WEDNESDAY, JULY 7, 2004
DANCE
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
3
Dancers hip-hoppin' to campus for clinics
By Marc Ingber
mingber@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
A group of University of Kansas students will be taking hip-hop back to its roots this weekend.
The UNITY HipHop Dance Troupe will hold its second session of summer dance clinics from 9 a.m to 1 p.m. this Saturday, July 10, at Dance Gallery-North. 4940 Legends Drive.
The troupe, which held its first clinic in June, teaches boys and girls ages 6 and up different styles of hip-hop dancing.
But UNITY's leaders hope that the clinic means more to its students than just dance instruction.
Amber Ford, Dallas senior and vice president of UNITY, said one of the troupe's missions was to teach the kids at the clinic about hip-hop's origins.
She said hip-hop had come far from its roots.
"Hip-hop didn't start with bling-bling and getting rich quick," Ford said. "We want to show where it came from and that it can be a positive thing."
At its clinics, the UNITY troupe teaches its students the four elements of hiphop: break dancing, deejaying, making
"Hip-hop didn't start with bling-bling and getting rich quick. We want to show where it came from and that it can be a positive thing."
Amber Ford Dallas senior and vice president of UNITY
graffiti and emceeing.
About 30 kids attended the first clinic this summer, but Ford said more were likely to attend this week's session.
She expected participants to come from as far as Manhattan, Kansas City and Topeka.
While some participants will have years of hip-hop experience, others will be getting their first exposure, Ford said.
Ford, who also teaches classes at Dance Gallery, said hip-hop dancing had gotten considerably more popular over the last couple of years.
"So many more people have expressed interest in what we do," she said. "I teach older ladies who used to only do tap, but
now they do hip-hop."
Ford speculated that the increased popularity had something to do with current trends and the fact that hip-hop has appeared in many recent commercials and movies.
The UNITY HipHop Dance Troupe was founded in 1996 by University of Kansas student Eve Bradley. It currently has seven members who practice every Tuesday and Thursday during the school year.
The troupe also travels to hip-hop dance conventions, which Ford said were sometimes misunderstood.
"It's not like a cheerleaders' competition where it's a bunch of squads competing against each other," she said.
Instead, the conventions include seminars about professionalism and dance scholarships, and provide teams an opportunity to audition for talent agents.
The troupe has performed at Late Night in the Phog as well as the Step Show.
It dances to a variety of music ranging from Earth, Wind and Fire and Michael Jackson to Jay-Z and Nas.
- Edited by Jay Senter
Kansan File Photo
Angie Davis, Olathe freshman, helped in the Unity Dance Clinic this February sponsored by the KU Unity Hip Hop Dance Troupe. The troupe will hold its second session of summer dance clinics from 9 a.m to 1 p.m. this Saturday, July 10, at Dance Gallery-North, 4940 Legends Drive.