Hip Atlanta - Hopping with Energy
Every major American city, it seems, has a vibrant dance scene, but few have developed closer ties between a music and a dance style than Atlanta. The music suggests the movement and the movement inspires the music. The marriage has made them inseparable; the result is a thriving hip-hop scene. Not since the Civil War days when most of Atlanta was burned to the ground, has there been such a fire.
CiCi Kelley is an Atlanta choreographer who knows a thing or two about that white-hot energy. She’s danced in LL Cool J, OutKast, Killa Mike, Usher and Beyoncé videos, and choreographed for the MTV Video Music Awards, Urban Runway, Showtime at the Apollo and a Tyler Perry promo. She said, “The dancers here are ridiculously talented. They’re monsters.
“Hip-hop is very great in Atlanta. We have our own unique style. You could say it’s aggressive, it’s energetic. The volcano is about to erupt. It’s at the boiling point, right at the edge.”
Kelley said it’s also important to stay on top of the evolving scene, both musically and choreographically. “Atlanta is all about cranking and yeeking. I can teach an L.A.-style class, or I can teach an Atlanta-style class. I just have so many styles wrapped up in my little body.”
There are also film opportunities, she said, “The Fat Cats are always filming down here, as well as Hype Williams and Tyler Perry.”
Atlanta is also where the versatile dancer gets the work. Brent Ours, studio manager at Gotta Dance Atlanta, said, “Train, train, train. I think what tends to happen…is that a lot of dancers that work stop taking class. Just because you’ve booked a job doesn’t mean that someone can’t come along and take a job away from you.
“There’s work out here in Atlanta. You just have to have a hunger for it,” Ours said. “Dancers follow in the footsteps of the music.” Some of hip-hop’s major artists, it must be noted, are from Atlanta: Ludacris, Lil Jon and the Eastside Boyz, T.I. and OutKast.
Atlanta Ballet with Big Boi
Photo by Charlie McCullers
With over 150 listings for recording studios in Atlanta’s directory, it follows that there’s a huge market for television, video and tours. Ours said, "The possibilities are endless. There are production companies here. You have all the recording artists from all different genres. It depends what your track is and where you want to go with it. Representation is here.”
Although representation is optional in many cities, it’s necessary in Atlanta. Ours said, “Yes. An agent is going to help you find more work. It’s easy to find work on your own, but a lot of times it’s non-paying or not legit. They’re there to protect you.”
Aris Golemi, owner of Xcel Talent Agency, said, “Casting directors in Atlanta accept submissions only from agencies nowadays. Choreographers do the same. The agencies invest in building relationships with clients, and because of that most of the dancers in the agency are direct-booked in different projects. The agencies provide endless opportunities for dancers, but in my opinion, what happens after booking the job is more important than what happens before or during the booking process. On behalf of the dancer the agencies negotiate the rates and the contracts, issue the invoices and make sure they get paid. It saves the dancers time and money but also guarantees them protection.
“I believe Atlanta is a great market to pursue your professional career. It’s better than it has ever been, especially for female hip-hop dancers. National tours are coming out of Atlanta. Turner South and Tyler Perry Studios are here. More regional and national commercials are being produced and more print work than ever is coming in here. Atlanta dancers book more commercials that have nothing to do with dance than any other dance agency in Los Angeles and New York. The dancers in those markets don’t have the luxury to get the casting calls and go against some of the best actors in America. Dancers in Atlanta do and, given that chance, they have proven to be just fine.”
Dancer and entrepreneur Stephen Jones agrees. “A manager or agent is your protection against getting ripped off or stranded. They prevent you from not getting paid. There’s a lot of companies that don’t pay you,” Jones said.
But, he said, you must also know your worth. "The business side is just as important as knowing how to dance. Never sell yourself short. If you say you’ll dance for $2, they’ll always remember you as the dancer who’ll dance for $2.”
Jones has danced in Cherish, Lloyd, 8-Ball & MJG and Infinity videos and for the BET Hip Hop Awards, “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “Live with Regis and Kelly” and “So You Think You Can Dance.” He has his own company, Crowned One, and he knows the market and what it takes to succeed. “Atlanta has a great underground hip hop-scene. That’s where it comes from. It doesn’t come from the mainstream stuff on TV. That’s just what sells.
“I would say always train, because nobody’s looking for you to be just you. That’s when you’re a choreographer. When you’re a choreographer, you can do what you want all day long. You can do a hint of ‘you’ onstage, but you have to look like the picture the choreographer wants,” Jones said.
Kelley agrees. “I would say definitely indulge in all of the classes, in every single choreographer’s class. It’s going to help you become a well-rounded dancer. Don’t just take hip-hop, because ballet is the center of dance. It helps you move quickly on your feet. You have to train for hip-hop the same way you would for ballet. It doesn’t just fall out of your mouth.”
But with good training, a dancer should be versatile enough to do both. Take, for example, Atlanta Ballet’s dancers. Barry Hughson, executive director of Atlanta Ballet, said, “Good dancers are always interested in stretching the boundaries.” Atlanta Ballet collaborated with OutKast’s Big Boi and expanded their repertoire in a unique and exciting direction. “Hip hop is an art form that really grew out of Atlanta, on-site and it’s a huge part of the scene here. We all agreed from the beginning that we were not going to look at this as a ballet event or a hip-hop event. For an Atlanta Ballet event, the audience really represented the diversity of this community in a way that’s never happened before.”
Hip-hop, at least in Atlanta, is a symbiotic relationship between the music and the dance and it’s becoming harder and harder to imagine one without the other. As Jones said, “If you’re not from Atlanta, you pretty much move here.”