麻豆影院

Weekend of performances and talks features Teena Marie Custer, Asia One

This fall, CU 麻豆影院 brings street culture to the stage with , a weekend-long performance event bringing together renowned female Hip-Hop scholars, artists and enthusiasts for a critical and creative exchange. From breaking to waacking to DJing, no facet of Hip-Hop will go unexplored at the event, which takes place Sept. 23-25 at CU 麻豆影院鈥檚 .

Hip-Hop has only recently been a research focus inside higher education, says dance division director Erika Randall. It鈥檚 rarer still to focus specifically on females within Hip-Hop culture. She鈥檚 more than happy to help start the conversation.

鈥淲e鈥檙e just really committed to causing trouble in the Theatre & Dance department, in the best possible way,鈥� Randall says. 鈥淲hen students and teachers start to explore a culture that started on the streets, they question everything they know about institutionalized learning, fusion, women...and so many other things. I get really excited about that.鈥�

If talking about Hip-Hop culture doesn鈥檛 prompt audiences to rethink the status quo, watching the [UN] W.R.A.P. performances certainly will. Some of the featured performers, known as b-girls, learned their epic moves on the street rather than at the barre.

B-girl , a featured performer and Randall鈥檚 longtime best friend, is one of those artists who didn鈥檛 go to school to hone her Hip-Hop skills. Randall says 鈥渢he two of us are like 鈥樷�� come to life: I鈥檓 classically trained and she comes from really deep street training, but we鈥檝e found we鈥檙e more similar than different.鈥�

As a child in Pittsburgh, Custer desperately wanted to take ballet lessons, but her family didn鈥檛 have the money for them. Her only dance outlet, she says, was 鈥渢o go to Hip-Hop clubs, dance with my friends or put a hat out and copy moves from MTV. That was my early dance training.鈥� Later, she received formal training in modern dance and used elements of that to create her own unique style of urban dance theater. In the [UN] W.R.A.P. performance, Custer will unveil 鈥淢y Good Side,鈥� an exploration of our social media culture through street dance.

Hip-Hop, a subculture encompassing music performance, emceeing, DJing, graffiti art and breaking, was born on the streets of the Bronx in the 1970s and soon spread to other major urban areas. Among the early female street icons was , who has danced with the Black Eyed Peas, Rock Steady Crew and Zulu Nation. As a biracial child in Denver鈥檚 diverse Park Hill neighborhood, she never felt she belonged anywhere until she found refuge in the local Hip-Hop community. In her teen years, Asia established herself as a b-girl and graffiti artist and set up an after school dance studio for kids.

鈥淚n my area, you didn鈥檛 go on the side of town you weren鈥檛 from鈥攜ou couldn鈥檛,鈥� she says. 鈥淪o I opened up a Hip-Hop shop in an area that was neutral to gangs. Anybody could go without feeling like they would get jumped or like they were a traitor, and they met people they never would have met otherwise.鈥�

In her ever-expanding quest to unite people from different worlds, Asia will bring together the local collective , the music group Analog Girls and other Colorado street artists for her [UN] W.R.A.P. piece, which delves into Hip-Hop鈥檚 historical roots.

Asia, the subject of a selected for the Hollywood Film Festival in 2013, says she鈥檚 faced plenty of gender discrimination in her career and can鈥檛 wait for the female-focused weekend on campus.

鈥淚鈥檒l be waiting to go on stage and someone will think I鈥檓 a groupie,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he idea of a woman breaking kind of mystifies some people. When I鈥檓 breaking, out of the corner of my ear, I鈥檝e heard, 鈥楢 girl? Really?鈥欌��

But by and large, she says, the Hip-Hop community is diverse and inclusive, a far cry from the homophobic, misogynist world many people believe it is. She hopes the weekend summit in 麻豆影院 helps a broader audience understand that.

鈥淲hether or not you鈥檙e down with Hip-Hop,鈥� she says, 鈥渢he values that it embraces...if we could put [those] in society on a mass level, we鈥檇 have a beautiful world.鈥�

Free Panel Discussion with Dr. Imani Kai Johnson, Naomi Braggins and Dr. Reiland Rabaka
Friday, Sept. 23, 10 a.m.

Performances
Friday, Sept. 23, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 24, 2 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 24, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 25, 2 p.m.

All events take place in the Charlotte York Irey Theatre.

Tickets for [UN] W.R.A.P.: Women of the Cypher start at $16. To purchase tickets, visit the CU Presents box office in person (972 Broadway), call 303-492-8008 during business hours or anytime. Note: All online and phone orders are subject to a service fee. To schedule interviews or for other media information, contact Jill Kimball at jill.kimball@colorado.edu.

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