By Mona Lisa Tucker/reporter
Hip-hop artist Ephrat “Bounce” Asherie returned to South Campus Oct. 18 for four days of workshops and master classes as a guest artist.
Trained in ballet and modern dance, the New Yorker began breaking in 2002 and found her spot in hip-hop and house music, said South dance associate professor Gypsy Crane Ingram.
Asherie has performed and taught throughout the U.S. and in Europe as well as in Peru, South Africa and Israel. She has appeared on NBC, MTV, Comedy Central and at Carnegie Hall, Madison Square Garden and New York’s Dance Theatre Workshop.
Ingram said Asherie is on faculty at Broadway Dance Center and loves dancing with musical groups Fox Force Five and MAWU.
As part of her choreographic residency at TCC, Asherie is teaching two kinds of classes – those aimed at students enrolled in the dance department’s hip-hop classes and a community class opened to any South Campus student who would like to experience a hip-hop class, Ingram said.
Asherie’s remaining schedule includes sessions 2-3:30 p.m. and 6:30-10 p.m. Oct. 20 and 12:30-1:50 p.m. and 3:30-5:30 p.m. Oct. 21.
The open community class 12:30-1:50 p.m. Oct. 21 will take place in the dance studio but may be moved if attendance is so large more space is needed. Ingram said that class will focus on Asherie’s strengths — elements of house dance, breaking and hip-hop.
Students attending the class should come expecting a thorough warm-up of their bodies, an introduction to different styles of hip-hop and some “pretty fierce” choreography, Ingram said. She said they should also expect to have an enormous amount of fun.
Ingram said having Asherie on campus is a gift for South Campus students. Asherie has continued to be connected to TCC’s students since her last visit in spring 2008.
