/ GRADUATION GUIDE / THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2011 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
Wide range of options available for new graduates
BY CLAIRE MCINERNY editor@kansan.com
As some seniors are preparing for jobs and planning their lives after school,some students are experiencing a different scenario the end of collegeonic
er. One opportunity that enables students to make that happen is through Teach for America. Teach For America is a program that allows recent college graduates to teach in public schools in low-income communities. The assignment lasts for two years.
a way to prolong having to find a job, but rather look at it as a way to find new opportunities and new ways for students to use their passions. She said a lot of politicians who now work in Congress were in the program and are now fighting for education rights.
Four vea
degre
knc
Wiechman spent his two years in Saint Lucia doing community development. He helped a farmers' cooperative develop a grant proposal to get funding for a composting project from the United Nations and also taught reading and music at a school.
The Peace Corps was an attract- ion for Wiench because
WEDNESDAY, JULY 20, 2011
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FOUR-PART SERIES
The Dancer
BY CALVIN MCCONNELL editor@kansan.com
Student plants her own hip-hop roots in small town
Last week
In-depth writer Calvin McConnell profiled Brian O'Brien, a local poet. The article examines the inspiration for other art forms that is found in hip-hop. Catch up with the series online at Kansan.com.
This week
Chelsea Ybarra's feet slide across the Robinson Dance Studio floor, her limbs are flowing and her step is in-sync — she's hip-hop and she's "on" tonight. Her skin is painted green as she performs an interpretative dance to Kid Cudi's "Embrace the Martian," living a dream that's literally and conceptually far from her hometown of Ulyssess, Kan.
he small southwestern Kansas
town of Ulyssess wasn't the most cultivating community for artistic pursuits when Chelsea Ybarra, junior in American Studies, was a young, aspiring dancer. The town cherishes its traditional sports—football and basketball to be specific—and Ybarra's game of movement, performance and rhythm was outside the conventional dimensions. So, with few resources and little support, except that from her
about the good things." Paula said. "People really only will bring it up if there's something bad." Ybarra and the team kept dancing. In the summer of 2004, when the group was just getting on its feet, the team attended a National Dance Alliance Camp to take their shot at gaining recognition from a crowd that was offering, unlike in Ulysses. The girls took gold in the Team Dance Competition. The honor awarded them with the chance to perform in the January 2005 Orange Bowl. It was a serious opportunity. The girls from Ulysse danced in
the top lyrical hip hop choreographers and affectionately called in the entertainment industry "Nappytabs"—have held workshops. Lyrical hip hop dance is characterized by gliding and fluid movements, isolations of the body and a slower tempo. Each dance is a narrative told by the dancer and the performance is often emotional. Ybarra said dancing to lyrical hip hop takes her outside herself and that is the style's main attraction. "Whenever everything is going wrong, you can always turn to this. You get up and you move, and noth-
Step Show, KU's Best Dance Crew and at numerous venues in Kansas City, Wichita and even, Ulyssess, Ybarra's hometown of Ulysses. The crew took a trip back to Ulysses with Ybarra to see where her journey had started. They performed at a high school basketball game. "Even to this day we are trying to gain the support ofthecommunity," shesaid. But witnessing the imprint she had on dancers who otherwise would have no opportunities in Ulysses, she said, is what makes the effort worthwhile. "Since the dance team has started I have seen many girls go from
"Dance is my passion. It's a way of me telling a story. With hip-hop, I get the message out."
— Chelsea Ybarra
mother, Ybarra planted her own roots and started The Ulysses Dance Team at her high school. "I'm not sure we really knew how well the program would end up or how the town would respond," she said. "All we knew is that we loved dance and that we wanted there to be some kind of opportunity for others in Ulysses to dance and experience what we loved so much." They were sponsored by Ybarra's mother, Paula, who helped organize and fundraise. Mom helped Ybarra find five dancers in the high school, one her own sister. But getting started wasn't easy and conservative currents in Ulyssess had their own way of guiding the group's reception in town. "They [Ulysses] never really talk
the Pre-game show and at half-time and brushed shoulders with stars like Kelly Clarkson, Jay-Z and Will Ferrell, Ybarra recalled. After high school graduation, Ybarra came to KU. She originally studied Jazz and Modern Dance but when she got involved with the university's UNITY Hip-hop Dance Crew, Ybarra said, she knew that was her true calling. "Dance is my passion. It's a way of me telling a story," she said. "With hip hop, I get the message out." Ybarra's particular focus in hip hop dance is a style called "lyrical". She has participated in the Monsters of Hip Hop St. Louis Convention, where her favorite choreographers, Napoleon Buddy D'uomo and Tabitha D'uomo—known as
ing else matters anymore," she said. Ybarra also has an acute awareness of the art's lyrical content and how it interplays with her work as a performer. She said the UNITY crew tries to pick songs that don't boast disrespectful rhyme schemes and talked about how the tone of the track shapes the dance that accompanies it. "You have to have some kind of connection—whether with the lyrics or the beat—to have some desire to bring that song to life," Ybarra said. "And you have to remember this is a way of expression. The hip hop artists have emotions, they have feelings and they need to get it out. This is how they breathe." UNITY performs annually at "Late Night in the Phog," KU's Greek
being insecure and shy to confident and dominating” she said. After her experiences in high school and college, Ybarra plans to keep dancing hip hop and would like to get involved in the entertainment industry, possibly as both an artist and promoter. But one thing is for sure, she said, her first love of dance and her passion for hip hop will carry on. “Hip hop has kind of just become a part of me and I've become a part of it. I've found the one thing that makes me want to—it makes me, not know what to say,” she said excitedly. “To give that up is not even an option. And I'm going to do my best to have other people experience it, too.