"Mangere Mall is a celebration of waacking, a style of street dance that originates from Black and Latino gay nightclubs of 1970s Los Angeles. The dance references I’ve made above are decidedly white, and Mangere Mall is a place not commonly associated with whiteness. Nor is it here, in the video art of Rebecca Ann Hobbs.
Framed by the arched canopies of the Mangere Town Centre, its columns painted with motifs of palm trees, the VOGUE dance crew strut, pout and pose to the syncopated rhythms of the soundtrack. The camera jumps and cuts, like an arm out of waack. For those not in the know: ‘…a basic 'waack' is a movement of the arm, but waacking developed to consist of arm movements, footwork (which can take inspiration from jazz, house, tap etc.) and elements of drama, all of which are largely unique to the individual dancer."
Māngere Mall (2011)
Other works in this series
Rebecca Ann Hobbs
Otara at Night (2011)
From a series of video works shot in South Auckland spaces, influenced by dance.
Related essay
Let’s Get Physical: Looking at the Work of Rebecca Ann Hobbs
Let’s Get Physical: Looking at the Work of Rebecca Ann Hobbs
Essay
"We can dance if we want to, we can leave your friends behind, cause your friends don’t dance, and if they don’t dance, well they’re no friends of mine." So said Men Without Hats and so says Megan Dunn as she looks at the work of Rebecca Ann Hobbs, now showing at The Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt.