Poised to pop
Old-school meets new-school at the San Francisco Hip-Hop DanceFest.
By Rita Felciano

RECENTLY, IN New York City, I saw a professional all-female company perform a hip-hop version of Stravinsky's The Firebird. The month before, at Dance Mission Theater, I saw a toddler in the recreational Bliss Hip-Hop Company steal the show from dancers twice her size and five times her age. San Francisco Hip-Hop DanceFest producer Micaya is not surprised: The fact that a huge range of performers can get involved is what hooked her on this exuberantly physical dance style in the first place.

In the past 30 years, hip-hop has moved from the hardscrabble streets of New York City and Los Angeles to the top shelf of the music biz – as well as into fitness studios and black box theaters. Hip-hop beats have inspired an international, increasingly sophisticated dance form as likely to be practiced in Tokyo and Paris as in Oakland and Philadelphia.