Dancers crowd in a circle, encouraging a lone performer in the center. For the solo dancer, the circle – called a cypher – represents a safe space where he can express himself through hip-hop music and improvised movements to tell a story.
As part of Hip Hop Appreciation Month, Cultural Affairs Commission’s Hip Hop Congress will host a freestyle dance and cyphering workshop, led by dancer, alumnus and previous Cultural Affairs Commission director of sponsorship Harry Weston. The workshop, held on Tuesday, will feature Weston teaching participants hip-hop dance moves from the ’90s to more contemporary styles, as well as encourage dancers to explore their newfound knowledge through cyphers.
Fourth-year psychobiology student and committee chair of the event Lawrence Maddela said the workshop was built in order to fulfill Hip Hop Congress’s mission of representing the four elements of hip-hop: DJing, graffiti, rapping and break dancing.
Maddela said Hip Hop Congress tries to rotate between the four elements every year so participants can have a variety of activities to enjoy: Last year, Hip Hop Congress focused on graffiti, and the previous year, students participated in a DJing workshop.
During the workshop, Weston will be teaching participants classic hip-hop dance moves such as the Steve Martin and the running man, said Jackie Oka, a fourth-year world arts and cultures/dance student and committee chair of the event.
“We want dancers to get this foundation so that they can put them together to create their own style and their own flavor, with the music on top,” Oka said. “We’d like to create this energy of freestyle and freedom and understand where (hip-hop) comes from.”
This year, the theme of Hip Hop Congress is “Homegrown (Put My City on My Map),” an idea that calls for bringing hip-hop back to its roots, said Neima Patterson, a fourth-year world arts and cultures/dance student and the co-director of Hip Hop Congress.
Patterson said the freestyle and cyphering workshop is useful for participants to understand the roots of hip-hop culture and style.
“Hip-hop is traditionally a style composed of all the elements, so we’re trying to bring it back to what it originally was, especially during a time when hip-hop has been so commercialized,” Patterson said.
Patterson said the freestyle and cyphering workshop is also a way to connect to the larger theme of Black History Month.
Patterson said although hip-hop originally stemmed from the black community, it has been a way for different cultures to relate with each other over the shared interest of honoring history.
“In general, hip-hop came out of the spirit that has lived within the black community,” Patterson said. “This spirit then carried into hip-hop, which is about celebrating life, celebrating our ancestors and cultivating knowledge.”
In addition to the workshop, multiple other events, including a panel discussion and a fashion show, will be held throughout the month. Like the workshop, which is geared toward participants with no dance experience, the other events were set up to familiarize participants with the social origins of hip-hop, Patterson said.
Patterson said she hopes everyone who attends the freestyle workshop will receive some sort of knowledge about the social impact hip-hop has made on modern culture and lifestyle.
“Hip-hop is storytelling,” Patterson said. “It’s celebrating and understanding our history as an American society.”