Hiplet芭蕾舞演员

They incorporate the rhythms of African drums with Tchaikovsky, 阿拉贝斯克, and beatboxing – all while showcasing Hiplet's trademark sass, hip movements and struts against music from Black Violin to Beyonce. Promoting inclusivity in both their cast and audience, Hiplet的特点是真色紧身衣, 现代音乐, 还有形形色色的舞者, 大小, 和颜色.

荷马科比

荷马科比 is the founder of the Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center and creator of the Hiplet technique. Bryant’s time with the Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) was a catalyst for success in both his professional and personal life. In 1978, 他娶了另一位芭蕾舞演员, 朗达山, 三年后他们的女儿, 亚历山德拉维多利亚, 出生时就患有脑瘫. Bryant’s career highlights include performing in “The Wiz” motion picture alongside Michael Jackson and Diana Ross; in Broadway’s "Timbuktu!" starring Eartha Kitt; and in Drury Lane Water Tower’s “Evolution of the Blues.” He also has trained and toured under prima ballerina Maria Tallchief (one of Balanchine's wives) at the Chicago City Ballet and has worked with Cirque Du Soleil on the creation of “Mystere,”“喜悦,”“Quidam,和“Saltimbanco”.”

In 1990, 科比开了自己的工作室, 科比芭蕾舞, with a focus to offer all dancers – but especially low-income students and dancers of color – an entrée into classical ballet. By 1997, the mayor of Chicago renamed his school the Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center (CMDC) in honor of the studio’s work in the community. 多年来, Bryant has continued to incorporate 嘻哈 and ballet, eventually coining the term Hiplet in 2009. CMDC has trained many dancers who now perform with Cirque Du Soleil, 阿尔文·艾利, 百老汇音乐剧, 和更多的, but it was social media that propelled the program into another dimension.

In 2016, Brazil’s Só Bailarinos reshared posts of Bryant’s Hiplet classes; his unique technique causing so much controversy, the video amassed over 8 million views. 后不久, BuzzFeed, 赫芬顿邮报, and “Good Morning America” were knocking on their door, elevating the view count to over 100 million. 在GMA播放了他们的表演之后, offers for commercial work and collaborations from the world’s most notable tastemakers, 包括奔驰和Vogue, 开始涌入. Today, Hiplet has over 1 billion views, and the phone has not stopped ringing since.

艺术的使命

Hiplet’s viral celebrity created such an overwhelming demand that CMDC began turning down requests. The world was calling but everyone was on hold because most of Bryant’s performers were still in school, and steady revenue was needed to hire dancers to form a professional company. 尽管他们非常受欢迎, the majority of CMDC’s funding and student scholarships was still coming from parent investors.

保持业务增长, CMDC created a professional touring company and partnered with ECE Touring to premiere its first production. 在一起, they hope to expand upon Hiplet’s success and bring this innovative art form to audiences around the world, while continuing to invest in the programs CMDC offers its students and community.

When Bryant opened his studio in Chicago’s Dearborn Station, he envisioned a place where dance training was accessible to everyone. 强调他的奉献精神, 科比的股票, “My mom passed away in 2006; my wife passed away in 2008; my daughter passed away in 2010. I am married to my school and these kids.”

Bryant currently has 285 students training at his studio, almost all female and under the age of 18. 通过旅游, he and the CMDC staff hope to raise enough money to offer more scholarship opportunities and increase enrollment to 500 students with a goal of recruiting and training 50 male dancers off the streets of Chicago.

Bryant sees dance as a way to build character and discipline. Finding inspiration from his daughter’s challenges with cerebral palsy, he pursues perfection but understands fallibility. 布莱恩特会带上亚历山德拉, 谁不能走路或说话, 去他的班级, where she would sit in her wheelchair and respond to the music by moving her fingers. “你看到了吗?? There’s a dancer inside of her,” he would say to his students. “You can take technique and put it on any child's body. 诀窍是让孩子们感觉良好, get them to open up that vision peripherally, to see others in class – not just themselves in the mirror – and to help them join a common purpose.”