http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/19/arts/dance/lil-buck-and-jon-boogz-wearing-paint-as-they-tell-a-tale.html 2016-09-18 22:46:39 Lil Buck and Jon Boogz, Wearing Paint as They Tell a Tale Movement artists are rendered into two-dimensional beings by Alexa Meade as they send a message about social justice in the video “Color of Reality.” === It might seem all-too obvious. Two young black men sit on a sofa watching the awful news of recent events — police shootings, the Orlando massacre — before venturing outside, where they are ignored, shunned and eventually shot. But in the lushly hypnotic video “ Just as dance needs to be taken more seriously, the merging of dance and film needs an upgrade. “It doesn’t have to just be setting up a tripod and dancing to the hottest new song that just came out to try to go viral,” said Jon Boogz, who directed and conceived the video. It’s about having something to say. “Color of Reality” So far, the video has more than 72,000 views on YouTube. And in Los Angeles, it has a more public presence: Throughout this month, its trailer is shown at the top of each hour on a StandardVision screen at the J W Marriott at 901 West Olympic Boulevard. For Boogz and Buck, both 28, it’s not just a one-off. They have formed Movement Art Is, a nonprofit organization in which dance will be used to inspire positive change and empower dancers to stretch themselves artistically. There will be, in other words, more videos. What follows are edited excerpts from a recent discussion about their characters in the video, the power of dance and what it’s like to perform while covered in paint. (It’s tighter than a unitard.) How did the story come to you? BOOGZ What was it like to dance with the paint? BUCK BOOGZ What happens when you leave your painted world? BOOGZ BUCK And therefore they don’t appreciate art. Where does dance fit in? BOOGZ And I’m not coming from an ego perspective; it’s more of a perspective of artistic equality. BUCK Why did you want to end the video with death? BOOGZ These are really tough issues to talk about, but when you use movement people receive it better. It provokes dialogue. Art is for everybody. It’s universal. It doesn’t matter what religion you are, what color you are. Art is art.