Giving Hip Hop Dance the Respect it Deserves

The Hip Hop Dance Fest is back for its 19th year. For dancers, this is a chance to take master classes in breaking, locking, strutting, Memphis jooking and other hip hop styles. For the rest of us, it’s just an amazing display of rhythmic prowess. Festival founder and artistic director Micaya says the festival is her chance to showcase people who don’t get the same respect as ballet or modern dancers do, like San Francisco’s Medea Sirkas, Oakland’s New Style Motherlode, and troupes from around the world. Jamedra Brown Fleischman says she and her young daughter had a blast taking a dance class from New Style Motherlode, a bona fide legend on the Oakland dance scene. The festival goes on all weekend at San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts; details here.