Organized by the Tahoe Arts Project, TRIBE-olution, a Seattle-based collaboration of acclaimed break dancers, Capoeiristas, African dancers, and musicians, will bring their dance theatre show “Parallels in Motion: From the Village to the Streets” to South Lake Tahoe’s MontBleu Theatre. With elements of dance, martial arts, and music, the performance will explore cross-cultural connections from Africa, to Brazil, to the inner cities of the U.S. where hip hop was born. Hosted by international DJ/MC/b-boy Justin Murta, the hourlong performance will occur on Sept.25 starting at 7 p.m., followed by a “Meet & Greet” session with the performers. This will be TRIBE-olution’s premiere of the show near California, sponsored by Tahoe Arts Project and MontBleu Theatre.
“Parallels in Motion” explores the roots of hip hop dance in traditional cultural performing arts in a series of dance scenes set in different locations in the U.S., Africa, and Brazil with flash-backs and flash-forward transitions between scenes. DJ mixes and live music propel the dancers through free-style movements and choreography developed by the ensemble and Terrance Guillermo, a co-founder of world champion b-boy crew Massive Monkees.
TRIBE-olution features b-boys Jsqwerl of Massive Monkees and Blazii and Sammy of Dogg Pound; Professor Fabricio and Coty Valdez of Fabrico Capoeira and Capoeira Malês; traditional cultural dancers and drummers Dora Oliveira (Brazil), Manimou Camara (Guinea), and Awal Alhassan (Ghana); and members of the award-winning hip hop soul band Global Heat including Justin Murta and vocalist/bassist/drummer Marvin Shields Jr.
TRIBE-olution’s show has been in preparation for almost a year, building on a “Roots of Hip-Hop” show staged at Seattle’s Intiman Playhouse in 2012 and “Parallels in Motion” which was a featured event at the 2015 Northwest Folklife Festival. TRIBE-olution’s director, Rob Pastorok, is a keyboardist, producer, owner of Deep Well Studio, and the recipient of a 2014 Artists Trust award and funding from 4Culture, Global Artists Collective, and others.