Stephanie Lee is changing the face of hip-hop at the University, one six step at a time.
Lee, a kinesiology freshman, is the only female in the 30-member Hip Hop Coalition.
“I am honestly the only girl in the Hip Hop Coalition,” Lee said. “I think it’s cool that a girl can do it.”
The Hip Hop Coalition started out as a break dance practice session, said Kevin Anthony Moore, biology freshman, and Hip Hop Coalition member.
“But now DJs, MCs and poppers and lockers are coming out,” he said.
Moore said he and some of his friends are training with the Hip Hop Coalition to increase strength and flexibility, to reach their goal of being in Cirque du Soleil, a circus-like show.
“It’s everything from strength moves to evolving new ways of dancing,” said Philip Zachariah, a biological sciences senior and Hip Hop Coalition president.
Lee said she used to compete as part of a team with another girl in two-on-two “dance off” competitions at Spanish Moon, but because they were the only girls in the competition, things did not work out in the end.
“It got to the point where our own crew members started hating on us … and we were really hurt by that,” Lee said. “After a while, we got out of that scene.”
Break dancing is definitely not a “boy sport,” Lee said.
“A lot of boys do it — a lot of boys have the power, have the muscle to do it,” she said. “There are girls, it’s just very rare, and it just takes motivation, determination, and then if you really want to be good at it you can.”
Lee said she actually started break dancing to win back a boy, but ended up loving it.
“I did not go into break dancing because I saw it and though that it was cool. I did not go into it because I thought I would impress a lot of people and get famous one day for it,” Lee said. “I went into because I thought that I would win somebody over, and it did. But I realized that I loved it … and now I do it all for me.”
Lee said she encourages other women at the University to join the Hip Hop Coalition because it is a great sport as well as a great lifestyle.
“I picked it up and now it’s a lifestyle for me,” Lee said. “I wake up, think about it, I go through the day thinking about it, just all the time — I love dancing, it’s really soothing, not even break dancing, just dancing in general, because when I’m mad or sad, I don’t cry … I seriously just turn up the music and just dance.”
Lee said anyone can learn the sport, it just takes time.
“A lot of people look at it and they see the hard moves, and they’re like, ‘I want to do that right away,’” Lee said. “You can’t just step into it just like that, these guys have been working for … years, it’s amazing what they can do now, compared to what they can do when they started off, and people just don’t see that.”
Break-dancers start off the sport with the six step, a dance move on the floor, with the dancer’s weight on his hands, then move on to more advanced moves, Lee said.
“Then after that, you can do a four step, a three step, anyway you want to,” Lee said. “You just incorporate your own style of dancing into it and it becomes original.”
Lee said she and her break dance friends often are asked to do shows around Baton Rouge. They dance regularly at clubs and have performed at the Shaw Center, in a wedding and were asked to be in a fashion show.
When they do dance at clubs, people really respond to power moves, Lee said. “When you spin on your head, back or anything that involves motion, like crazy motion, people love it.”
Crowd-pleasing moves can result in injury, Lee said.
“Sometimes you have risks — if you don’t stretch, you can tear a muscle, if you do head spins, you can crack your neck and die,” Lee said.
The Hip Hop Coalition meets in the Union, every Friday at 8 p.m., Lee said.
Zachariah said the Hip Hop Coalition will participate in the LSU Dance Concert at the LSU Union Theatre, on Saturday, April 30, at 7:30 p.m.