J.U.i.C.E’s “4th Annual Hip Hop Festival” September 30, 2011

Award-winning, nonprofit community dance collective, J.U.i.C.E. (Justice United in Creative Energy) is proud to present the “4th Annual Hip Hop Festival” on September 30, 2011 at the Ford Amphitheatre at 8:30pm. The all ages show will bring together the top street dance and B-Boy crews from around the world to showcase their amazing talents and share their vision of the night’s theme: world peace.

Joining the festivities are Antics Performance, Baby Boogaloo, Demolition Crew/Spread Expression, Lux Aeterna, Machine Gone Funk, Buddha Stretch, Illstyle, Peace Production (Philadelphia, PA), ShyGuy & Tsuyoshi featuring Kiminari & Kairi from Hiroshima Japan, and Versa-Style Dance Company West Bound. The evening will also feature the lyrical talents of Toquon (Soul Elevation) and Scatterbrain. Special guests include Los Angeles artist, SANO, and Japanese artist, Shiro, who will each create original paintings to the funk, classic, break, and hip-hop tunes spun by DJ Kenzo. D. Sabela Grimes will be hosting the festival. Amy “B-girl CatFox” Campion, Jacob Kujo Lyons, and Emiko Sugiyama are the Artistic Directors of this year’s exciting new production.

A special component inspired by the story of Sadako Sasaki has been added to this year’s show. Sasaki is the young Japanese girl who died from radiation exposure after the drop of the atomic bomb near her home in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.* A old Japanese saying has become closely associated with Sasaki. The saying states anyone who folds one thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by a crane.

Audience members will be asked to create their own origami crane to symbolize a unified call for world peace. Volunteers from the J.U.i.C.E. organization will be on-hand before the show and during intermission to teach guests how to fold their own figures. With an expected crowd of over 1200 people in attendance, J.U.i.C.E. hopes to produce over one thousand pieces. Featured duo from Japan, Kairi & Kiminari, will return to Hiroshima to personally deliver the cranes to the Children’s Peace Monument.

The idea of creating the cranes stemmed from Emiko Sugiyama’s (producer/dancer/choreographer) recent visit to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum shortly before the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Sugiyama was deeply moved after reading the inscription on the plaque at the foot of the Sasaki statue in Hiroshima Peace Park that reads: “This is our cry. This is our prayer. Peace on Earth.” Sugiyama describes, “Sasaki is a symbol for world peace. Along with thousands around the world, we carry on her legacy. We decided to incorporate the making of origami cranes into a hip hop program because as a culture, hip hop has the power to bring people together in spreading a unified message of peace through creative self-expression. For our thousand cranes, we wish for world peace.”

For over a decade, J.U.i.C.E. has promoted peace through the arts. Its acronym, Justice United in Creative Energy, has reflected the group’s dedication to bridging communities in Los Angeles. Its successful no-cost after school program has served as a model for other community arts programs. It has proven over the years that their innovative curriculum has the ability to heal lives and transform communities by offering emerging dancers, performers, and visual artists the technical skills to help them develop their self-confidence and create meaningful relationships with mentors. The “4th Annual Hip Hop Festival” is a celebration of the group’s hard work throughout the year.

*In the non-fiction book, Sasaki and the Thousand Paper Cranes (1977), American author, Eleanor Coeer wrote that Sasaki was inspired to fold one thousand origami cranes while in the hospital after hearing of an old Japanese saying where one is granted a wish in exchange for one thousand of the intricately folded paper cranes. Sasaki was only able to complete 644 cranes before her death. Friends are said to have completed the remaining cranes and buried them in Sasaki’s grave to fulfill her wish. It has become customary for the thousands of visitors to the Hiroshima Peace Park to place origami cranes near the Sasaki statue during the annual Obon Festival.
Be sure to join J.U.i.C.E. on September 30 at 8:30pm for the “4th Annual Hip Hop Festival” at the Ford Amphitheatre.

Tickets are priced at $25 for adults, and $12 for full-time students with ID and children 12 and under. Tickets are available at www.FordTheatres.org or 323 461-3673 (for non-visual media 323 GO 1- FORD). Purchase by September 23 and pay only $20. Group discounts are available at 10% for 8-15 tickets, and 20% for 16+ tickets.

For more information on the J.U.i.C.E. organization, please visit http://www.rampartjuice.com.

Official Website: http://fordtheatres.org/en/events/details/id/220