Hip hop no longer has a color.
The dance form has gone from the stereotype of gangster music to mostly mainstream. It’s taken seriously in the dance community and attracts all types of performers, even 12-year-old white girls from Everett.
Talitha Thurston is the youngest member of the hip hop team that will perform tonight and Saturday at The Moore Theatre as part of the ninth annual “Dance this …” show.
“Dance this …,” presented by Seattle Theatre Group, features cultural and contemporary youth dance groups who collaborate with professional artists to perform hip hop, contemporary dance, lindy hop, ballet, classical and contemporary Indian and Afro-Peruvian dances.
The show brings together more than 100 young dancers from across the region, including four from Snohomish County.
Talitha Thurston, in sixth grade, says her life so far hasn’t really taught her much about the hip hop world. What she does know is that she likes the dance form because it’s really athletic.
“You have to move so much with the beat and you do a lot more with your upper body,” she said.
The “Dance this …” choreographic husband and wife team of Napoleon and Tabitha D’umo say hip hop has made leaps and bounds since the 1990s.
“Our presentation is a little bit different,” Tabitha D’umo, 33, said in a phone interview from the couple’s home in Los Angeles. “We try to make it entertaining for someone who may not be as young-minded. We really want the older generation to accept and embrace hip hop.
“It is great to see the evolution of hip hop music,” she continued, “now that it has a little bit of jazz influence and cleaner lines and the musicality is more intricate.”
Napoleon D’umo, 38, said that in the early ’90s, most of the country didn’t recognize hip hop as a dance form. “Now it’s mainstream and commercial, but we’ve been here from the beginning,” he said.
Their career started in Las Vegas when the two first collaborated together. From there, they directed and choreographed shows for large companies such as Nike, Apple Computers and Levi Strauss &Co.
Napoleon then moved to Los Angeles, where he began work in television, music videos, film, tours and commercials. He has directed and performed with a variety of artists, including, Beyonce, Sisqo, Missy Elliott, Timbaland and Destiny’s Child, as well as choreographed opening acts for Justin Timberlake and B2K’s world tours.
The couple’s film and television credits include the Grammys, the Billboard Music Awards, Soul Train, Legally Blonde, “The Andy Dick Show” and Mastercard commercials.
The couple said the best part of their jobs is teaching and working with students, such as those in “Dance this …” – especially the young ones like Talitha.
“That’s the funnest part of the job,” Napoleon D’umo said. “… What happens is, they go for it.”
Arts writer Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424 or goffredo@heraldnet.com.
“Dance this …” participants perform a hip hop dance.
Talitha Thurston
“Dance this …”
7:30 p.m. today and Saturday, The Moore Theatre, 1932 Second Ave., Seattle. $20, $12 student ($23 and $15 day of show). 206-292-2787, www.themoore.com, Ticketmaster.
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