thePULSEBringin’ Da Funk
By Jillian Locke
Sneaks. Tilted baseball hats. Loose clothing. World famous choreographers. Lots of blurry body parts. That’s just a snapshot of what you can expect to see at the two day dance workshop/competition that has been drawing dance hopefuls from across the globe for the past five years. Welcome to Monsters of Hip Hop, set to stomp the DCU Center October 6th and 7th with two full days of the craziest and most in-depth dance seminar in the galaxy.
To those of you not so familiar with the wide world of dance, here’s a point of reference: “So You Think You Can Dance.” “A number of dancers who have attended Monsters have appeared on SYTYCD. Ivan and Donyelle from previous years and Cedric, Lauren and Sara from this year’s show all danced at Monsters,” says Andy Funk. Along with his wife and sister-in-law, Andy helped found MOHH in 2002. “My wife and I own a dance studio, B. Funk, that we opened in 1999, just outside of Baltimore. We started our first event as a test and were blown away by the turnout and response.”
And here’s some further clarification ~ MOHH is not just a dance competition, it’s a thorough crash course in dance-ography that includes seminars on the history of hip-hop, lectures, insight into the music and performance industry, movies, stage shows, and of course lots of sweaty movers and shakers. According to Mr. Funk, “Monsters is a two-day dance workshop featuring the top hip hop choreographers in the world. The weekend consists of dance classes, auditions, a seminar on the business of dance with a talent agent, and much more. We also host ‘Club Stylz Showcase & Freestyle Battle’ on Saturday evening which is an opportunity for groups to perform and receive feedback from our faculty as well as an individual freestyle battle with cash prizes. All of the proceeds from Club Stylz benefit the American Cancer Society.”
Participants can expect to be schooled in genres including hip hop, locking, break-dancing, popping, and street jazz. With so many areas of expertise offered, if you’ve got any shred of talent and would like to put it to the test, now’s your chance. The event itself seems to create a magnetic field, pulling together any and every shard of potential with the intention of pooling all of that free-flowing energy it into two days of funk, fun, and fantastic experiences. “We provide thousands of dollars worth of scholarships to Millennium Dance Complex (LA), Debbie Reynolds Dance Studio (LA), The Ailey Extension (NY) and for future Monsters of Hip Hop events,” Andy adds.
Amongst the all-star ranks of faculty are Marty Kudelka, choreographer for the man responsible for “bringing sexy back,” Mr. Justin Timberlake, and Janet Jackson’s choreographer, Gil Duldulao. But don’t let that intimidate all you future MTV and SYTYCD performers out there ~ Monsters caters to dancers of all ages and experience. “We offer Junior (7-11), Intermediate (12-15), Advanced (16+ pre-professional) and teacher-only levels. While the Junior and Intermediate levels are available for dancers with less experience, the level of talent at Monsters is incredibly high. We have had numerous dancers discovered at the events who are working professionally today. Some alumni credits include going on to work with Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Destiny’s Child, Beyonce, and Sean Kingston, and in movies such as Step Up, Stomp The Yard, and even Hairspray,” Andy says.
Come prepared to learn, work hard, and see exactly what you’re made of ~ don’t miss this unique and rare opportunity to become one of the brightest and best that hip hop has to offer.
Oct. 6-7, DCU Center, Downtown Worcester
dcucenter.com, myspace.com/monstersofhiphop
www.monstersofhiphop.com
