Eclectic Cabaret With A Hip-Hop Aesthetic

Halfway through the first-ever Harvard Cabaret, the lights went up. One by one, poets Eddie Bruce '02, Peter-Charles Bright '01 and Marco Garrido '00 rose in their seats, presenting their offerings for the evening. Like the invocations that kicked off the show, these offerings, varied in content, seemed symbolic in their delivery: the poets stood up to give something from their communities to the arts community. The Adams Pool Theater was packed; the audience flowed from seat to floor all the way to wherever standing room could be found at the back. Whatever was happening in this small, overheated space wasn't just limited to the stage. Few audiences could have been so responsive and the energy between stage and spectators seemed to build to the explosion of hip hop, freestyle, dance and love at the end, by which time boundaries between artists and audience were totally blown away and Adams officials had to disperse the crowd.

The Cabaret seemed to include almost everything, from two thousand year old Hindu dance to old-school breakdancing, but it never felt like a simple variety show. There seemed to be an understanding that this was no random display of talent. This is part of what we are, this is what we do, all seemed to say, from "hardcore jazz" trio Triple Threat (Jon Natchez '99, Adam Schneit '98 and Ben Herson) to dazzling drag queen MsBegotten (Sasha Badian '00).

Although organizers Alex Kellogg '00, James Wilson '00 and Franklin Leonard '00 are not planning a follow-up themselves, they see their Cabaret as part of a wave of experimental projects appearing this spring (including Troilus and Cressida this weekend and an upcoming showcase put together by Benjamin Novak '01) and are quick to point out that, while the Cabaret was unique, it is not the only collision of art forms to occur at Harvard, past or future. "The talent pool is just too deep for these things to have to stop for any good reason (save entryway tutors crying foul at 1 a.m.)," said Wilson. "Much of the Cabaret's charm came from a sense of being in an underground (literally) venue, of breezing between quick sets of eclectic material and of going without stopping...while the Cabaret was singular in its design and energy, it is also further proof that there is so much space-and if there is a space for it, it is filling a need-for all sorts of shows and, importantly, for all sorts of bridges between scenes on this campus."

Experimental rock improv band The Magic Number has been seen alongside other bands at various campus venues (including the Advocate, which sponsored the Cabaret along with the Signet Society, the Association of Black Harvard Women and the Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Supporters' Alliance), but created one of the most striking pieces of the evening in a unique performance with improvisational dancer Jessica Kaye '00 and poets Janel Moore '00 and Wilson. Improvisation was central to many performances, including breakdancers Tri Phuong '02 and Chhay Chhun '02, the sometimes bewildered and bewildering stand-up comic Anwar Floyd Pruitt '00 and a number of stand-out freestylers including Kellogg himself. Kellogg called the essence of the show "a hip hop aesthetic, which is fundamentally improvisational. It's a hip-hop aesthetic multiplied into three dimensions. This is actually the most positive thing I've done at Harvard. I think eclecticism has virtues I never realized and, with a little inspiration, can go a long way. All Harvard needs (and I think it has) is people thinking of off-the-wall shit to do, and this campus will truly be a better place, 'cause that's what it's all about, and you can quote me on that."