Step Up 3D is awesome. Whew, I said it. More on that in a minute.
After many hours spent watching, writing and transcribing, this post caps off a heap of stories on all things dance/The LXD. After a story on Hulu’s new dance show for Mashable, and interviews with choreographers Harry Shum Jr. and Chris Scott, here is a quick take on the film with some amazing quotes from director Jon M. Chu below.
Step Up 3D is a ton of fun, riffing just enough on the “dance genre” to deliver something a little bit new. To be fair, calling this latest iteration a “film” is a bit of a stretch. There is a handsome lead who is moody but kind-hearted and a quirky cast of well-meaning street urchins and… You get it.
Realistically, you’re not seeing this movie for the plot or the character development (Adam Sevani is — of course — a stand-out). Dance-wise, the film delivers in unexpected ways. The huge set-pieces, a series of super-important dance battles, are epic but feel sucked of life: for the most part they feel over-produced and over-tricked. The more natural moments are the film’s strength. A brief capoeira training session, and the pre-requisite dance montage are all phenomenal. Actually. These loose moments allow the dancers to improv and joy in their own movement. The movie is appropriately best when the actors dancers just dance and forget about the film. Keep an eye on Twitch, Sharni Vinson and Daniel Campos.
The use of 3D still has a lot of potential and aside from some bizarre moments (things flying at the camera!) the dance does actually benefit for having it. Chu and crew prevail against a stifling film structure to deliver something special, unexpectedly and thankfully so.
LXD Interview: Jon M. Chu
Q: How is technology playing into dance?
Chu: Its cool to have friends in both worlds because the two are so interiwtned now and they’re only getting closer and closer. The promise of technology has always been, like, an emotional human connection. This is going to change the way humans interact. Final we’ve gotten past the technology to the point where now it is emotional… It’s happening in the arts as well.
There was a whole culture happening online because of YouTube, becaue of all the other sites, that the conversation of dance was happening globally. [The LXD] just kind of combined all my worlds and I was like, “Oh my gosh, I kind of get this. I kind of get where it should be going and whether it gets there or not, I have no idea but I think there’s an opportunity to play with it and I think it’s fascinating.”
Q: How does that mentality play into your dancers?
Chu: The reason I think our breakers are really good is because they have already mastered the technical part of their dance… it’s very technical stuff but it’s not emotional. When you get passed that then it becomes the art.
It’s once they don’t have to think about the head spin is when it becomes a part of their expression.
Q: I heard filming The LXD was a little run-and-gun, what was it like?
Chu: [For some episodes] they would stream [rehearsal] on Ustream on their iPhone and I would be on set [of Step Up 3D] and I could watch it and we didn’t need a company to come in and do that for us, it was all accessible. I was, like, a location scout with them ’cause I’d say like, “Oh, turn to the left” because I was going to be shooting when I got back, the first day I got back, so they’d show me and then I’d be able to to come in and just [film] it.
Q: Why are the episodes so short?
Chu: Our whole idea was to make edible pieces; things that you could watch and, whether you wanted to follow the story or just wanted to see the dance, you would give it to your friend to watch… We don’t know where its going to end up, we don’t know what our medium will be. But we’re going to throw some rocks in the pool and see.
On the spirit and energy of his films and film-making:
Chu: I don’t make movies to sit in a dark room and say, “Oh my gosh, this is brilliant” and then walk away from it. I make it because I like to see people’s reactions, whether it’s good or bad. I mean, Step Up 2 has like a 23[%] on Rotten Tomatoes, but I still love that movie.
Q: How do you see The LXD and the growth of your crew?
Chu: For me, watching our dancers dance together like at So You Think You Can Dance or at the Oscars is a very different experience for me than for probably any other viewer out there because I know every single one of them intimately.
I know how we started, I know us like fighting for, to get shoes or costumes for a show. So for me, it’s really emotional to watch that…
And I want to try and create that emotional connection with the audience and the only way I felt like, if the audience only knew each of those guys and their personalities they would enjoy this 20 times more. So that was the concept of, even the first season, like, “I want you to meet every single person you see.”
Q: What’s been the impact of the show on you?
Chu: I think it’s opening up opportunities for the dancers themselves ’cause they’re usually not the people who are in Britney spears videos or anything because they’re so unique. Usually [casting directors] want the same kind of dancers doing the same choreography; these guys are all freestyler dancers. Granted we have some really great choreography dancers too but for the most part we wanted to find the freaks and show them off and say, “This is art. This is poetry.”
When a guy can dance just with his fingers it’s something beautiful… and when you hear the story about why he does, it’s awesome.
