Quinesha dunford biography of alberta

Tommy Johnson tells us that being a clown saved his life.

He was a “big-time” drug dealer in Los Angeles. He went to jail. These facts are recounted early in “Rize,” David LaChapelle’s rousing, moving documentary about a whole different kind of gang activity taking hold in Los Angeles’ poorer neighborhoods.

Johnson’s assessment of his business acumen might be a bit of biography inflation.

Quinesha dunford biography of alberta

What we do learn from “Rize” is that being a clown didn’t just give Johnson purpose. For a number of years, clown dancing – along with its even more furious wild child, krump dancing – has transformed the lives of some of L.A.’s most vulnerable residents.

After the 1992 riots, sparked by what is often erroneously called the Rodney King verdicts (after all, King wasn’t on trial – police officers were), Johnson started appearing at barbecues and birthday parties as a rainbow-wigged, gigantic-shoe-sporting