On the 3rd Saturday of every month Tommy the Clown and Debbie Allen have a "Battle" that hundreds of L.A. kids join. It is a Clowning Krumping dance war of the creative kind, organized by 2 dedicated adults who love dance, love kids and understand the power of expression through dance.

The location is the Debbie Allen Dance Academy in Culver City and the stage is a quasi-boxing ring set up in a huge studio. 500 chairs and standing-room-only space is filled to capacity by the time the show starts... and what a show it is!

Tommy the Clown serves as the Master of Ceremonies and referee with a whistle. Larry the Clown is the DJ who supplies a powerful mix of music, Ani Dizon, Tommy's manager, coordinates the whole event and process. Lil Tommy, Tommy's brother, is there to help when he is not traveling the world performing Clown and Krump Dance with his crew, and he teaches Clowning classes at D.A.D.A., too.

On stage, two girl to girl or boy to boy dancers challenge each other in a series of rounds. One opponent sits while the other performs.

Individual dancers "call each other out" as well as the members of a crew but it's always one performer at a time. Dancers have been as young as 4 with no limit on the high end. Everyone, even Grandparent's, are welcome to battle onstage but teenagers are in the majority.

The audience is made up of kids, parents, grandparents and friends. The challenging dance crew changes every month, unless there is a rematch, and goes up against the current winning crew who holds onto the gold embellished championship belt until it passes to the next winner. There are cash prizes as well. The audience votes by applause at the end of each battle. Battle scores are tallied to determine the winning crew.

Sometimes it's clear who has won and sometimes they have to rely on an applause meter to determine the winner. It's a tough call because all the dancers are brilliant at freestyle....that's what it's all about.

About Krump

"Clowning" is movement invented by Tommy the Clown who developed the strange, stilted, goofy and erratic motion to entertain audiences as a clown at parties and local events around Los Angeles from as far back as 1992. Needless to say, it caught on in a big way.

Street dance has an evolutionary life of its own and it's very nature demands constant adaptation and change. What was once "Clowning" evolved to "Krump Dance" or Krumping. As Tommy put it, "Krumping is the dark side of Clowning". In homage to the clown, some dancers paint designs on half their face.

The first time I saw "Clowning/Krumping" was five years ago. Over time, it has spread to other cities in the US, Europe and Asia. "Rize", a documentary by David Lachappelle, permanently writes "Clowning" and "Krumping" into the pop history record. It will read that this dance was born in South Central Los Angeles beginning in the last decade of the century and was performed by inner city kids who, as the third generation who's offered hip hop, were hungry for something new. They made it happen.

Krump Described

Krumping incorporates extreme, almost impossible freestyle body motion, coordination and rhythm. Basics include chest popping, a Charlie Chaplin-esque, comic, stumbling, staccato stride and toe dance, feet that turn out, feet that turn in, arms that go wide in a ranting wave, the body jerking up and down, prancing, the torso bent from the waist that circles around the hips 360 degrees, raised arms that wrap over and around the body, the neck and head jutting forward, the mouth chattering as if in a real or silent monologue. The dance is frenzied and rapid, displaying a set of attitudes running the gamut from hostile to aggressive to seductive to comical and back again. Girls can be as good as the guys but there are fewer who compete. Their attitude can include more sexual, bump and grind elements with a flamboyant, exaggerated edge or they can have an attitude that is hard and aggressive, just like their male counterparts.

Krumping is not hip hop, though it uses the music and springs from the same mold. For now, it seems to stand alone as a pure urban expression.

It isn't pretty and it offers no apology because it tells a vivid story about being young in a hostile and dangerous world run amok. The dancer can shift from malevolent character to clown in a flash like what comes at you as you surf channels on a TV. Click, click. Life turns on a dime at the push of a button in today's world. We see the reflection in Krumping.

Debbie Allen and Tommy the Clown do Los Angeles a great service by providing and supporting the monthly "Battles". It is true that kids who would otherwise be involved with gangs or get into other trouble are given a creative alternative. But it is also true that these kids are already gifted, articulate about their medium and highly motivated to achieve excellence.

In exchange for the chance to perform, the "Clowns and Krumpers" offer everyone who cares about dance or the creation of dance form or the poetry of rap, or the embodied voice of our American culture a chance to witness art in the making.

Some Krumping Crews

• Millennium Krump Time (Long Beach) -Current Champions- June 2005
• Spin Globe (Moreno Valley)
• 2 Tru
• Rice Track
• The Firm

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