Krumping- Documentary gives 'Rize' to new L.A. dance craze

LOS ANGELES -- Dancers in a new documentary have a lot to say about an inner-city craze called krumping that's transformed their lives, but when asked to describe how it's done, they get tongue-tied.

They call it clowning, stripper dancing, ghetto ballet -- a form of therapy to help them cope with the struggles of growing up in crime-ridden South Los Angeles. But words aren't enough to capture the anguish and exuberance displayed with every rapid bounce or fist punched in the air.

While still mostly unknown beyond the L.A. neighborhoods of Compton, Inglewood, Watts and Long Beach, dancers hope that krumping will become more familiar with the release of ''Rize.'' The documentary by photographer and music video director David LaChapelle explores the phenomenon started by Thomas Johnson, a former drug dealer who turned to religion and clown dancing after the 1992 Rodney King riots.

Nicknamed Tommy the Clown, Johnson would wear clown makeup and a rainbow Afro wig to entertain at children's parties. As part of his act, he would dance a style often seen in hip-hop music videos that blended his spontaneous, goofy version of strip dancing. As demands for his service grew, Johnson hired and trained a group of children to clown dance, too.

''It was fun, and it turned out to be something bigger than what I thought it would be,'' recalled Larry Berry, 21, who started working with Johnson when he was 12. Berry and others who are featured in ''Rize'' say that Johnson's dancing provided an escape from their troubled homes and saved them from the potential pitfalls of growing up in the 'hood, where there were few options beyond playing sports or joining gangs.

LaChapelle discovered the dancers in 2002 while filming a music video for Christina Aguilera's hit song ''Dirrty.'' Brought in as extras, they struck up a spontaneous krump session in a waiting area.

''I was awestruck when I saw it first,'' LaChapelle said. ''I felt I had to do a documentary. I want people who watch the film to feel what I felt when being in a krump session, which is completely inspired.''

''Rize'' is LaChapelle's affectionate portrait of a crew of youngsters who, despite their hardscrabble circumstances, emerge as talented artists determined to shape their own destinies.

''This dance is therapy -- it allows you to free yourself,'' said Marquisa Gardner, 23, known as Ms. Prissy and the First Lady of Krump.

AP