It is nearly impossible to sit still or not smile when watching a practice or performance by students and instructors of the Origin Hip Hop Performing Arts Academy in El Cajon. Their energy is a bright and fun and just plain contagious.
A family owned business, Origin keeps people hopping, thanks to the dance experience of owner Cheryl Frye.
It is nearly impossible to sit still or not smile when watching a practice or performance by students and instructors of the Origin Hip Hop Performing Arts Academy in El Cajon. Their energy is a bright and fun and just plain contagious.
A family owned business, Origin keeps people hopping, thanks to the dance experience of owner Cheryl Frye.
“Origin is arguably the first hip hop education school in San Diego,” said Frye. “Hip hop is for everyone. At Origin, you will learn the positive educational values of Hip Hop as well as culture and community.”
When it first opened in 2010, Origin acquired a small space in El Cajon, later moving to La Mesa. The dance academy has since grown to such an extent that the students and teachers were very happy to move to a larger space at 469 Broadway in El Cajon.
The biggest obstacle that Frye and her family have faced in growing the academy is the lack of community support.
“There is still the belief out there that Hip Hop is vulgar, ghetto and negative,” she said. “We have proven that it is a multicultural, positive, learning and educational global phenomenon.”
Her son Darius Frye, a lead choreographer at the Origin said emphasis matters.
“We focus on the culture of it,” he said. “That’s why we call the studio The Origin.”
Hip Hop dance, which started out in the Bronx, is actually a blend of rap music, poetry a DJ and graffiti art. These elements all meshed together at the end of the ’70s.
“Poets would sing their poems over the music and when the DJ took a break in the music, that’s when dancers took to the floor,” said Darius Frye. “They’re called break dancers.”
Frye accompanied The Origin’s adult team of dancers to the Hip Hop International Championship on Aug. 11.
“Our adult team took home a bronze medal,” Frye said, smiling proudly.
The weekend after the championship, Origin held a showcase of performances at Parkway Plaza Mall in El Cajon. Amriel Williams, 17, was one dancer who captivated spectators.
Williams said, “I like the culture, the style, the freedom of hip hop. In ballet, you have to have a perfect posture, but with hip hop you can be yourself. Hip hop is all about the music and you can do whatever you want.”
Even the slightly older crowd can get into the groove with hip hop. TJ Evans, who is now an instructor of Hip Hop Cardio and other classes at The Origin, had actually majored in dance when she attended Mesa College before she married and raised six children.
“After my kids were all grow I decidedto lose weight and I started dancing,” said Evans. “That love for dancing came back with hip hop. The rhythm and the beat of hip hop can be danced to anything.”
One of the most energetic of the dancers at The Origin is Angelique Vargas, 17, who has been dancing since she was two years old. For two years now, she has been dancing professionally with The Origin.
“I’m a freestyler, always have been from the beginning,” Vargas said.
When she came to Origin, Vargas was introduced to the dance moves like popping, locking and waving.
“It’s old school hip hop,” she explained.
Vargas said that she has wanted to grow in dance, to be strong and vibrant. That vibrancy was contagious as she choreographed her first class at the showcase in early August at the mall.
“When I dance, I make others happy,” she said. “People can feel what I feel.”
The dancers have had good instruction and inspiration from Frye, who has a career in visual and performing arts spanning more than thirty years. She has taught dance, children’s theater and modeling.
Born and raised in Chicago, she developed cheer programs for iconic Jackie Robinson West Basketball League when she was just 15 years old.
Frye was accepted into DePaul University’s Goodman School of Drama at the age of 17; she also studied at Columbia University at Chicago campus.
For more information about The Origin, go to www.originhhpaa.com.
