Bust a MOVE
Hip Hop International dance competition swaggers into Phoenix
You’ve heard of popping, locking, breaking and krumping. But do you know Poly-swag?
That’s just one of the “flavors” of dance that will be on display at the 17th annual Hip Hop International dance competition, which will be held in Phoenix for the second straight year on Aug. 3-11. Poly-swag is the invention of New Zealand’s ReQuest Dance Crew, an all-female troupe that brings “Polynesian swag” to their choreography. They were winners in the adult division of the championships in 2010 and 2011.
“You get countries like Philippines, who are constantly doing tricks and flips. So that’s their flavor,” says ReQuest member Corbyn Taulealea-Huch. Hers is one of several elite crews returning to Hip Hop International to teach Urban Move Dance Workshops.
“They have all the gymnasts and break dancers and stuff like that,” she says. “And then you have countries like Australia, who bring more of a hard feeling, more like a gangsta kind of vibe. And then you get countries like Japan and China, who are so sharp and clean, they really look like one person onstage, not nine or 25.”
Hip Hop International was launched in 2002 by the husband-wife team of Howard and Karen Schwartz. The first competition, in Miami Beach, hosted 500 dancers from 12 countries. Now they’re up to 4,000 entrants from 50 nations.
“It’s street culture,” Howard Schwartz says. “Every country has its streets, and we encourage the dancers to bring their culture, to bring the feel from their country and include it in their routine.”
This year’s event starts with American teams — junior, varsity, adult and “megacrews” — competing Aug. 3-5 at the Arizona Grand Resort, followed by the World Hip Hop Dance Championship, with the finals on Aug. 11 at Grand Canyon University Arena. It also includes “World Battles” with one-on-one Elektrolytes, a dance crew from Gilbert, won season seven (2012) of “America's Best Dance Crew” on MTV.