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Alexis teaches All Levels Hip Hop @ 2100 Chestnut, and Hip Hop and Beginner House at 812 Chestnut! You can see his full schedule below. Mondays @ 812 6:00-7:00pm Beginner Hip Hop Dance 7:00-8:00 Beginner House Dance Tuesdays @ 2100 7:00-8:00 All Levels Hip Hop Thursdays @ 2100 8:00-9:00 All Levels Hip Hop Learn more about Alexis and his classes below! Learn more about Alexis & His UMA Classes! -How did you get involved in dance? I've danced since I was in diapers, so I guess you could say it was one of my first languages. Growing up I was always on the move & making little dances up to songs I liked, until I started taking classes at the age of 11 and wanted to keep goin ever since! -What is your training background? I first trained in Hip Hop since i was in middle school, from then & throughout high school I trained in that along with contemporary and jazz dance. During my college years I trained in various codified Modern Dance techniques, Ballet, African Dance, & Afro Caribbean. Late college years into the present I've broadened my knowledge of more street dance styles such as House, Vogue, Street Jazz, & foundational Hip Hop. -How do you go about creating choreo for your classes? What inspires you? What music do you like to use? As an instructor I really emphasize groundedness & articulation; what it takes to be aware & consistent of these attributes, physically, as well as playing within the dynamics of full body dancing VS. isolations. I like to move my torso, whine my hips, and be intricate with my hands and feet as well so I'm drawn to music that has a lot of different rhythms or melodies I can play with to embody those dynamics (Afro beats, house, R&B, Hip hop) Also, sometimes I create on the spot! I usually have different people with different skill levels in class, every class, so I like to feel out the room & see what magic comes about. -What is Street Dance to you? Why have you pursued Street Dance? Street Dance is Culture. It's community. It's Afro-Diasporic. Its Love, strength, passion, a viiibe, spiritual, joy, an escape, its home. It's my first love, and I can honestly say if I live without it for too long I feel disconnected from my truest self! I'm consistently inspired by the variety of communities I've connected with, the complexities of the physicality of street dance, the history of the culture as it has existed and continues to evolve is enthralling and I'm excited to grow with it! -What do you want folks who take your class to take away from your class? Knowing their bodies a little more, knowing they had fun, got a workout, a bit of a brain teaser (hehe), and that it's never too soon/late or no one is ever too young or old to dance. The UMA community has been a blessing to me and I'm elated to see it shift, Shine & grow in Love🫶🏽 Thanks Alexis!
Alex teaches Mobility & Recovery for Dancers @ UMA 2100 Chestnut location on Mondays at 6pm. This is a “relaxed-fit” class that helps students prep and recover for the various classes UMA has to offer. This class will cover joint mobility, stretching, as well as self-care practices such as foam rolling and bodywork. Give your body the TLC it deserves! You can also catch Alex for Dance Acrobatics and Floorwork classes at UMA 812 Chestnut location! On Mondays his beginner level class runs from 8-9pm. His all levels classes are Thursdays 7:30-8:30 and Saturdays 2-3:30pm (except for this Saturday because 812 is closed for construction!) This class is a compelling concoction of scaleable acrobatics, silky floorwork, and sketching improvisation that gets you comfortable with leaving your feet, finding confidence in your hands, and creating seamless transitions in and out of the floor. Namely, front and back rolls, intermediate cartwheel variations and walkovers, transitions in and out of the floor, and floorwork grooves. Alex supports a welcoming and playful environment to provide you with building a broad base of sustainable pathways of moving through space with power, flow, and creative patterns to supplement your movement practices.  Learn more about Alex & his classes! -What impact do you hope to make on the uma community through your various classes? I have a lot of high hopes, but if I could boil it down to a few: my aim is to provide students with a greater sense of embodiment and encouragement. Whether in the mobility & recovery class or in the dance acrobatics classes, a goal is to center folks into their bodies, both physically and mentally. The mobility class gives students the chance to get to know their bodies better through bodywork and stretching exercises. The hope is that this awareness and nurturing encourages students to appreciate their bodies and take care of themselves in and out of classes. The dance acrobatic classes are a fertile ground to explore the various aspects of physicality such as power, pliability, and suave while balancing the mental gymnastics of courage, commitment, and compassion. Physically, acrobatic moves don’t happen overnight and often take persistence and patience. The mental aspect is much more prevalent in this class since the risk is a bit higher when you are trying to make yourself fly for a moment. The hope is that these aspects of building physical complexity and mental confidence encourage students to play with the emotions of fear and the unknown in a safe space while giving themselves and others the compassion needed when trying new things. -Most of our classes are centered around street and social dances or popular stylings/ approaches. How does what you offer relate to this or divert from this? The Mobility class diverts quite a bit from any specific physical street or social dance. There are aspects that are taken from more Eastern practices such as Yoga and Tai Chi/Qi Gong. The environment in class is closer to a “social” environment. We gather in a circle, allow dialogue, and provide exercises that are universal to all who join. The Dance Acrobatics, at its core, has its roots in the Afro-Brazilian martial art called Capoeira. My teachers have included Mr. Ron Wood and Tom Weksler who have influenced this class. In class, we do not apply the marital aspect of the Capoeira art. Rather we focus on the aspect known as Floreios. These “curving” or flowing acrobatic moves differ from the linear type acrobatic moves you might see in gymnastics. . Where the diversion really takes place in Dance Acrobatics is our use of floorwork. The floorwork movements come from modern and contemporary dance practices. Traditional floreios play with hands and feet and avoid going into the ground. A major aspect of the Dance Acrobatics and Floowork class is to explore the many layers of movement practices of getting into and out of the floor while incorporating acrobatic moves seamlessly throughout. -What made you fall in love with dance acro/floorwork? Great question. I often find that most of why I love it is ineffable. It is felt more than described. What I would say is that I fell in love with the dynamics and virtuosic aspects of dance acro/floorwork. The ability to surf the momentum that one generates. It is the ability to conjure up explosive, dynamic, impulses and balance that with qualities of calm, ease, and seamlessness. The balance of these forces in a practice allows for moments that look like an exclamation point “!” but immediately follow with a “…” Thus, creating a movement practice that contains qualities of continuity, impermanence, and potentiality out of which more spontaneity can arise. Plus it just looks cool!!! -What keeps you interested and invested in a dance acro practice? What keeps me interested is how dance acrobatics moves beyond the momentary rush of getting a move or posting something for the Gram (not that I don’t love those things). It is a total embodiment practice, physically, mentally, and spiritually. It is a form of moving meditation. Acrobatics forces you to be in the present moment. You have no choice but to commit if you want to accomplish the move you are working with. Along with that comes the waves of fear, doubt, laziness, hesitation etc. However, it is a question unto myself whether I can allow those thoughts and emotions to occur naturally but not get attached to them. To simply be, and allow my dance to take me beyond the world of words and to just “tune in” while “tuning out” all the unnecessary noise. In that space, I feel my creativity, aliveness, and freedom can flourish. That feeling, that flow state, keeps me coming back. You can sign up for Mobility & Recovery with Alex @ 2100 Chestnut through the 2100 schedule page here, using a drop in, membership, intro month, or class card pack! You can sign up for Dance Acrobatics & Floorwork with Alex @ 812 Chestnut through the 812 schedule page here, using a drop in, membership, intro month, or class card pack! Thanks Alex!
Genesis teaches Street Dance Choreo at UMA 2100 Chestnut location on Mondays from 8-9pm! Street Dance Choreography is a great class for advanced beginners and above. This is the class where UMA participants are able to experience fun and compelling choreography that fuses styles like hip hop, locking, popping, house, breaking and waacking. Street Dance is the umbrella term used to describe the aforementioned styles and more. The Street Dance Choreography class provides the opportunity to learn and drill basic vocabulary. But ultimately, the goal is to sew the moves from the various styles into fun choreography to bumping tunes. This is a class that offers students the opportunity to fuse all of what they might find on the menu at UMA into one dish. Learn more about Genesis and her class below! Learn more about Genesis & Street Dance Choreo! -How did you get involved in dance? Dance was always around me growing up. From seeing my own family members dance at gatherings, to teaming up with my siblings and cousins to make a whole dance number for the grownups to see. It felt true to me to consistently be involved with dance. My spirit always knew this was in alignment for me. -What is your training background? I have a background in technical styles such as modern and ballet, but also spent a lot of my time in college training in styles of the Diaspora such as Afro-Cuban, Afro-Caribbean, and West African styles such as Lamban and Kassa. It was when I moved to Philly that I began to dabble my feet into street styles such as House, Locking, and even Vogue! -How do you go about creating choreo for your Street Dance Choreo class? What inspires you? What music do you like to use? I’m extremely moved by music and feeling. If I have a feeling I want to express, I try to find a song that can get me to that. Music resonates in ways that movement cannot so blending those two are essential for me in my creation process. I’m inspired by the feelings of joy and liberation. The abilities that come with true freedom and release are something I want to bring to my classes. House music is very important to me as it encapsulates how music can liberate your soul, so I listen to this for inspiration. -What is Street Dance to you? Why have you pursued Street Dance? Street dance to me is more than just the movement born outside the studio spaces. It’s the culture, the people, the unity. What makes street dance is the social part. Social interactions. My connection to community is what drew me into street dance. -What do you want folks to take away from your class? I want folks who take my class to walk away feeling good in their spirit and knowing that class is a communal experience just as much as it is an individual one. I want amplify the same feelings I get going to events like Kyle and Dinita Clark’s SoleFull Sessions. No matter what your background and experiences are, we’re all here at the same time to experience the same thing. Class isn’t about perfection, but the beautiful moments you find in the progress! You can sign up for Street Dance Choreo with Genesis @ 2100 Chestnut through the 2100 schedule page here, using a drop in, membership, intro month, or class card pack! Thanks Genesis!
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ContributorsKayla Bobalek Archives
August 2024
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Locations
812 Chestnut StSearch 'Urban Movement Arts @ 812 Chestnut' on Google Maps
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2100 Chestnut St. 2nd Flr
*entrance is on 21st! between Rione Pizza & Monde Market*
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