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| Youth Movement |
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| Written by Danielle MacMurchy / Tracy Press / | |
| Saturday, 10 May 2008 | |
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Spurred by movies and an underground hip-hop culture, a growing number of kids in Tracy take out their aggression with their feet instead of their fists.
But show up at the right park on a weekday afternoon, or find the right house party on a weekend night, and you’ll find out what all the brash talk is about. Dancing. Conflict and aggression among pockets of young people in Tracy have recently been geared into competitive, hip-hop dance routines. The most popular local dance form is called T.U.R.F., an acronym for "Taking Up Room on the Floor." "When you dance this way, you’re not just standing in one place, your moves take up a lot of room," said Javier Kawika Carranza Jr. of Tracy. The dances moves are smooth at times and make the dancers appear as if they’re gliding on air, like a moonwalk. Other moves are rigid, like a new twist on the robot. One dancer — or a crew of them — wins if the other runs out of moves, or by the vote of a cheering crowd. As Bay Area dwellers have gradually moved to Tracy, they’ve brought the underground culture of hip-hop dancing, sparked in Oakland, with them. Hip-hop competition movies like "Stomp the Yard" and reality TV shows like "Randy Jackson’s America’s Best Dance Crew" have only fanned the flame of the dance culture.
She’s challenged other young dancers between classes, in parks after school and in parking lots. "Whenever people want to step up, we’re always ready," Ruiviva said of her crew. She said most "battles" are publicized on fliers passed among dancers or posted on the online community MySpace.com. Once a battle is organized, some dancers and onlookers bet big money on the competition. Carranza, 18, said he won $500 a year ago at a battle in the parking lot of Tracy Community Church. He finds dance battles in San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley and Tracy nearly every weekend to compete with his crew, Hit Men. The most money he’s bet is $150, but he said he’s never lost. "There’s some big money to be won," Carranza said. "You don’t bet money if you’re not sure you’ll win." He grew up watching his dad dance as a professional entertainer. Now, whenever the New Vision Adult School student is in the grocery store line, in school or at home, he dances.
Hip-hop dancer Allen Ramos, known in T.U.R.F. dance crowds as A.R., has tried to draw youth at Larch Clover Community Center into the dance culture. Ramos, an employee of the community center, said a few months ago he noticed friction among bored teens. Last week, the 22-year-old convinced Tracy Glass Shop to donate a large mirror so the kids can practice at the center. "I tried to get kids to TURF dance instead of fighting," Ramos said. "I tell them, ‘Let it out by battling in dancing.’" He’s taken dancer Alex Ekwueme, 14, under his wing to teach him the right moves. Competitions at house parties here and there have already propelled Alex, a student at Monte Vista Middle School, into the limelight. He said he’s worked with choreographers who’ve done work for Paula Abdul and will dance in a movie called "Kids Unlimited" that releases this summer. "I’m hoping before I finish high school to have a career set in this," Alex said. Most young dancers agree that the dance battles don’t usually turn violent, but they sometimes draw the attention of authorities. Ruiviva said she has been kicked out of the West Valley Mall parking lot after a large crowd gathered to watch a dance battle. "We’re not really allowed to be there, but it’s not like we’re doing anything gang affiliated," she said. The competitions haven’t set off the sirens of city and school officials, though. Tracy High security guard Marcos Madril has seen more dance battles break out on campus than when he started working at the school three years ago, but he said they’re usually playful, and only a couple have gotten "hyped up." Tracy school resource officer Paul Pedersen said he doesn’t see battle dancing very often. Tracy police officers sometimes break up a crowd before the dancing begins, he explained. Instead of impromptu dance-offs, Pedersen encourages young people to request a permit from the city and host an organized dance competition. "As long as it doesn’t get out of hand," he said, "we’re in support of it." Trackback(0)
Comments
(31)
Do these dancers spend any time in the library? Also, the article says the kids need something to relieve their "conflict and aggression." While focused students are exploring the sciences, others are spinning on their heads.
Yeah why aren't these kids in some liabrary or something. This hip-hop music promotes a thuggish attitude. I see the truck bacgrounded that must be BLASTING AWAY and vibrating the ears and disturbing the peace. I hope hiphop garbage goes out like disco. Everywhere you go you hear this stuff coming through the walls. Annoyance.
Royce & Kristien-lighten up! Not every child is a scholar. Dance is a form of expression and a lot less offensive than fighting. Bravo kids.
..., Lowly rated comment [Show]
haha wow ROYCE AND KRISTEN really thought learn to dance then re-read the article and write another comment cuz yeah RUDENESS haha PUT SOME RYTHM IN YOUR LIFE AND MAYBE YOU WOULDNT BE SO IGNORANT
I think it's great!
Dancing is fun, it's exercise, and a great way to challenge other people without resorting to violence.
This is why the Tracy Press circulates only 2 days a week...trash news. I see garbage like this when they don't even report things that matter like the man that was shot in Alden Glen park a few weeks ago. Wake up.
You know what, it is finally time the tracy press reported some good kids trying to do good. These kids should teach those lame "nortenos" a thing or 2 about doing something positive.
although i like what the dancers are doing and support it, i think that the Tracy Press defeated the purpose of the article by mentioning that these kids are engaging in an illegal activity (gambling).
not all people are as open-minded as i am and understand that this type of dancing is no different than playing the violin or painting a picture. i also understand that people gamble on everything...sports, entertainment, etc., but if you are going to write a fluff piece, keep it fluff.
Blake, you state: this type of dancing is no different from playing a violin or painting a picture. Please explain yourself. Each art medium has a different potential; therefore, each has its own communicative efficacy. Some art forms are superior to others. Your statement is equivalent to saying playing basketball is the same as playing chess. I hope you are a young person who is still wet behind the ears. That is not an insult.
I'd like to see a chess player with rhythm.
stop putting the kids down and let them be productive instead of sitting on their but watching TV and twiddling their thumbs on the remotes. This is not for everyone, and that’s what makes a culture. 
A few days ago I post a comment on what I think about this article and it gets deleted! Wack! Kids like this are making "hip hop" look bad! "Turf" is NOT hip hop and it was never underground... Do you even know what underground means? Hip hop is not about money(mentioned in the article), cars w/ big rims(look at the pic up top), and what you do at the club... Do your research and understand the REAL culutre of hip hop. The only true dance of hip hop is Bboyin' but ya'll know it as "breakdancing"... I've been Bboyin for 12 years now and I clearly understand what "hip hop" is. I'm just trying to spread the message of what and whats not hip hop.. Yes I am hating! Turf is not hip hop!!!!
What a great outlet for the kids. I'm very proud of the young men and women that took the iniative to do something productive. It is definitely a lot better than hanging out with gangs, being bored or becoming obese from lack of things to do.
way 2 go youngsters!
Back in 1985- we did the same thing with Breakdancing! We started Tracy's first crew "Rocking Renegades". Before us, there was The Universe! Man...... thats old school, right there!
yea im bringin you negativity just cuz ya'll givin hip hop a bad name. cuz you aint hip hop. haha. a lot of us REAL hip hop heads laugh at ya'll. ya'll nothin but garbage. how you gonna call turf underground hip hop? answer me one thing.. how did it become underground? i bet none of you dont even know your history.. how you gonna call yourself "underground hip hop" and you dont even know whats it about. haha. ya'll a joke! this is my last comment im leaving, im done with these kids..
[q]Blake, you state: this type of dancing is no different from playing a violin or painting a picture. Please explain yourself. Each art medium has a different potential; therefore, each has its own communicative efficacy. Some art forms are superior to others. Your statement is equivalent to saying playing basketball is the same as playing chess. I hope you are a young person who is still wet behind the ears. That is not an insult.[/q]
Soren, Dancing is not an art form? If it were ballet, would you be so quick to dismiss it? art is subjective, so no form can be greater than another. art is only as good as the person interpreting deems it. comparing basketball to chess? is chess an athletic sport?
Wow, so much to say...so much to teach...so much to learn...
Royce and Kristen...these kids have a lot of energy, and this is how they redeem and express themselves...if they weren't doing this, as many others have mentioned, their energy might focused on some of the negative things that life has to offer. Then you would probably be complaining about that. These kids found something that they love, and is keeping them out of trouble...and for you to talk down to them as if they're wasting their time is sad to me. It sounds as if you might have been deprived of a passion. I hate to sound cliche, but you're a victim of society. Through this passion, kids may not learn how to write a check in the 6th grade...or learn the history of the United States (which, to top it off, they get lied to about), and about Columbus' accidental discovery of America, all in about in middle school...these kids do learn intrapersonal ethics, respect, commitment, teamwork, and many many other things as they apply (as opposed to forcing a bunch of unwanted and soon to be forgotten information into their brains at the library because some guy thinks their dancing is a waste of time). Someone has to coordinate the events that they go to, teaching them financing, accounting, human resources, marketing, etc etc. Please don't hate on something just because you can't do it, or don't understand it.
Now...
Ammo is not retarded...and how are you going to go and complain about someone being 'negative'...and then fight it with negativity? Real good way to make the changes that you are promoting with this ad... Now...Ammo is 100% right...this is NOT hip-hop. I'm not saying it's not dope...im not hating on the dance itself...but it is definitely not hip-hop. Yes, things evolve, yes things change...trust me, we've seen it in hip-hop as im sure everyone else has in their own culture. But that doesn't mean that you can start doing a dance and coin it hip-hop. If I am not mistaken, TURFing came with the hyphy movement? (someone correct me) which promotes a completely different message than hip-hop. Soren, I hope you learned something from reading these comments. Although I don't agree completely with all of Blakes statements, I do agree with him in his defense against you. It is very closed-minded of you to put one form of art on a pedestal to another. you stated: "Your statement is equivalent to saying playing basketball is the same as playing chess." his statement is nowhere near the same as saying that. Your statement compares the physical sport of basketball to the physical game of chess...while his statement was in reference to the value of the activity. I hope, in-turn, that you are a young person who is still wet behind the ears.
Bryan, some art forms are superior to others; just like some men are superior to others. Yet, I suspect you would probably say all men are intellectually equal. Did someone compare dancing to painting?
Soren,
Yes, Blake compared dancing as an art to "playing the violin or painting a picture." It looks as if we will have to agree to disagree on the subject of one art form being superior to another. One man is superior to another? Before I could even respond to that, I would have to ask you to elaborate. "Yet, I suspect you would probably say all men are intellectually equal." I do believe that all men and women under identical circumstances and given the same opportunities have the same capacity to learn, what they choose to learn and pursue is their business. Do you feel otherwise? |
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 09 May 2008 ) |
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So many kids have this great talent and ability to dance an flow that if they would but as much effort into that as they would their homework there would be no stopping them