(Seguin) – The fusion of hip-hop and ballet comes to the stage this Tuesday night at Texas Lutheran University’s Jackson Auditorium. Showcasing the merger of these dances coined as Hiplet will be the Hiplet Ballerinas: A Fusion of Classical Pointe, Hip-Hop & Urban Dance.
Ashlie Ford, the director of marketing and communications for TLU, says the university is excited to welcome this sensational dance company to campus.
“The Hiplet Ballerinas are a performance group based out of the Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center and Hiplet was created by their artistic director Homer Hans Bryant and it evolved from the Rap Ballet of the 1990’s and it was specifically designed to make ballet accessible to all people. Hiplet is a fusion between classical ballet pointe technique, Hip-Hop and a variety of other dance styles and we know that it is going to be an amazing performance and something that we are really excited to bring not only to campus but to the residents of Seguin,” said Ford.
Ford says the group, itself, has a very interesting background. She says in 1968, inspired by the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Arthur Mitchell decided to start the Dance Theatre of Harlem and then a year later, he took 10 dancers for a lecture-demonstration and when they entered the theater, there was a young boy sweeping the stage and he found himself really awestruck by all of the wonderful African American dancers.
Ford says inspired by what he saw, that stagehand signed-up for the evening’s class and by the end of the year was extended a scholarship to train at the Dance Theatre of Harlem.
“He worked with the dance theater of Harlem and later became their principal dancer and a company member and went on to be the founder of the Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center and the creator of the Hiplet technique, so he has a really interesting story,” said Ford.
Since then, the professional touring company has continued to garner elite attention worldwide for its innovative art form.
Tickets for Tuesday night’s free performance are not required. Doors open at 6:40 p.m. followed by the show at 7 p.m.