1520 Arts in the community | Sept

One of our goals each year is to stay as active as possible within the community.  This could be anything from performing to teaching.  We are really lucky to be able to participate in so many amazing events and September was no exception.  Here is what we we’ve been up to the last few weeks.  If you’re ever out and about and see us, come up and say hi and feel free to jump in!

Park Silly Sunday Market is “An ecofriendly open air market, street festival and commUnity forum where neighbors and friends come together to celebrate our commUnity of fun and funky Park Sillians.”  We’ve been able to perform at Park Silly for the last couple of years and it’s always a fun experience.  In September we brought one of our students perform with us.

Bboy Rook helped us teach the audience a bit about Hip Hop’s history as well as the different elements that go into a Breakin’ round.  Park Silly attendees young and old are always willing to jump in the cypher with us which makes it that much more fun!

We’ve been to Ability & Choice Services a couple of times now and the clients are always so fun and energetic.  We spent some time doing a demo of Breakin’ and talking about some of the different elements that make up the dance.  After the demo clients are able to come up and spend some time learning from us.  We form two cyphers and run through the basics of Tops, Footwork, Power and Freezes.

To finish it off we have one big cypher where everyone shows what they’ve learned while adding some creative moves into the mix.  Regardless of our ability level, everyone can be creative.  It’s so much fun to share and exchange with everyone while watching them learn things that make them happy!

50% of the events we attend are on a volunteer basis.  We are able to this thanks to donors like you!  A $10 donation provides 1 hour of free Dance, Art or DJ instruction.  Whether it’s $10 or $1000, your donation helps provide high quality Hip Hop Arts programs for Utah’s youth.  Join the Cypher Club today and take your donation even further!

“Choose Gang Free will promote change through opportunity, ​education, and collaboration, and restore hope by empowering youth ​and families to choose a gang free lifestyle.”  This was our first year at the Choose Gang Free event.  We brought out our paint wall and did a bit of dancing.  When they weren’t participating in the basketball tournament, kids were able to paint and learn a lil bit about hand styles and barring out pieces.  Hip Hop culture provided an alternative to gangs during the early 1970’s and the same is true today.  By providing a creative and challenging outlet for youth, Hip Hop culture can create opportunities that at risk youth don’t normally have access to.  We were pumped to part of the event and look forward to coming back next year.

Celebrating it’s 9th year, The Urban Arts Festival brings a unique mix of art and performances to SLC.  This year we gave a crash course in Hip Hop’s history and it’s four core elements.  Mixing narration with demonstration we were able to talk about where the culture comes from and how we all participate in it’s elements.  Students from The HERC and Element Dance Center where on hand to help us.  As is tradition we finished off the night with a cypher and were treated to a performance by Slick Rick!

Sunday we were back to to enjoy the Lowrider Hop Off.  Their first time at the festival, it was really dope to see Utah’s lowrider community getting a bit of shine for the hard work they put in and we look forward to seeing them at more events.