English 1000 Library Sourcepack:
Dance Form in the Film "Rize"
Instructor:Jesse Adolph jlatfc@mizzou.edu
#1 Tate Hall, MU English Department
Office phone (573) 882-0681

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Breaking (or Pop locking) is the visual performance element of hip-hop culture. The dancers, commonly known as b-boys and b-girls, created this urban phenomena which feature an illustration of makeshift gymnastics and robotic-like dance moves. In the film Rize, clowning and krumping, a continuation of the breaking tradition, is utilized as a creative outlet for inner city youth. In this essay, you will critically analyze the body imagery/movements portrayed in the film. This essay should address (some but not all) the following questions:

• How does the body imagery and body movements reflect life in Watts and South Central LA?
• What kinds of emotions are being conveyed about family and community through the different dance forms?
• Does the film exploit the art form?
• Does krumping or clowning help the individuals in the film to rise above their living conditions or dwell on their problems?

Use classroom discussions and your reflection papers about body imagery in black poetry as a model to frame your arguments. Essay must include one scholarly journal to bolster argument. If you wish you may consult our page titled Distinguishing Between Scholarly and Popular Publications.

Articles on the film "Rize"

• Use LexisNexis Academic if you wish to gather more ideas before forming a thesis or argument. LexisNexis Academic offers a powerful, full text search. Although the newspaper content is not scholarly, articles can sometimes be rich in observations. The screenshot below shows a suggestion for how to fill in the search interface to retrieve relevant hits:
  
  

  

More ideas...

• Rize film reviews from the database Academic Search Premier
• Articles from the database Academic Search Premier on the work of Rize director David LaChappelle
• Check Google Scholar; try unique keywords like "krumping"
• Check the International Film Archive database

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Books about the the African American experience in Los Angeles

• African Americans - California - Los Angeles - Social Conditions
• Los Angeles, California - Race Relations

Books about the experience of African Americans in society today

• African American Youth -- Social Conditions
• African American Men -- Social Conditions
• African American Women -- Social Conditions
• African Americans - Social Conditions - 1975 to the present
• African Americans - Social Life and Customs
• African American Men -- Conduct of Life
• African American Men -- Psychology
• African American Women -- Attitudes
• African American Women -- Race Identity

Sources about about dance as a reflection of environment

• African American Dance
• Hip Hop

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Cite your Sources

• Online citation guides
• MLA style manuals in paper copy at the library

If you use articles you obtained in full-text version directly from a library database, the citation protocol will be different than if you had found the article in paper copy in the library. 

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This SOURCEPACK is a service of Ellis Library