Hip-hop more than cool, it’s historic

“Holy Cow!” one student shouted from the bleachers at Horizon Middle School.

The eighth-grade girl watched Friday as a break-dancer twisted his legs over his head while doing a handstand. He brought his feet back down to the floor, then up again without skipping a beat to the music. Then he flopped onto his back, curled himself into a ball and went into a spin.

“That was pretty cool,” said Jessi Steele, 13. Her friends, Maria Nord, and Emily Myers, also 13, exchanged silly grins.

It was indeed cool – probably the coolest assembly, in fact, that these middle school students have attended, as the Rainbow Dance Theatre performed portions of “The Roots of Hip-Hop” for the students.

The dance group from Portland traces the popular dance style known as hip-hop from its modern-day form back to its African roots through dancing and drumming.

The group is in Spokane for a public performance at The Met tonight, sponsored by the Inland Northwest Dance Association.

On Friday, the dancers performed urban street dances, followed by a lesson in West African drumming and dancing.

Hip-hop “speaks to what they are interested in, then they learn hip-hop actually has its roots in African culture,” said Valeria Bergman, co-director of the dance company. “It gives them a new respect for it.”

Another co-director, Darryl Thomas, started the performance by asking the teens if they had even heard of hip-hop. Every hand shot up.

“What is hip-hop?” he asked. Well, it’s rap music performed by popular artists like Eminem, Usher and Puff Daddy, the kids said.

But it’s much more than that, Thomas told them.

It’s a cultural journey through movement and style.

The students went on to learn about “hamboning,” or using body parts to make music, a practice once used by slaves. The students slapped their hands back and forth on their thighs while Thomas sang.

They also learned how to “vogue” – and yes, that’s the Madonna “Vogue” from the 1990s – which also has its roots in African culture.

Thomas taught the kids how to “strike a pose” to the music.

Steele and her friends had no idea what “voguing” was, but they grooved along to Madonna’s voice crooning, “Come on Vogue,” anyway.

They watched as the costumed dancers performed authentic West African dances, inviting some students to come up and play the drums.

“They see hip-hop all the time, but they don’t get to see where it actually came from,” said Isabelle Cook of the Inland Northwest Dance Association. “It’s just so wonderful to see them learn about different cultures, and how to appreciate movement.”