Audience Reviews

AUDIENCE REVIEW: Yiran Shu Shines in “The Sun Rising”, Directed by Sekou Heru, at MOPTOP’s 33rd Anniversary

Company:
MOPTOP Universal

Performance Date:
December 2, 2022

Freeform Review:

Ms. Yiran Shu delivered a standout featured performance in “The Sun Rising”, directed by Sekou Heru, at MOPTOP’s 33rd-anniversary celebration at KnJ Theater in New York City. In a program featuring works by six directors and performances by international dance teams, this piece left a particularly vivid impression. From her opening entrance to her featured freestyle in the cypher, Ms. Shu was a compelling focal point, bringing the intimacy, freedom, and collective energy of a House dance party onto the stage.

Director Sekou Heru is a respected House dance pioneer associated with MOPTOP and Dance Fusion NYC. He is featured in the documentary No Dancing Allowed, which explores New York’s street dance culture and the government policies that threatened its spaces. In 2024, he was among the speakers for a Works & Process documentary preview and discussion at the Guggenheim Museum. His connection to this history gives particular resonance to “The Sun Rising”, a work that brings the communal spirit of the House dance floor into the theater.

In less than six minutes, “The Sun Rising” seemed to carry us through an entire night at a club. Music, movement, and shifting light created an atmosphere that felt almost spiritual. For longtime House dancers, it could evoke the warmth of familiar dance floors; for newcomers, it offered an invitation into a world where strangers find connection through rhythm.

The scene began with dancers entering individually or in pairs, under lighting that suggested a bar. Ms. Shu entered first with her partner, greeting the arriving dancers as though welcoming old friends. These exchanges gave the scene an easy familiarity. As the music slipped in, the dancers began to groove, each responding in their own way.

Ms. Shu gradually moved into the inner circle at center stage. When the beat dropped, the dancers came together in synchronized partner sequences. Leading the inner circle, she helped drive the growing momentum. The dancers lowered toward the floor, then rose into a new formation, finding new partners along the way. The choreography captured the spontaneous exchanges of a House party while giving them a clear theatrical shape.

The cypher brought that spirit into sharp focus. A circle formed, creating space for individual dancers to step forward while those around them responded and encouraged. During a chorus, Ms. Shu took the center for a featured freestyle passage. Her dancing had a liberating quality: she seemed to swim through the music, allowing its energy to carry her movement. She held the center with assurance while remaining connected to the dancers surrounding her.

This was where her performance stood out most strongly. Ms. Shu’s solo became a point of exchange, drawing energy from the circle and sending it back with greater intensity. As the surrounding dancers responded, the whole stage seemed to lift. Changes in the lighting amplified that shift, while her presence gave us a clear human focus within it. She embodied the piece’s sense of individual freedom sustained by community.

In the final image, Ms. Shu and the ensemble gathered at center stage, leaning into one another and reaching upward. After all the movement and changing formations, this shared gesture felt beautifully simple. It left the impression of people supporting one another while reaching toward something beyond themselves.

What stayed with me was Ms. Shu’s ability to command attention while deepening the connection among the dancers. Her featured performance helped make “The Sun Rising” feel like a living encounter, a brief return to the dance floor, where music becomes a shared language and the distance between people begins to disappear.