“Hip-hop is not just about bling-bling, sex, money and drugs,” says Brian Resurreccion, the administrative director of Culture Shock D.C.
The local nonprofit organization is part of a world-wide movement to teach healthy lifestyles, nonviolence, physical fitness and community involvement through the power of hip-hop culture.
“We want to bring back what hip-hop culture is really about – community and having a good time,” Resurreccion added.
Ranging in age from 13 to the mid-20s the D.C. Culture Shock dance troupe is composed of about 20 dancers and 20 BBoys (commonly known as male break dancers)They are students and young professionals who tour at local community centers and schools and teach $10 weekly classes at the Thomas Circle Sports Club. Some Culture Shock dancers also volunteer their time to a program called Future Shock, where they teach free dance classes to young people in a safe, performance-based environment.
“The vision is to cultivate anything positive through hip-hop,” said artistic director Margareta Eysle. “We want to have our own studio that would not only incorporate dancing, and eventually DJ-ing, emceeing and graffiti art, (but) a whole hip-hop studio in the local community. Of course it would be nice to have a nice big tour and go all over the world, but our main focus is to build a community and keep it in Maryland, Virginia and D.C.”
Culture Shock started in San Diego in 1993 and has expanded to four troupes on each coast, as well as troupes in Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom. Eysle, who got her start with the San Diego troupe about eight years ago, says that she first started taking classes for recreational purposes, and the directors recommended that she start taking company classes. After trying out for two years, she moved up to become a Culture Shock team member and danced for about six years.
“People normally hear about auditions by word of mouth, either at classes or through individual members,” said Eysle, who is currently a member of the judging panel that admits new members each year. She said that, in addition to how well dancers can pick up choreography and different floor styles, the judges look for personality and style.
“We do all different (dance) styles. To say it’s strictly hip-hop would mean that it’s just locking, popping and BBoying” Eysle said. “What we do is street style. Some say it looks like (music) video choreography, some underground, and we just kind of group it up and call it hip-hop so that the mainstream people will understand what it is. But it’s actually different styles of hip-hop.”
Attending a beginner-level dance class is one way to gauge your skills in Culture Shock’s style of hip-hop. If you’re good, the instructor may ask you to attend different classes, which would help you to train to become a part of the dance troupe. Or if you’re like me, you will be exhausted by the hour-long experience, not remember or learn any of the moves, but still walk away glad that you got to see how to break down some very complex routines. All the proceeds raised by classes fund Culture Shock’s community outreach programs and scholarship programs that allow talented dancers to improve their skills by taking master-level classes for free.
With about two shows each month and a performance scheduled March 26 in the Hippodrome from 9 to 11 p.m., Resurreccion said, “Expect to be entertained – amazed by the level of creativity, precision and dedication of the performance.”
