[upbeat cheerful music] [upbeat lively music] - Hey, are you coming?

Yeah, it's started.

Okay, okay, see you soon.

Hi, I'm Olney, a Teaching Artist from the New Victory Theater.

And today, we're going to explore house dance and how it connects us to our community.

House dance is a style of dance that originated during the early 1980's in nightclubs in New York and Chicago, which is the birthplace of house music.

The style was influenced by African dance, Latin dance, tap, and even martial arts.

House dance is about freedom, improvisation, and feeling the music.

It's a groove and energy, and a ton of fun.

It's also a workout out, whew.

Today, we're going to explore some different house dance moves, put them together as a community and then celebrate with a cypher.

But speaking of community, where are my friends?

[knock on door] Yes, they're here!

[door creaking] - Hey!

- Come in, come in.

You do not need to take your shoes off.

Come on in.

These are my friends, Kyla and Nicole.

I am so glad you're both here, welcome.

Thanks Olney, I'm so happy to be here, but I am a little hungry.

- Me too.

- Well, one thing that can bring every community together is food.

And you know, we're actually gonna dance together by creating a menu of sorts.

- There's no actual, there's no actual food?

- Nope, let's go.

Today's house dance menu consists of three main ingredients, our base, our sides, and our individual spice.

Got it?

- Got it.

- Got it.

- Great, let's learn our base move first.

Our base move is the two-step.

It looks like this.

[upbeat lively music] Join in with me.

Ready?

Five, six, seven, and.

[upbeat lively music continues] Now that we have our base, let's explore some options for our sides.

Our first side is jacking.

It looks like this.

[upbeat lively music continues] [upbeat lively music continues] Our second side is a paddbre.

It looks like this.

[upbeat lively music continues] And our third side is lotus.

It looks like this.

[upbeat lively music continues] Okay, we have our base, and our sides.

Last but not least, we'll sprinkle some spice into our house dance meal with a little personal flair, that extra oomph we need to make it amazing.

For our spice, we should each come up with a movement that expresses our own individuality.

Hmm, let me think.

Oh, okay, here's what my spice move looks like.

[upbeat lively music continues] - Ooh, that is spicy.

- Thanks.

What does your spice move look like?

- Oh, maybe like.

[upbeat lively music continues] - Ooh, nice, I love that.

Here's what mine would look like.

[upbeat lively music continues] - Yes, okay, I see you.

Now that we have our moves, let's combine them.

We'll do our base move together But we need to pick one side.

Which side do we really wanna do?

I like the paddbre.

[upbeat lively music continues] I like the paddbre, but I also like the lotus.

[upbeat lively music continues] - Ooh, yeah, I vote for the lotus.

- Great, lotus it is.

So we'll do the base, two step, then the lotus, then we'll each add our own spice move to top it off, and end with a pose.

Ready?

Let's go.

[upbeat lively music continues] [upbeat lively music continues] [upbeat lively music continues] Whoa, that was fun.

I love being in community with you all.

You did great.

- Thanks.

- Thanks.

- Let's end our time together with the community cypher, which is common in house dance.

A little celebration to finish off our amazing meal.

[upbeat lively music continues] [upbeat lively music continues] [upbeat lively music continues] [upbeat lively music continues] All right, now it's all you.

Give it a try.

Grab some members of your community and get together for a house dance feast.

Have fun and we'll see you next time, bye.

[upbeat lively music continues]