The Teacher Behind the Mask
Expanding His Reach
Before the Jabbawockeez rocketed to world-wide fame during their “America’s Best Dance Crew” stint, Brewer and a few of his crew members started laying the foundation for expanding their reach to dance students and enthusiasts around the country. Brewer and Larot, his “brother from another mother,” began brainstorming and sessioning for hours at a time, hoping to set a new standard for freestyle dance. “There was one point in time where we wanted to train a lot to set our own mark and our own tone,” Larot said. “We would just lock ourselves up in the studio filming ourselves freestyling. That’s kind of how Beat Kune Do came about.”
Brewer began documenting ideas about how to improve musicality and tap into a dancer’s inner ear and natural movement. He took his fledgling philosophy into the classroom, teaching at Culture Shock Dance Center in San Diego and overseeing a new crew called Super Galactic Beat Manipulators, which he no longer manages though the crew continues to operate with his occasional involvement. “He focuses heavily on the force, which is the music,” said Desireé Navadeh, a former Super Galactic member and current assistant to the Jabbawockeez. “He opened my mind and body up to really listening to music and understanding it. I listen to music differently now and have a deeper connection with dance because of him. He changed my entire perspective and [made] a huge impact on my life.”
The Philosophy
So what exactly is Beat Kune Do? “It’s insights and ways to help you unlock your potential by getting you to be comfortable with your personal movement,” Brewer said. “A lot of our movements we do automatically without thinking. What I’m promoting is take some time and mental energy and control your movement. When you apply that to music, you’re better prepared as a dancer. In a way, I am kind of teaching musicality through movement, but not dance movement, natural movement.”
Brewer named his freestyle teaching approach Beat Kune Do, in honor of Bruce Lee’s kung fu style Jeet Kuno Do. Lee, who was tired of rigid and formalized martial arts training, deemed Jeet Kuno Do the “style of no style.” Brewer officially unveiled Beat Kune Do at a workshop for Monsters of Hip Hop last year in Orlando.
The philosophical underpinnings of a dance form typically shied away from by mainstream trained dancers may seem intimidating, but Brewer has been able to deliver his message and break it down for students of a wide range of abilities. “The word ‘freestyle’ sometimes makes even the most seasoned dancer quiver, but Kevin has a way of putting people at ease with it,” Funk said. “I’m excited to see the long term effect of his teaching method.”
Brewer is already making a deep impression on those close to him. “There are those classes you take that you feel so good about because it just makes sense to you,” Navadeh said. “You may not look good, but your body is understanding it. Now when I take class from other choreographers, I find myself asking, ‘Why are you doing this?’”
Bright Future
With the success of the Jabbawockeez, Brewer has had a chance to take his message global, performing and teaching with his crew in Canada, South Asia and across the country. In August, the Jabbawockeez headed closer to home to dance at the Teen Choice Awards as well as other events in and around Hollywood. Speaking of Hollywood, the Jabbawockeez plan to expand their company into a full-fledged brand. “It’s going full force right now,” Brewer said. “Over the next couple months, we’re trying to establish these well-oiled machines. We realize that as dancers, we can’t do this forever. We might be coming out with a clothing line and other merchandise. Everything that you could find for Hanna Montana, we want to do for Jabba.”
But Brewer may not have to rely on Jabba gear to have his face permanently imprinted in the hip-hop dance annals. With Beat Kune Do gaining steam, it may only be a matter of time before Brewer’s name lands next to Boogaloo Sam for forging new territory in hip-hop dance. “When I took dance classes at UCSD [University of California at San Diego], I learned about the history of jazz and the history of ballet and all of those pioneers as part of my curriculum. When I took hip-hop, all I could do was take a dance class,” Navadeh said. “I told Kevin, mark my words: This movement and the ideas surrounding it are going to be taught in universities.” Future college students who enroll in Hip-Hop Philosophy 101 might just find themselves uttering the name ‘Kevin Brewer’ when studying for their final.