After about 40 minutes of intense practicing, a group of hip-hop dancers finally perfect every step of the first half of the dance they are being taught. Popular hip-hop dancer Annie Franklin, the teacher of this workshop, cheers for her students.
The workshop, which was Sunday afternoon in the Indiana Memorial Union, was organized by Urbanite, a dance showcase performed twice a year in Chicago, Illinois, and Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.
On Saturday night, Urbanite coordinated a showcase called Little Urbanite in Alumni Hall at the IMU.
Event coordinator and IU senior Charlie Schraw said the event featured performances from 10 different national dance organizations, five being student associations at IU.
Urbanite producer Douglas “Delayney” Layne said IU was the first campus tested with Little Urbanite, though he hopes it will become a traveling show.
He said he believes both the showcase and workshop were successful in bringing people together through art.
“It builds the local dance community and inspires them more to network and communicate,” Layne said.
As opposed to other styles of dance like ballet and jazz, Schraw said he believes hip-hop has the benefit of having a larger, younger audience of people willing to listen to and participate in it.
“I think having such a large and diverse group of people is very unique to hip-hop dance,” Schraw said.
Thus, he said both events were able to unify more people than other forms of dance could.
For the workshop, Franklin taught a group of student dancers, at a variety of different levels in skill, her choreography for the song “Kid Buu (Who?)” by Supa Bwe.
Franklin carefully went through each step in the approximately 20-second dance, often making the participants practice the same dance move multiple times.
Outside of this event, Franklin is known in the dance community for working with Urbanite, the Chicago Bulls, the “Oprah Winfrey Show” and rapper will.i.am in the past.
Throughout the event, Franklin emphasized there is more to choreography than just movement.
She said her students must also maintain a level of attitude and acting to accompany the over-the-top rap song.
“Be as nasty as you want with your face,” Franklin said. “Be as ugly as you can. Just show me rawness.”
Participants encouraged each other throughout the event by complimenting and clapping for each other after each time they learned a new dance move.
Once the participants learned the dance, Franklin split them up into four different groups and had each of them take turns performing what they learned in front of her.
Following that, she picked her favorite dancers and had them perform before finally narrowing it down to two participants she danced with one last time.
At the end of the workshop, Franklin said to the participants she was impressed with their work, and she said she hopes to be able to work with them professionally in the future.
“Honestly, watching you all do my choreography is really touching,” Franklin said.
At the beginning of the workshop there was hesitation and uncertainty in the actions of some of the participants.
By the end, however, these same dancers were the ones throwing their body weight and strongest expressions into the dance.
Franklin said she noticed this and was happy to see the progression.
“It’s wonderful watching everyone adapt to each other’s movements and aesthetic,” Franklin said.
However, this change does not come as a surprise to everyone. Layne said he believes dance can help liberate those who choose to engage in it.
“I think you’re in a very free space when you’re doing it in a public space,” Layne said. “You have to put aside your preconceived notions of people watching and judging you.”
