Ali Shabazz: Film Follows Dance in History’s Footsteps

After 21 years as a professional dancer and choreographer, Ali Shabazz decided to expand his range of expression to filmmaking when, in 2005, he entered the Digital Media Arts program at California State University, Dominguez Hills. Now, two years later, he has successfully combined the two art forms into an award-winning documentary.

As a member of the early 1990s’ hip hop and freestyle dance trio The Soul Brothers, Shabazz helped create dance history alongside performers such as Jeffrey Daniel, Poppin’ Pete, and Boogaloo Shrimp. A desire to tell the story of the roots of freestyle dance led him and a cadre of accomplished dancers, deejays and filmmakers to produce “Respond to Sound II”, which placed at the Urbanworld VIBE Film Festival in New York this past June.

A sequel to “Respond to Sound” by dancer and filmmaker Adrian Younge —
who served as executive producer for this film — “Respond to Sound II”
placed second at the Urbanworld festival. Shabazz says he is looking
forward to the film being screened at more festivals. He credits the
demand for “Respond to Sound II” as proof that it is “a story that needed to be told.”

“So many people like dance, but they never get into the stories,” he says. “Many good things came out of the New York film festival. Even though we didn’t win, a lot of positive feedback came from it. From that, we’re going to film festivals in Rotterdam, Chicago and the Pan-African Film Festival.”

Shabazz, who has danced for Nelson Mandela and choreographed videos for Michael Jackson, was first drawn to filmmaking through his work as a dancer.

“I wrote the script for my very first video,” says the man known throughout the dance world simply as “Legendary.” “The guys who edited it started letting me play with the buttons. From then on, I started playing with two VCRs and a tape deck and made short films at home.”

For “Respond to Sound II,” Shabazz was able to cull rare 8 mm footage
dating back to the 1920s. The documentary focuses on the evolution of
freestyle dance from the 1760s to the 1960s. In researching the film’s
footage he was intrigued by the connections between hip hop freestyle
performers and dancers who came before, such as Sammy Davis, Sr., the
Nicholas Brothers and Baby Laurence.

“Bands used to watch the rhythms of dancers and come up with bebop, out of sounds that made it work together,” he says. “Dance makes the music and music makes the dance, they work hand-in-hand.”

Working hand-in-hand is also part of Shabazz’s education. As a director and editor in the Dominguez Hills Distance Learning department in the College of Extended Education (CEE), he has been able to look to experts on campus for professional guidance beyond the classroom.

“People like Mario (Congreve, staff producer, CEE Mediated Instruction & Distance Learning) and Bernie (Clinch, coordinator of video production, CEE Mediated Instruction & Distance Learning) make you feel the way college is supposed to make you feel,” he says. “They check over my work and would tell me to change this or try that. They want to see me succeed.”

- Joanie Harmon