Dana “Spirit” House is a Hip Hop historian, educator, choreographer, teacher and master BBoy. He has been in the underground dance scene for more than 25 years. Bboy Spirit was cast in one of the first all Hip Hop off-Broadway productions “Jam on the Groove,” which toured the entire globe, and has proudly shared the stage with Hip Hop royalty such as The Rock Steady Crew, Style Elements Crew, DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Doug E Fresh, Big Daddy Kane, Slick Rick and Run DMC to name a few. Bboy Spirit credits his knowledge and wisdom of Hip Hop movement from his mentors Kenneth “Ken Swift” Gabbert, Jerry “Flo Master” Randolph, Steve “Mr. Wiggles” Clemente, Luis “Trac2” Mateo and Jorge “Pop Master Fable” Pabon. Spirit has performed for various companies such as Adidas, Toyota, Ed Hardy Clothing, Calvin Klein, Pro Keds & Hershey Park. Join him for the next session of Intro to Breakdancing or try his new Breaking Bootcamp drop-in class (starts September 4th) at Joy of Motion Dance Center!
What is your teaching philosophy and/or teaching style?
I believe that everyone has a rhythm and I teach my classes with this in mind. We all have different types of rhythm, but when you take class it’s about finding the foundation of movement in order to accomplish your individual goals.
What is your favorite part about teaching class?
My favorite part about teaching class is learning about how different people think, move, respond and interpret music. Watching everyone’s individual interpretation helps open up my mind because I have to adjust how I teach based on their different philosophies of movement. For example, someone who likes country music interprets music differently from a student who likes hip hop music but I need to find a way to make it simple for both of them to learn the choreography.
What do you hope your students will take away from your class?
I want students to know that hip hop is limitless. Anyone and everyone can embrace it. Just like Joy of Motion Dance Center’s motto “Dance is for Everyone,” hip hop is for everyone. I also want my students to have the confidence in knowing that their creativity is appreciated.
