Where can you find angry grizzlies devouring lumberjacks, B-boys dancing on their hands, and rambunctious students dressed like geeks and gods? When the moon is full in Kansas City, you might find all of these things in the Crossroads district.

On Friday, February 2nd, 2007, the Urban Culture Project (UCP) held the inaugural event of its newest art gallery, la Esquina. The UCP has turned several of downtown Kansas City's dilapidated eyesores into modernist art venues, and has received national praise for its innovative practices.

The inaugural event for the la Esquina gallery was a multimedia performance piece entitled Whoop Dee Doo.

Each performance of Whoop Dee Doo is filmed and edited in order to create individual episodes. Organizers Jaimie Warren, Jori Sackin, Matt Roche, and Chloe Schempf will eventually turn the episodes into pilots for a public access television show. The variety show is modeled after Chic-A-Go-Go, a Chicago-based public access program that first aired in 1996.

Friday's performance followed the students of Whoop Dee Doo Academy through their average school day, from economics class to physics, history, and so forth. However, there was nothing typical about the teachers or the students of Whoop Dee Doo Academy.

Laura Frank, who played the brash, Twizzler-chomping character Twizz Moody, led the audience through class periods in which students learned valuable academic and life lessons.

In one scene, written and orchestrated by Kansas City Art Institute student Julie Potratz, the students learned an important lesson about personal hygiene. The teacher, an elderly gray-haired woman, emerged with a storybook that was supposed to inspire the children to take proper care of their bodies.

But a simple story would never do at Whoop Dee Doo Academy. Soon, an innocent girl who had not followed the rules of good hygiene emerged from a set made to look like a pristine pine forest. As the girl walked along licking a raw T-bone steak and admiring nature's beauty, she was suddenly attacked by a ravenous grizzly.

Three lumberjacks emerged, fully-bearded and with axes in hand, as the grizzly attack took place. A backwoods version of "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees began to play, and the lumberjacks engaged in a choreographed dance as limbs flew wildly and the poor girl was devoured.

In another scene, Hedwig (of Hedwig and the Angry Inch) made a guest appearance to teach the students about history. Once again, there were no textbooks or dry lectures involved. Instead, Hedwig sang a beautiful rendition of "Origin of Love," a philosophical glam-rock tune that explores the joys and agonies that people often experience when searching for their other halves.

Between the classroom scenes featuring the Whoop Dee Doo students, several guest appearances were made by local performance artists.

A group of Kansas City B-boys entertained the audience with their break-dancing skills. The sound system churned a '70s soul groove as the B-boys put on a head-spinning display of the hip-hop art form that originated in the South Bronx.

The Midwest Cloggers also made an appearance. Dressed in Western apparel and moving rigidly with their hands folded behind their backs, the Midwest Cloggers' routine created stark contrast with the B-boys', which followed them.

Altogether, the show was a success. Despite problems with the sound system and certain audience members who ignored the performers' pleas to "quiet down," the Whoop Dee Doo gang managed to put together a fun and entertaining live show.

Friday's opening at la Esquina marked the second public showcasing of Whoop Dee Doo, and other performances are scheduled for the future, including another at la Esquina during the next First Friday art exhibition on March 2nd, 2007. That show is scheduled to begin at 7pm.

For more on the Urban Culture Project, visit: www.urbancultureproject.org/. For more on First Fridays, see our story in this issue.

Copyright 2007 Metropolitan Community College