(hip-hop music)
- [Zipporah] People say
that, like, “Oh, like we're doin' this
“because black girls can't do ballet,
“so this is their alternative.”
It has nothin' to do with that.
I will tell you, every girl in this studio
is classically trained. (laughing)
Everyone does ballet, and everything else.
(hip-hop music)
- [Homer] Last one.
And down.
Heels.
Bounce, bounce.
Bounce.
- My name is Zipporah Wilson,
and I'm a hiplet dancer.
Hiplet is a mixture of hip-hop and ballet
but really anything that
we can try to put en pointe
that has like a groovy feeling to it.
- My name is Homer Hans Bryant,
and I'm the founder of hiplet,
and the founder and director
of the Chicago Multicultural Dance Center.
I think some people get mad
when they see us doing hiplet.
It's not traditional classical ballet.
We're ruinin' ballet.
Well no, it's not ballet, it's hiplet.
It's how we empower our kids,
it's how we empower the world.
Hiplet is so freein' and so open.
There's a different culture here.
- Some of the hiplet movements
are the hiplet strut,
the twist in and out,
the moonwalk,
the vivian,
and the zippy.
You have to have a certain posture
when you're doing ballet.
Usually you're up tall, like straight figure,
posture, everything.
Pointe shoes were designed for ballet.
Hiplet is different.
In hiplet, you can break that,
you can just really move
your torso more, and you can bounce with it.
You know, you can have fun with it.
- You got it, you got it!
- I grew up thinking
that I couldn't do ballet
because of the color of my skin.
At my old studio, because
I was African-American
I was often overlooked.
Until I came to CMDC is
when I really learned
that there was somethin' off.
I'm grateful to Mr. Homer
because he's shown me
that I can do anything.
I love dancing hiplet.
It just gives you a sort of a confidence
and just a freedom of
just, to be yourself.
This is the dance genre
that does not discriminate.
If you have rhythm, and
you can groove en pointe,
you got it.
(hip-hop music)
(electronic music)
