BIG PICTURE: "Dancing, Through Life"*****************************************
1h 26m / PG-13 / Documentary, Dance
VENUE: Historic Duncan Auditorium
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In South Central Los Angeles in the early ‘90s, Thomas Johnson was trying to change his life. He had just spent five years in jail and was looking for a new path. Always outgoing and entertaining, he was asked to perform as a birthday clown at a kid’s party — and from there, he used his Tommy the Clown persona to encourage kids in his community to dance and be expressive instead of joining gangs, doing drugs and getting hurt. He called his optimistic new dance movement “clowning,” and from clowning evolved krumping, a frenetic and highly athletic form of dance that replaces the clown aesthetic with regular street fashion. Rize, directed by photographer and music video director David LaChapelle, documents clowning and krumping through the eyes of the people performing and developing it in real time in the real neighborhoods of Los Angeles — including Lil’ C, who has been a judge and choreographer on the popular reality competition show So You Think You Can Dance.
Tommy the Clown makes an appearance in last year’s music video for Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us. You may have heard of it. He’s still out there doing what clowns have done for centuries: dancing, performing, making people smile, and expressing something true that cannot be expressed by any other means.
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Discover this new series and the full Big Picture schedule at https://tampatheatre.org/movie-categories/big-picture-april-2025/
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This screening is held in the Historic Duncan Auditorium. This space utilizes open seating for this event, seat selection is not required.
Event Venue
Tampa Theatre, 711 N Franklin St,Tampa, Florida, United States
Tickets
