By Jakob Miller
In a brightly lit studio at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, students gather for a class that offers far more than a workout or an easy elective. Dance 115: Hip-Hop Dance Technique and Theory isn’t just about learning choreography, it’s about unpacking a culture, challenging assumptions, and building a sense of community.
At the center of the course is Omari Carter, one of the newest assistant professors in the School of Education’s Dance Department. He teaches Dance 115 alongside other classes, but he designed this particular course to be different. “It really focuses on not just the actual learning of the dances themselves, but also the history of where they come from, the pioneers of the forms themselves,” Carter explains.
Carter, who hails from London, England, and first came to UW–Madison as part of the International Visiting Artist Program, believes it is crucial to combine movement with history and culture. Despite the fact that hip-hop has become a global phenomenon, misconceptions often still obscure its true roots. “Hip-hop has become a very popular and globalized dance form, and so with that also comes a little bit of confusion about where certain styles originate and come from,” Carter says. By mixing in readings, musical analysis, podcasts, and performances, the class offers critical context for the dance styles he teaches and performs. “You couldn’t have had any of his hip-hop stuff without the actual music that birthed the styles,” Carter says. “So it’s as much a music history lesson as it is a dance history lesson.”
Freshman Emma Demetry had a strong dance background before enrolling in Dance 115, but even she found the combination of movement and history eye-opening. “Being able to picture the history and picture the type of people who are doing the dance makes it more well rounded,” she says.
One of the biggest misconceptions Carter tries to correct is about the other styles that are often swept under the hip-hop label. “A lot of people don’t actually realize that there’s only one style of hip-hop, really,” Carter says. “Hip-hop started in New York, right? So the only style that existed around them was breaking.” Other styles like popping and locking, he explains, developed separately on the West Coast.
Emma came in with her own assumptions, too. “I guess a lot of the terminology is the newest stuff for me, because there are certain moves where I could recognize it from dancing prior, but I didn’t know that it came from a certain place,” she says. For her, learning the history behind the movement added a new dimension to the practice she already loved.
Beyond the technique and theory, Carter’s class is about building a sense of community. “Students don’t realize how rich of a history [hip-hop] is and how rich of a culture it is,” he explains. “It’s really embedded within a community, and not just your physical skill. So I think that’s another big thing that I like to think about, is how we engage with each other.”
That supportive atmosphere resonated with Emma immediately. “The friends are really good, because we get to talk to each other more during the class when we’re helping each other learn,” she says.
The energy is loud, supportive, and encouraging, qualities that Carter intentionally cultivates.
“We’re probably the loudest class in the department, where we actually shout and whoop and cheer each other on when we look at assessments or when we’re just doing exercises,” he says.
For non-dance majors like Emma, Dance 115 also offers unexpected growth. Though she danced before college, she found the class helped her hone new skills. “I think I can pick up choreography a lot faster, and I also feel like I have a lot more control over isolating different body parts at the same time,” she says. The experience even influenced her academic plans. Originally intending to major solely in math, Emma is now considering adding a dance major or certificate.
What makes this hip-hop class stand out is how it changes students not just as dancers, but as people. “The more I can allow the students to appreciate the dance and the culture it comes with, the further away we’re moving from them appropriating it,” Carter says. He hopes students leave with both confidence and a deeper understanding of the culture they are engaging with. “They can enter the outside world and go, ‘I feel like I’ve got a couple moves that I can show off with, but also I know where they come from,’” he says.
For Emma, the class offered more than dance training, it reshaped her perspective. She says the cultural lessons helped her realize that she “really should not make any assumptions about groups,” she says, a mindset she’ll carry far beyond the course.
Inside Dance 115, it’s not just bodies that are moving, shifting and changing—it is assumptions, confidence, and understanding, too.
Jakob Miller is a student staff writer and photographer for the Division of the Arts.