FUNK ME
Director and choreographer Otis Sallid wants to illuminate how James Brown’s funky music and original dance styling has influenced contemporary culture. He engaged PHILADANCO (Philadelphia Dance Company) and then chose choreographers from around the world, letting each one choose from 33 of Brown’s songs and cultivate original works. The result is James Brown: Get on the Good Foot, now playing through Sunday at the Ahmanson Theatre.
The result, 10 choreographers serving up 12 works scrunched into 75 minutes, is a consistently agreeable and sometimes bemusing 75-minute evening of diverse takes on Brown’s music, style and message.
Surprisingly, the best effort of the night is a solo. Aakash Odedra is a contemporary dancer/choreographer from Britain, and his “Ecstasy” is rooted in classical Indian dance, namely Kathak and Bharata Natyam, the latter based on temple dancing. All of the evening’s pieces have multimedia and voiceover introductions; “Ecstasy,” set to “Get on the Good Foot (Parts 1 & 2)” and “Make It Funky (Part 1)” with arrangement and additional music by Ronobir Lahiri, begins with Brown saying that he gets his energy from God. The commanding and fierce Odedra is in no way trying to recreate funk; instead, he amalgamates the wild passion of Brown with a graceful, poetic, and tender whirling dervish of sorts, adding corners and diagonals, heel-spinning, percussive foot-slaps, and sculpturesque poses. And while the gasp-inducing successive knee-drops almost seemed Russian in flavor, it was reminiscent of Brown’s cheeky agility. had this been the Olympics, Odedra may have won the gold for solo ice skating.
The show began with Mr. Sallid’s “Too Funky.” As much a tribute to Soul Train as James Brown, the piece was kaleidoscopic with retro dance crazes, more raw than polished. Whether doing the funky chicken, camel walking, skipping, or church dancing, Sallid’s choreography is inoffensive amusement, a dance party employing the moves that Brown would mishmash together to create his own style. Later, Sallid’s “Live” is winning reenactment—a parody actually—of Brown at the mike while three dancers mimic the synchronized swing of 60s backup singers. Set to “Give It Up or Turnit a Loose,” Derick K. Grant does a striking impersonation of Brown, and Cain Alfonzo Coleman Jr., Dwayne Cook, Jr. and Victor Lewis, Jr. infectiously brought to mind The Temptations on steroids (they can call themselves The Juniors).
I was overjoyed that Grant brought some masterful tap dancing to the event. Dressed in a hippie pimp hat and electric blue exercise suit, Mr. Grant added some funky arm swings to his classic tap (co-choreographed by Sallid). Even though the 
heavily miked tennis shoes made it seem like he was clogging at times, his “Superbad” was super good.
Souleymane Badolo is from the geographical heart of West Africa, Burkina Faso, and his “Benon” has almost a tribal feel guiding this contemporary work. Set to Brown’s “Please, Please, Please” and “Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine,” Badolo seems to be referencing Brown’s early life: The quintet twists, flaps, and swoops, displaying wild joy as they interpolate boxing moves with barrel rolls. The whimsical shining of shoes on shoeless feet adds to the piece’s character, and makes a comment about Brown’s genesis of grooving as a way to overcome the obstacles of his youth.
Camille A. Brown’s “1973” sets the scene for a rowdy party, with dancers donning afro wigs and black platform shoes. This comic piece may be short on distinctive choreography but it’s rich in character as it parodies the 1970s Blaxploitation film genre. Set to “I Got You (I Feel Good),” four poseurs party in exaggerated moves while holding red plastic cups until a pimp with an electrified hat and cane enters the joint; satire abounds as he struts around being adored by the throng.
Brown’s funky fashions are celebrated throughout: Costume designer Dante Anthony Baylor goes over the top with spangles, fluorescent colors and materials that look like rayon and Mylar. Slanted lighting from the sides and floor, the best technical element of the evening, are created by Nick Kolin. Both are evident in Vietnamese choreographer Thang Dao’s “Bewildered,” a delicious combination of funk, modern, classical and breakdancing; and Abdel Salaam’s “There was… There is a Time,” a piece that—even as it showcases PHILADANCO dancers as variable as those of Alvin Ailey—is oddly gentle and straightforward when it comes to staging Brown’s racial politics. It is a terrific showcase for the acrobatic extensions of Adryan Moorefield and Victor Lewis, Jr.
Proficient B-girl Ephrat Asherie solos in an almost catlike fashion to “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World.” Wearing a slinky red dress, she is astoundingly adept with floor falls and backspinning. The work seems improvisational yet is credited to her, Sallid and Jennifer Weber. It’s a fascinating statement on Brown’s paving the way for hip-hop, but the way she keeps falling to the floor and picking herself back up again may be making a statement about Brown’s uneasy relationships with women. The entire evening skirts the darker side of Brown, which is missed. Asherie’s work comes closest to penetrating another aspect of Brown’s soul (the topic of drug abuse is avoided completely).
Even though Ronald K. Brown’s septet “Think” and Sallid’s group work “Get Up Offa That Thing” highlight the dancers’ capabilities—and match the music best—there is a meandering, repetitive feel to the works as it bounces from solo and duets to group outings, which are positively infectious when the artists are synchronized. Even audience members, ecumenical during other numbers, appeared unmoved during these final segments. Still, the Brown’s dance aesthetic is on rich display, and there are thrilling works aplenty to recommend this celebration of the man whose legacy continues to impact modern culture.
photos by Shahar Azran and Karli Cadel
James Brown: Get on the Good Foot, a Celebration in Dance
Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center
co-presented with the Apollo Theater
and the Rialto Center for the Arts, Georgia State University
Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N Grand Avenue
scheduled to end on February 16, 2014
for tickets, call (213) 972-0711 or visit www.musiccenter.org/jamesbrown