Back in the day, Marc Lemberger spun circles around the competition—and he often did so on one hand. As a legendary b-boy of the Bronx-based Rock Steady Crew, Lemberger (aka Mr. Freeze) has forged a legacy with his fleet-footed moves.
“When I started in 1970, we would hear these crazy beats being played, and we would do things that were not normal, almost to the point where it was like someone speaking in tongues,” says Freeze, who moved to Las Vegas in 1984. “That's what would happen to us when we heard these breaks. And that's how the dance started and got developed.”
Freeze’s crew helped amplify breaking culture in the 1983 classic film Flashdance and with their appearance in the 1982 New York City Rap Tour, the first international hip-hop tour featuring Afrika Bambaataa and GrandMixer DXT.
Those milestones and more sit on display at What We're Going to Do Is Go Back: 40 Years of Hip-hop History, an Arts Factory exhibit curated by local photographer Shannon Dorn.
“It's important to keep the history alive, especially when it comes to Vegas culture, and because Mr. Freeze has been here since the ’80s, I feel like he's part of that culture,” says Dorn, who also created the Las Vegas hip-hop documentary 702 Unstripped. “This has been really fun seeing him before I knew him and seeing where it all kind of came from.”
The showcase features Freeze’s personal collection of b-boy photos, taken by numerous photographers over the years. The exhibition idea came after a man named Philippe Julles Ardouin reached out to Freeze over Facebook, claiming to have photos of the dancer.
“When he was interviewed at a gallery in Paris, they asked him the question, ‘How long have you been a photographer?’ He said, ‘I'm not a photographer. I was walking the streets. I saw a circle. I heard music and everyone was watching this young man. We didn't know at the time what it was, so I just started taking pictures. I'm a man that had a camera and captured a moment in time,’” Freeze says.
The photos depict Freeze during his most formative years. In one shot, he sports a sideways ball cap as he street performs by the Fontaine des Innocents in Paris. In another, the dancer busts a move with Flashdance star Jennifer Beals watching in the background.
“It’s like looking at another person,” Freeze says, staring at the black and white photos.
Freeze and Dorn will close out the exhibition with an all-out party on April 30, complete with a DJ, a black light room full of retro graffiti and spray paint artwork from Futura 2000.
Closing Reception
April 30, 6 p.m. - 10 p.m. The Arts Factory, 107 E. Charleston Blvd. #115.
