Print Version

Hip Hop Dance At Ole Miss

April 28th, Beyond Movement, a new hip hop dance group marked their spot at Ole Miss. Beyond Movement was started by Jasmine Harris a senior at the University. Harris has tried to start a successful dance group for the 3 years she has attended Ole Miss. This is the first year that a group she started has a actually had show. April 28th Beyond Movement had there showcase to display the dances they worked so hard to perform. The group consist of 19 members, 14 girls and 5 boys.

The group’s main focus is hip hop, but they are thinking of expanding their style of dance. “We have the most dedicated group of dancers and students that we can’t help but to grow as a team, family, and individually” the head choreographer, Taylur Avery stated. The group members are truly dedicated. Beyond Movement practiced six times a week starting in January up until the showcase. Balancing a demanding practice schedule and school work was difficult for the members at times but they got it done.

The showcase was a great success. The show was located in the Luckyday Residential College’s commons. For their first show they had a huge audience of 250 people. Beyond Movement performed four different routines with the theme of the show being America’s Best Dance Crew. Between each performance they had younger female dancers from ages 5 to14 perform from a dance school in Oxford. “Hard work pays off and you can tell through the Beyond Movement showcase it was a great show”, an audience member, Jonathan Pender said. The show overall had great feedback.

Every song that Beyond Movement had a routine too was up to date and a crowd pleaser. For example 6 foot 7 foot by Lil Wayne and Look at Me Now by Chris Brown were two songs they had a routine. The group really showed their skills by doing back flips and complicated stunts in some of their routines. There were videos to kick off each performance to tie in to the ABDC theme. Beyond Movement went outside of Ole Miss to make their team a success. They went to Mississippi State to watch and learn from another hip hop group that has been around for years. During Spring Break Jasmine Harris took dance classes so that she could help the group with new material that she learned.

Beyond Movement came together by word of mouth. It started off with seven members. They asked around for people that wanted to dance and found the rest of there group. They held practice in the Residential College and Luckyday Residential College weight rooms. The space was very tight, but no other place on campus would let them practice in a bigger area. By starting a new group they battled a lot of obstacles. Not knowing how or where to get their costumes and finding a venue was apart of the biggest battles of putting on the show. It was a great learning experience for them next year. The showcase will now be an annual event because of the great success. The group admitted that they grew closer as friends and more like a family. Beyond Movement will be holding the first and last auditions in fall. “We are not going anywhere, so look out”, Victoria Ray said.