scribbled/scrabbled note on dance on the fly

FROM February 25, 2005

More DeVyne Stephens than Darrin's dance grooves: the man who gave us Usher's angled body verbology in "Yeah" gets the Cowboyz'n'Poodles award for best choreography in an R&B video for Tyra's "Country Boy"; for one, it's a feat for pop dancers to pull off interpretive moves that correspond to lyrics without seeming like the Colorado State University Half-time Cheer Squad (no dis to them specifically, but it's the difference bt large-format audiences and a confined space--moves that cross over end up looking corny, and not the good corny). DeVyne is an intelligent choreographer who balances his pops and flow, employs the full spectrum of body motion and is not scurred of breaking back-up-dancer formation. And he implies hotness, like a seductive flash of a well turned ankle, not all beyonce flesh'n'cleave sexual simulacra in yr face that gets the airplay—a little hip here and cut-my-hat-with-the-hand, seven and eight, and I'm out. He respects his dancers as people, not the art-canvas of body-forms. And I respect that.

see you at public enemy weekend?