The Ruggeds and Ghetto Funk Collective present Groove, which takes over the Queen Elizabeth Hall at Southbank Centre for three nights.
It’s a showcase for the combined group of dancer-musicians to strut their stuff to funky beats. Influenced by Nina Simone, Herbie Hancock, James Brown, and other artists of times past, the collective prove themselves skilled dancers from the off.
The Ruggeds are award-winning breakdancers, but they can also groove slow and serious; Ghetto Funk has its roots in street dancing, as founders Ruben Chi and Roché Apinsa demonstrate.
There’s a sense of challenge and community between the group, and a section that invites the audience to their feet causes ripples through the room. We can join in the simple stuff, but otherwise we are here to cheer on the moments of competition, improvisation, emotion, and even a sampling demonstration.
The cast – Lucinda ‘Lucylove’ Wessels, Rico ‘Griimsen’ Coker, Sammy Huijts, Virgil ‘Skychief’ Dey, Roché Apinsa, Alexander ‘Shield Beats’ Henriksen, Jessy ‘FORTBEIGE’ Kemper, Ruben ‘Chi’ Verhoeven – are multidisciplinary artists who know how to bring funk and hip-hop into the 21st century.
Their sense of fun is quickly soaked up by the crowd, who cheer, clap, and lean into the beats. If you remember street acts like the Rock Steady Crew or music with deep baselines, sax interludes, or pulsing drum beats, Groove is a show you’ll want to see.
A routine with umbrellas led by Roché suggests a link back to the routines of golden age Hollywood movies, while ‘Lucylove’ offers her DJ skills as well as a grace and power in her movement.
At just short of 90 minutes, this is a night that is part dance-music fusion, part cultural celebration, part nostalgia. Sammy Huijts – aka Sammy Iason – gets his guitar solo, and Shield Beats’s drum solo at the show’s finale becomes a riotous party trick for the whole group to join in.
The evening, choreographed by Chi, is beautifully shaped with the wild and pulsing beats teamed with more restrained routines, and even a moment of rest as Shield Beats and keyboardist FORTBEIGE chat about their musical influences and turn them into new beats.
It’s a very relaxed show, with the cast rarely leaving the stage and sitting watching when it isn’t their turn to shine. It all feels spontaneous, stylish, and full of street cred. Add the lighting designed by Ido Koppenaal, and you have something special.
With Rico ‘Griimsen’ Coker as the lively MC, Groove celebrates both groups as they come together to create a show that offers just a little sprinkle of magic – with the help of a huge disco ball. If you “Get On Up”, this show could “Put A Spell on You”.
I’m giving this four stars.
Groove continues at the Southbank Centre until 6 Jun – details here.
Photo credit: Emile Vrolijk