Sometimes readers pass along beautiful little gems that tell great stories.
One of those we received over the weekend was the story of the Motor City Rockerz, a Detroit based B-boying group whose focus is mentoring youth through dancing and break dancing. It is in the Street Dance Academy based in Garage Cultural in Southwest Detroit.
In case you didn’t know, B-boying or breaking, also called break dancing, is a style of street dance that originated primarily among African American and Puerto Rican youth during the mid 1970s and has continued since then.
Their approach to youth engagement is a fresh way that community organizers and artists can impact their community – by reaching teenagers through dance.
“It’s an alternative approach to secondary education from what we’ve seen. For me, Personally, the first time I stepped on a college campus is through breaking,” said Benito Vasquez. “Outside of that I don’t think I would of otherwise.”