At UT, there is a group of guys whose pastime is jookin, tutting and gliding.
For other dancers, these terms will be familiar, but for those who have never experienced hip-hop dancing, they might as well be a foreign language.
VolatomiX formed to introduce campus to the culture of hip-hop dance and to form a community for those who share their passion. Although the history of the club is patchy, with school affiliation being on-again off-again, UT hip-hop dancers officially formed the club and performance group about two years ago.
The group said they have started seeing more recognition recently, but most of the dancers are still beginners. Even some relatively veteran members only joined a little more than a year ago.
Michael Ellison, junior in ecology and evolutionary biology, and Dustin Peek, sophomore in accounting, are two of these rookies turned leaders among the group.
Peek joined last fall as a freshman when he saw some members dancing outside of Hess.
“I was trying to see things, and I ended up seeing all these people absolutely killing it out there on the concrete,” Peek said. “I was like, ‘That’s awesome. I want to do that.’”
After joining the group that day, Peek recalled his rapid initiation into VolatomiX and hip-hop dance at a performance by the group at the 2014 International Festival at UT.
“All I knew then was breaking, and I was completely awful. I had no rhythm,” Peek said. “They put me out there in front of everybody, and at that moment I was like, ‘You know, I think I can do this. I think I’m going to not embarrass myself next time.’”
According to Ellison, throwing newcomers right into the thick of things is sort of a tradition among the dancers.
After a friend invited Ellison to his first practice nearly two years ago, Ellison agreed to teach some VolatomiX members parkour in exchange for dance lessons. Within weeks, Ellison was practicing with the guys for an upcoming performance in which he was given a 15-minute solo choreography.
“It really helps cement them in the group,” Ellison said. “It’s not like a make or break deal. Everyone usually ends up loving it because applause makes them feel great.”
Both Peek and Ellison emphasized the unexpectedness of their own dancing abilities.
“I had gone my whole life thinking, ‘Oh you either can dance or you can’t,’” Ellison said. “It’s not like I was a dancer in high school at all. I sat in a corner during prom.”
However, for Mike Kerr, junior in English as a second language education at Johnson University, dancing has been a central part of his life since Britain’s Got Talent and YouTube led him to first experiment with breakdancing early in high school.
Kerr used online tutorials to learn most of his early moves until a friend brought him to her dance studio for more advanced instruction.
“A friend invited me to go to her studio to learn more, and going to that studio I met a guy who would later become my mentor and personally train me,” Kerr said. “He had a lot of resources, a lot of knowledge, and his network was huge. He was like my Qui-Gon Jinn.”
Now all three dancers, Peek, Ellison and Kerr, make up some of the lead members of the group, which currently attends regional dance battles to compete and performs at local shows.
If your only previous image of breakdancing was guys standing in a circle bro-hugging and cheering, you’re not too far off.
This is the structure of many battles that the VolatomiX have attended. However, this friendly atmosphere doesn’t mean the dancers don’t take the competition seriously.
For large groups, the competition begins with a round of preliminaries in which the dancers stand in a semi-circle around a panel of judges, waiting for their names to be called. One-by-one the dancers give a 30 second showcase and wait to be judged.
Once the group of competitors has narrowed down to the top 16 or top eight, the dancers move into one on one challenges or three versus three crew battles. In these more intimate battles, the DJ plays a randomized playlist and the dancers take turns jumping in to do their set.
According to Peek, staying relaxed is key to finding the rhythm in these battles, but he acknowledged that keeping calm can be challenging.
“It’s absolutely terrifying, especially when you rip your pants multiple times,” Kerr added to Peek’s comment.
The dancers are judged based on their musicality, difficulty and originality.
“The top thing is probably musicality though, which basically just means if you’re on beat to the music,” Ellison said. “It sounds weird but a lot of dancers will just hop out and start doing moves, like all their special moves but they’re completely off beat and not with the music.”
For Kerr, the most valuable thing VolatomiX has gained from going to battles isn’t the opportunity to win but the opportunity to learn.
“It’s also a place where people are open to give advice and open to take advice,” Kerr said. “That’s one reason why people who aren’t very good go to battles, to get better. They know they’re not going to win so they go for two reasons: they go to have fun and to learn from the best, from the winners.”
