Loud rhythmic music with rapping vocals pulsates inside the walls of CycleYou Fitness and Sauna in Lexington on this Thursday night. Hip hop dancers are warming up in the dimly lit studio.
This is The Fam Foundation’s weekly, free practice open to beginners. Lisa Huynh, Director and Choreographer of the non-profit says hip hop is an acronym for “Honest Individual People Helping Other People.”
“I joined in 2018 I believe. And I didn't know about The Fam at first, I just came looking for classes. I've seen classes online, like all L.A. classes. I'm like, where can I find that here? And just like all those other kids, same thing as me. I wanted to find that here.”
The dancers’ range in age from fifteen to thirty. They wear oversized sweatpants and t-shirts. The Fam Foundation’s other Choreographer is 21-year-old Tre White, who dreams of dancing professionally.
“I started dancing when I was 10 years old in my living room, watching dance videos on YouTube. I literally haven't stopped ever since. I'm still dancing to this day.”
The hip hop dancers practice moves with names like popping, locking, B boying, B Girling, and tutting. The hip hop moves have roots back to 1973 in the Bronx, New York where Black and Latino teenagers looked for a way to express themselves.
Hip hop became a way to deal with anxiety, depression, and violence. It also helped the teenagers find a group of people they identified with and develop friendships. Huynh remembers as a teenager searching for a place she belonged.
“I was just always hopping from one thing to another. I don't know, I kind of felt like alone. But then when I went into dance, I've met all these people who shared this same talent, but also, they had the same goal as coming into this to escape from whatever they're going on in the real world, just like me. I think, yeah, that has helped in, like, making friends throughout it.”
During a break in their practice, a few of the dancers talk about what hip hop and The Fam mean to them.
Taylor Williams says, “I like it because it's very like inclusive. It's very welcoming. It just feels like I'm supposed to be here. It feels like there's no judgment, and it's a very nice place to dance. I like the lighting, like the people. I like the choreography.”
Maria Folio agrees.
“I love it. I love moving my body, and I specifically love dancing. I haven't danced since college, and I really miss that sort of outlet. This is a really welcoming environment. They welcome people of all levels, and it's just nice to come out and do something at the end of my day to move my body and make everyone happy.”
The energy and free classes attracted Danica Hak.
“I love the fam specifically because it makes dance so accessible. I graduated from UK recently. It's been a little bit over a year, but something I was really worried about post grad was dancing after school, because dance isn't super accessible. Sometimes classes can be expensive. Sometimes the costumes are a lot of money. And so, the fact that The Fam offers free classes is incredible. I feel like we rarely see that, but also just the energy. It's just so welcoming, so wonderful and really amazing.”
Alex Hernadez, founder of The Fam Foundation, says the group grew from teaching hip hop at several places and students wanting to learn.
“I would end up having students that wanted to keep learning, keep doing stuff, and keep pushing. Because we it was one hour a week, you get to take my class and, like, no, we want to take it more. So, we started doing these rehearsals where we would do Saturday morning practices for three hours.”
Hernadez says he was a shy child from immigrant parents who was trying to find his place in Lexington.
“My anxiety was crazy bad. And yeah, once I started, when I found something that I like to do, I didn't care about anything else but just trying to do that thing. You know what I'm saying. So, I it helped me understand that helped me, kind of regulate emotions at times when I was a kid. Different styles of dance help for those kinds of things. But it helped me so much.”
Using hip hop as a form of therapy is one way it touches young dancers. NAMI of Lexington (The National Alliance on Mental Illness) collaborated with The Fam Foundation to produce a couple of dance showcases called “The Waiting Room.” Hernadez says it allowed young dancers to express their feelings.
“The Waiting Room was divided into two parts. The first part was kind of the reasons somebody could be going to therapy. That's what it was themed after. And the second half of the show was themed after the cycle of grief, so depression, bargaining, anger, acceptance. And we addressed gun violence in the first half of the show, because that's, you know, close to the heart and stuff for a lot of people. You'd be surprised to find, I think, if you're not a hip hop fan, you'd be surprised to see how many songs there are out there that are hip hop related, that have such positive messages.”
More showcases addressing mental illness are planned for the future.
“Yes, for sure. That's why we want to reopen up The Waiting Room this way, because now we can do The Waiting Room every year but also use it as a showcase to highlight all of the incredible artists that we have coming up. So, it'll be a good even for everybody.”
You can watch the hip hop dancers on their Facebook page, The Fam Foundation Inc, including their recent performance at the opening of Gatton Park on the Town Branch.
