Trial By Cypher
An Honest Review of
Junious “House” Brickhouse’s
Dance Workshop
If you’ve read my write-up on Les Twins’ bombed Bay Area workshop, you’ll know that sometimes I go to dance classes and leave straight pissed off. Some people are amazing dancers, but can’t teach for shit. Others have gotten popular through the grace of knowing the right people or making PR moves disconnected from their actual dance skills. The rest are usually never-made-it locals just trying to hustle up a living who live and die by the old saying “Those who can’t do, teach.”
Junious Lee BrickHouse is none of the above.
So if, like in the Les Twins review, you’re expecting a firehose of comedic call-outs, well…that’s not what this is. But for real — this isn’t about accolades. This is about learning how a master teaches their students and conversely, how you can up your own game by reviewing my notes on his process.
Let’s begin how Junious began, with a warm-up.
How many dance classes have you been to and walked away from disappointed? By now I’ve lost count. It’s outrageous to the point where I think review articles like these are becoming necessary (and by the 20,000+ shares of my last one, quite welcome by the dance community). Some people have said I just have high standards. Fuck that. Maybe the street dance community just has low standards! Considering how few end up taking interest (and classes) in other areas of movement art, or hell, even other non-street style dances, I’m banking on the latter and here’s the worst part — so are the hacks teaching these styles of dance.
Now that you’re good and frustrated about all the wack shit that goes down on hardwood between the mirrors and the students, we can talk about how a real pro lays it down.
Kai: Tell me a bit about Urban Artistry and its goals.
Junious: Urban Artistry started as a project back in 2005 to invest in artists that needed a boost in the artistic directions they chose.
I had just returned to the U.S after living abroad for 8 years and couldn’t help but notice my privilege when I met all the passionate artists in the D.C Metro Area, who didn’t have mentors or guidance. I was a performing artist / educator with a large amount of support. So I just started hitting the clubs, afterschool programs and dancing with people.
Shortly thereafter, started a teaching weekly class and an free open sessions where people would come to build. I started with just eight people and a promise; they promised to continue to reach out to artists and “pay it forward.” Now, forty strong, Urban Artistry, Inc, 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to the performance and preservation of art forms inspired by the urban experience.
We do this through comprehensive programming focused around urban dance culture (Our Dance Academy, festivals, community service, mentorship programs, international exchange programs and the like).
“There’s no magic or faerie dust.
There’s just practice and patience.”
House comes out of the gate swinging. At who? Mostly at YOU if you’re in the majority of street dancers of the opinion that winging it and hoping for the best is somehow superior to putting considerate thought into your dance. Junious opens with notes encouraging dancers to make mental space to think about the motions they want to perform before doing them. He mentions that at first, the task is difficult, as we’ve yet to seamlessly connect mind and body, but with practice, the thought processes speed up and smooth out, allowing for higher levels of coordination, creativity and expression.
Did you hear that?
Yup.
That’s a bomb that just got dropped.
And these aren’t hollow words. Just the day before, two other artists (Toyin and LaTasha Barnes) from his collective, Urban Artistry, invited to compete in Coflo’s House Dance Tournament as part of the Bay Area House Dance Festival went to the semi-final bracket against each other and one could argue, had they not been bracketed separately from the non-invited participants, that they would have been in the finals together.
These dancers embody what it means to be conscious movement artists. Paying particular attention to the details of their movements, systems by which they can excel and as LaTasha made mention to me years ago, to explore intersections between many dance styles as a single, cohesive unit.
Kai: You mentioned in class that you consider yourself a tradition bearer, which I feel is a unique perspective, can you talk a bit on this idea for the readers?
Junious: Well, I get that a lot… it’s not a short answer but let me start with background. My parents and extended family were my first teachers and encouraged me to express myself through the music that they considered to be their culture.
Blues, Jazz, Rhythm & Blues, Funk, Disco, House Music, Hip-Hop… are all American musical genres (and/or sub-genres) who’s histories are rich in artistry, cultural heritage and traditional knowledge.
In fact, when I look back, before I even started grade school, dance was my purpose and today it is still a priority. So, for me, the art is ancestral, a part of who I am.
Being a tradition bearer means that I have accepted the privilege of letting their contributions live through me so I can pass them to others, respectfully. Popping, Vouge, House Dance, Hip-Hop, B-Boying/B-Girling, Locking etc… all art forms that make up what I call Urban Dance Culture… these are living traditions that we celebrate them every day… and do our best to make our mark, our own contributions.
I often wonder why more people do not use the term.
In my opinion, we often reduce our own art forms in the eyes of other communities by denying them language that expresses importance and longevity.
That is why I use the term tradition bearer.
The short answer is:
What I do as an artist does not come from me, meaning I am not the sole source of the art forms I share.
Okay. Okay.
But what old-school, underground House Dance steps did you learn?
My only caveat to this workshop was that after the beautiful warm-up took us through layers of simple and complex motions that got everyone’s blood flowing, we were paused to talk about cypher etiquette. Now you know me…I love cypher etiquette. Hell, I wrote what the Internet might consider the definitive guide to it in “9 Dance Cypher Rules No One Ever Told You.” So to hear a veteran dancer like Junious Brickhouse lay down some of the same ideas provided me with both the affirmation that my thoughts were representative of the community at large and a glimmer of hope knowing other dancers legitimately think about and teach these principles in a structured format. Big ups for that! However, to warm up students only to have them sit for 15 minutes of (awesome) lecture is counter-intuitive.
What would you have done differently?
Glad you asked.
The majority of the workshop was formatted in what I’ll now forever refer to as “Trial by Cypher.” Junious laid out a variety of performance related concepts and volunteers, both anxious and terrified, where chosen to practice these ideas in a real-time cypher of their peers. And we’re not talking about skates and shuffles. We’re talking about performance level concepts like communication of intent, gesture based introductions, physical storytelling and more, all able to be practiced on the spot by the students in their native environment — the cypher.
One word: Genius.
To not only hook in cyphers into the foundation of the workshop, but to explain some simple rules about cypher etiquette beforehand made this one of the most elegant and culturally attuned workshops I’ve ever taken across all artforms. But the fact of the matter remains that cyphers are scary to untrained dancers. Especially in a workshop centered around House Dance when a full quarter of the class, by show of hands, admitted they’ve never taken a House Dance workshop before. Because of this, I would have liked to have seen some House Dance basics taught after the warmup and before the cyphers.
Kai: Do you have any advice for dancers out there looking to up their teaching game?
Junious: Yes. Urban Dance Education is a path I chose to help people connect with their instrument (the body). I make a conscious decision, every day to introduce them to the music and dance traditions I treasure, in hopes to help them find the peace and purpose I have been found interpreting music with movement.
Most may understand this type of passion for dance but I would like to encourage dancers trying to up their skill sets to see and embrace the responsibilities that accompany being an educator of traditions. Teachers are educators and educators are tradition bearers and the inspiration behind the innovations of their students.
With that said:
1. Teach from your experience; it’s better to be on a path of growth as an educator, respectfully, than to let market trends and business push you to fake knowledge you have yet to acquire; integrity is nonnegotiable.
2. Don’t get caught up in the rat race. Be careful to not put the industry before culture or the students who depend on you for growth & guidance.
3. Whatever genre you teach, love it… but with the kind of love that welcomes change, the perspectives of others as well as evolution.
House closed the session with a Q&A. Perhaps this was time for students to reflect back, consider what needed revision and re-ask?
Nope. This is when the big guns came out.
The students took to task firing off some tough questions at Junious to be met with legitimate answers instead of side-stepped for fear of stepping on the wrong toes. And I don’t mean to say House was out there callin’ folks out, far from it. He preached honesty of self and humility in every message, making his session a standout amongst most Q&As full of political dodging and self-aggrandizing. You could feel the gratitude radiating off the students for that alone.
EOD
End of the day? I felt like I was a better dancer at the end of this workshop. What more can you ask for?
Well, a lot more actually. And House provided.
Want to add to the conversation? Here’s your chance.
