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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 4, 1999)
/ Story by Sarah Baker Photos by Lane Hickenbottom b . ■ Breakdancer / artist uses talents to teach new generation about hip-hop culture «he beat reverberated through the small, dimly lit gymnasium as 200 tiny faces of all colors watched in awe. Each of the dancers - with nick names such as “Fas-One” and “Too Tall” - took turns showing their breakdancing styles in the semi-circle of street-smart, Adidas clad performers that made up the Alliance All Star B-Boys and B-Girls. It could have been 1985. For Houston Alexander, one of the dancers and the founder of the Alliance All Stars, performances such as this have a goal that extends beyond show ing off fancy footwork. He wants to educate. The spread of the hip-hop culture, including the art and dance that go along with it, is the basis for all die work Alexander does. He said the next generation of kids is where he wants to begin. “This generation accepts (dancing and graffiti) as an art form,” he said. “They know about it It’s a whole culture, but people are always going to look down on it just because the young kids are doing it.” As part of making those goals a reality, Alexander and his crew will teach a breakdancing class at the F Street Recreation Center, 1225 F St, this Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. The class is open to all ages and is the first of its kind for the center. Alexander also teaches weekly classes in North Omaha at the CW Boxing Club, a small gym nestled among the urban sprawl surrounding Cass Street Alexander, who has been a breakdancer-or B Boy - as well as a graffiti artist since about 1984, didn’t always put his talents to such positive use. Painting graffiti art on buildings in his North “FAS-OHE” Houston Alexander shows his breakdancing moves. Alexander, of Omaha, has been breaking since about 1964._ Umaha neighborhood was nothing out ot the ordi nary for Alexander and his friends, nor were frays with the police. “Oncejyhen we were out painting an illegal mural, we had to dodge the cops,” he said. “They saw me and my friend with mmmeBBBntmsmBmtmaswiBss&Bk J____ j_-■> - j Alexander said his group does anything they can to spread the ideas that are at the heart of what he stands for. “Anytime we have a chance to do something for the next generation so they can see (the culture) is more than just rap music, we have to do it,” he _(dlL. L_▲_1__:__ d_• ____ me paint ana we startea to run - almost got hit by a cop car- but we got away. They did take 50 or 60 cans of paint though. “Silly stuff like that hap pened all the time.” _ ’ For Alexander, break dancing went hand-in-hand with graffiti art as he grew up in die midst of urban cul ture. * said, we nave to show them there is more culture to be spread.” Although his graffiti may not seem like art to some, Alexander said he realizes the importance of what he does and tries to stress that to others. “It gets pushed to the side because it’s from the street,” he said. “And just like all street things, it gets no respect.” Navarro agreed. “It’s just art - like going into a museum,” he said. “It’s just stretching a painting onto a wall.” Alexander said he thought many people mis “I started to break when I was just a little kid around the way,” Alexander said. “It was understand what graffiti art is and what it means. “There are gang writers and there are art writers,” he when hip-hop was really mixed up in the media, when everyone was diggin’ Run D.M.C.” B-Boyin’ on the street comers of the Old Market in downtown Omaha was what Alexander, along with his friend and mentor Joe Navarro, did every weekend instead of making trouble. “We’d just get a comer in the Old Market, find some cardboard, and start breakin’.” Navarro said. “All the crews started meeting there to dance all the time.” Both Navarro and Alexander started separate B-Boy crews as youths* and eventually, as they got older, moved in separate directions with both their art and danc ing. Today, both are still actively involved in the hip hop scene, and both work to keep die culture at the fore front of their endeavors. “J KIDD” Jeremy Kidder, front, “Fas-one” Houston Alexander and “Coojo” are part of the Alliance All Star B4kiys and B-Dnls, a break dancing troupe started by said “There are certain types of graffiti that even artists don’t agree with - like writing on a church. But to wipe out the art, the beautiful pieces, that would be crazy. People want to wipe it out because they don’t understand it” Alexander’s graffiti art has become more than what was once an illegal hobby. Now he gets com missioned to do floor to ceiling murals - usually in local shops. Although the reputation graffiti holds in the art world is debatabl, its reputation in the neighbor hoods where it is displayed is indisputable. “There are walls in Omaha that date from the ’70s,” Alexander said. “No one tries to touch it, no one has sprayed over it. There is a real respect there, and that is rare.” That same respect, Alexander said, is begin ning to re-emerge conceming breakdancing. But as part of that re-emergence, the dancing itself has gone through some changes. “The style has evolved,” he said. “It incorpo rates more gymnastics, more a rial moves than it did back then, and just a lot more complicated body movements. You have to be in a whole lot bet ter shape.” Jeremy Kidder, a dancer in the All Stars Crew - the aforementioned “Too Tall” - agreed with Alexander. - “When I first started, I did a lot of things I shouldn’t have done,” Kidder laughed. “Shorter is definitely better when you are breakin’.” Both the healthy body and the positive benefits of breakdancing are important parts of what Alexander teaches his students. Angela Lee, one of Alexander’s students and Please see DANGERS on 14
