision, their pulse is devastating. Watch it, learn it, do it. “I love the entire film. But the “Back on 74” video is a stand-alone masterpiece of music and dance, of funk and rhythm.” https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/26/arts/dance/dance-in-2023-the-cool-genre.html Jungle - Back On 74 (Official Video) (19M views) “Volcano" -- Motion Picture https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU5tSF6k-m8 "In an interview with the LA Times, “Back on 74” choreographer Shay Latukolan revealed that he wasn't actually inspired by Fosse, but Michael Jackson, along with The Supremes and The Temptations. Overall, Latukolan says his biggest inspiration was “in the music.” " https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2023/10/11/tiktok-is-hopelessly-addicted-to-jungles-back-on-74/?sh=6bddd5ee1068#:~:text=In an interview with the,was “in the music.” Edited February 14 by Buddy Link to comment
Buddy Posted February 15 Author Share Posted February 15 (edited) View 1:28:50-1:34:20 Edited February 15 by Buddy Link to comment
Buddy Posted February 16 Author Share Posted February 16 (edited) I completely agree with what Gia Kourlas has written above. This dancing is first rate. Not knowing the hip dance vocabulary, I would say that this is finely choreographed ’street dancing.’ Although the choreographer, Shay Latukolan, says elsewhere that he wasn’t actually inspired by Bob Fosse, the fact that he even mentions him implies that he knows the territory. I would call it ‘showman artistic.’ The full length video is rather amazing. It’s an entire record album of ‘pop music’ illustrated with continuous, high quality dance. Back in the early days of MTV, a new pop album might have videos of two songs at the most. As videos became less important, the quality diminished considerably. Now comes along an excellent, *album length*, dance video. It was probably done on a very low budget. The concept in fine. The dancers are brilliant along with the choreography. The production, which I would call arthouse, is very good. The above video of the Mariinsky dancers from Russia giving it a go, really brings back some very warm memories. That’s Konstantin Zverev, the first team Von Rothbart, doing the lead male dancing. Good job ! I don’t think that time will ever leave these amazing artists behind. "Volcano - A Motion Picture By Jungle" is more than brilliant — It makes you feel good ! 😊 Volcano - A Motion Picture By Jungle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU5tSF6k-m8 Edited February 16 by Buddy Link to comment
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