Friday night, dancers from across the country connected in the Kasper Multipurpose Room, spreading awareness of hip-hop as a tool for social change and competing for a cash prize of $250. About 150 people attended Brown's first-ever "Floorgasm," a hip-hop jam showcasing break-dance and popping dance styles. The event drew poppers — who practice a jerky style of dance — break-dancers — also known as b-boys — emcees, D.J.s and even graffiti artists from around the country.
Judges Alfonzo "Megatron" Hunt and Jennifer "Lady Beast" Viaud opened up the hip-hop jam with a display of their own popping prowess. The judges electrified the audience, which cheered and screamed. Viaud, who describes her popping style as "funky, robotic, feminine and mannequin," said that she is the only woman she is aware of who competes in national jams on the East coast.
The youngest break-dancer who spun and hurtled his tiny frame across the floor was just five years old. Six-year-olds Devik and Isaiah were driven to the competition by their fathers, who were break-dancing pioneers themselves in the 1980s.
Freestyle lifestyle
Dancers strove to express the positive impact of hip-hop. Pierre "Boogie" Arreola '13, president of Brown's Breakdancing Crew and member of the Gr818ers, a Los Angeles based hip-hop group, organized the event. Arreola drove five hours to pick up the speakers, raised funds and networked nationally with b-boys from across the country. "This year, ‘Floorgasm' is different in that we have competitions," Pierre said. While previous hip-hop events at Brown focused only on performance, "the true essence of hip-hop is that battling, a friendly competition," Arreola said. The competition pushes dancers to better their craft and also just to have fun.
Hip-hop is not just a dance — it's a lifestyle, a culture and a tool for social change, Arreola said. He carries the hip-hop mentality everywhere, even into the classroom. In his classes, he said he does not feel pressured to impress professors or students but tries instead to be true to himself. School is not about the final grade, "it's about the process. It's how you got there," Arreola said. "This is a culture based on self-expression. It started out because there were people who were oppressed in the '70s and '80s."
Members of other University dance groups said they learned a lot from the event. The jam showcased a form of dance — unchoreographed — very different from those generally performed at Brown. "No disrespect to (America's Best Dance Crew) or So You Think You Can Dance, but anybody can get up on stage and do something that's choreographed. But can you get up in a crowd, and captivate the crowd from your own soul? That's what these kids are doing," said Hunt, co-founder of the "Slaughter House" training facility for poppers.
"It's nice that we have a different view of dancing: the battle culture. I'm glad these guys bring it," said Srihari Sritharan '12, a member of Brown's Badmaash dance group. "There needs to be more of this kind of stuff here. This is a lifestyle that Brown never sees," added Alec Lee '14 , a member of the break-dancing crew. Break-dancing judge and local hip-hop organizer Jose "B-boy Face" Maldonado said he does not emulate commercialized break-dancing because a true b-boy dances from the soul. The moves dancers compose so effortlessly are sculpted by hours of practice and dedication. Maldonado showed off the scars on his shoulders, elbows, wrists and head, called "b-boy burns."
"I can guarantee you that 90 percent of the boys here have these scars," he said.
"There's not a lot of these types of events in Rhode Island. Seeing the real form of hip-hop happen in Rhode Island is a blessing. A lot of people think hip-hop is Lil' Wayne and Gucci Man. Hip-hop is not gangster," said Kelvin "Poppin Groove" Romero, a student from Cranston High School West who described his style as "popping, funky, loose, more like a boogaloo type, robotics, isolations." Romero affirmed the qualities that shape hip-hop into a tool of social change. Hip-hop takes kids off the street and keeps them from doing drugs or joining gangs, Romero said. He said hip-hop is not just a dance style, but a culture.
Hip-hoppin' the Ivy League
The event aimed to introduce Brown to the underground hip-hop community. "It's a movement to make College Hill less segregated from the rest of Providence and the world of hip-hop," said Sam Rosenfeld '12, a member of the Gr818ers and a Herald editorial cartoonist. "Brown is all about hip-hop, and they don't even know it," said Arreola, the event's organizer. He connected the "four tenets of hip-hop" to Brown's mentality: peace, love, unity and having fun.
"I'm trying to show Brown that hip-hop is not about negativity. There's this unity," said Arreola. Many dancers said that hip-hop represents positivity and self-expression. "I never thought that hip-hop culture would be around here," Romero said of Brown. "I'd definitely like to see more events like this at Brown. ... It's peaceful."
Attendees expressed surprise that such an event would be hosted by an Ivy League institution, because a common stereotype of hip-hop is that it does not jive with higher education.
Kevin "Rebil" Fidler flew in from southern Florida to learn new dance styles. Popping and wave styles vary by region, he said. "It's like an accent. If I do a wavestyle like they have in Florida, it's going to be different from someone in Boston or Rhode Island," he said.
"That an institution as prestigious as Brown would sponsor an event speaks to the open-mindedness of the community," said Taylor Lomba '15. He drove to the event from Dartmouth to compete in and support an event that promoted the underground hip-hop movement. "Screw those misconceptions. We're giving you a chance. It is the voice of the people, and it means something."
Breaking structure
At most dance competitions, performances are structured, sticking to a rigid schedule. But at "Floorgasm", b-boys performed when they felt like it and stopped when they decided to. The break-dancing competition was consistent with this relaxed organization. There was no set schedule or hierarchy in the competition. The only structure the jam emphasized was the shape of the body as it responded to the music and the beat which guided self-expression through dance. Between official battle jams, dancers took actual breaks, forming circles and watching other break-dancers. Dancers studied other dancers with intensity, their hands gripping their knees as they bent over with concentration. Throughout the b-boy battle, other b-boys cheered, whooped and responded to the dancers loudly.
The winner of the competition was an eighth grade student named Alex "A-Boogie" Potocki, who charmed the crowd and beat out several adult performers. His friend and fellow popper Masyn "Mase 1" Lorick — an 11-year-old — was a crowd favorite. Both boys are some of the youngest poppers from Boston. They were driven to the event by their mothers.
"Hip-hop is the self-expression of one unique individual's thought. It's emotion brought out in body movement," Hunt said. The dancers brought this quality to the dance floor as they expressed their love of hip-hop at Brown. Hunt expressed the unity, positivity and support he sees as central to hip-hop when he said at the very end of the jam, "I don't care who's blessed the floor tonight. I got respect to you all — male, female. This is what popping is all about. And tonight you all did it at the one and only "Floorgasm."
