Freestyle: Breaking Rules With A Hip-Hop Beat

By John Voket

Looking slightly out of place standing among about 20 leotard-clad dancers in his pork pie hat, Austin Dailey aka Bboy Red Supreme explained the difference between freestyle hip-hop dancing and any other more conventional version of the art.

“It’s about breaking all the rules you know about any other kind of dancing,” the fair-skinned red head explained with a smile and ease indicating he has delivered this rap to many other dancers before his midweek appearance at The Graceful Planet in Sandy Hook.

Bboy Red Supreme was on hand with two other members of his loosely affiliated Poetry in Motion Crew to give Graceful Planet co-creator Kathleen Barton’s Tuesday a bit of a shake up. The New Haven native is set to lead two separate age groups through eight weeks of freestyle hip-hop instruction beginning October 17.

“You don’t have to know how to dance to be good at freestyle,” Mr Dailey said to the group, ranging in age from around 4 to 17 years old, and consisting predominantly of young ladies. “You need style, rhythm and most important, attitude.”

He continued referencing some of the standard practices in more conventional types of dance, like ballet.

“In ballet, they teach you to stay straight, extend your arms out and keep your head up,” he said striking a perfect ballet form. But then he morphed downward, arching his back and crossing his bent arms partly together. “But in freestyle you’re bending over, loosening up your arms, and having fun with it.”

Bboy was joined in his demonstration by fellow Poetry in Motion members Johnnie Combo and Rennie Hansen, who may be assisting in teaching the Graceful Planet sessions in the fall. Before the interactive portion of the class played out in the Berkshire Road studio, the two assistants riveted the attention of most of the participants simply warming up.

While Johnnie Combo stretched out from a standing position, Mr Hansen opted to go to the floor, contorting himself into a position where he seemed to easily raise himself off the floor balancing virtually all of his weight on just one hand.

“You see, Rennie is showing that it’s not all about muscle,” Mr Dailey pointed out. “Sure you need some strength, but it’s a lot about controlling your balance.”

Step-by-step, the trio led the Graceful Planet class through a full freestyle routine, providing some variations where participants could complete the move irrelevant of their level of expertise. And that’s okay, because the beauty of freestyle is apparently in the individual interpretation, while integrating the moves in similar fashion with a larger group.

As thumping hip-hop beats emanated from the studio speaker system, Mr Dailey first showed, then led, the class in slow motion before kicking each successive move to the full speed of the music. It became immediately obvious from the intense expressions on many of the dancers’ faces that while the routine looked loosely fluid, it took a significant degree of skill and concentration to execute the moves.

Once the class was shown the entire set of steps, Mr Dailey turned to the mirror to watch the class and see which members could make it through from beginning to end. Once the class ran through the routine to a coordinated music track, it was time to give the hard-working students a break.

At that point the Poetry in Motion Crew put on a special dance mix tape and performed another choreographed routine in which the trio traded off moves individually and in various combinations. The watching dancers erupted in “oohs and ahhhs,” and spontaneous applause at several occasions as one or more of the group performed some lightning fast or gravity-defying maneuver.

Before departing, Mr Dailey thanked the class for their participation, and invited them to join in on his upcoming course. He reminded the half-dozen young men in the room that the class works best with about an equal mix of guys and girls, and appealed to them to bring their friends back for the fall course.

According to Ms Barton, freestyle students will work at their own speed and ability level, having a lot of fun but also getting a good workout and a low-key introduction to organized dancing.

“As we said in our literature, the classes will cover the foundation of break dancing, popping and waving, hip-hop steps popularized in many of the reality dance shows on television, as well as many music videos and concerts,” she said.

The class will also teach many popular line dances, party moves, and dance games that will help make all the participants the life of any school dance or party they attend in the future.

“Austin’s main goal is to get kids to build up their self-esteem,” Ms Barton said.

The hip-hop freestyle classes begin October 17 and run Tuesday evenings. Sessions for 8–11-year-olds begin at 5:30 pm, while classes for age 12 and above are at 6:30 pm. The fee for this class is $160.

Besides a wide range of children’s programs including creative movement, preballet, classical ballet, Pointe, jazz, modern and tap dancing, young students can also participate in musical theater courses, yoga and yoga ed. The studio offers similar programs for adults, along with Pilates, Yogiates, mind/body coaching, and the studio is also available for corporate classes and parties.

Visit www.gracefulplanet.com or call 426-8215 for more information, directions or registration information for the hip-hop freestyle, or any of the other offerings at The Graceful Planet.