MYAN helped teen mentors put vision in motion at YMCA program

MARYSVILLE A group of local teens are breaking it down each week at the Allen Creek Elementary School gym, where high school students teach their elementary school peers the art of break dancing.
Part cultural exchange, part aerobic exercise, the beat-boppin and foot hoppin is a huge hit with the youngsters at the YMCA after school daycare program.
More than a dozen Marysville-Pilchuck High School students created the twice-weekly program to share the art and craft of break dancing to a younger generation and to dispel myths some people young and old might have about the street dancing craze that started in the late 70s. The teens bring their own boom box, enthusiasm and lots of patience to the Allen Creek gym, where they work on moves with kids as young as nine years old.
The music is loud, the beat is strong and the action is fast as students and teachers gather round the circle in the center of the basketball court. There each dancer takes the floor for a dozen bars or so, the beat thumping while they display their moves. The youngsters have been learning for about a month and readily imitate their peers, challenging them to ratchet up the skill and difficulty of their routines. The windmill, the downrock, the swipe, the flare and the butterfly kick were all on display last week as the teens dusted off their chops for the class.
Patrick Guanzon is a junior at the M-P Bio-Med Academy who goes by the street name Bboy Phatrix. He is one of the leaders who helps give form and function to the rambunctious dervishing. He stops and explains the moves, showing a kid how to safely complete a freeze that involves a headstand on the hard floor.
It can take some patience to channel the students energies into a solid routine, but for Guanzon the lessons are more than just fun; hes using his time to help complete his culminating project required for his high school diploma.
Its a whole new era for break dancing, Guanzon said. Anyone can be a break dancer.
That includes Julieann McLaughlin, a third-grader at Allen Creek who has been taking the break dancing classes for the last month. She was working with Jeff Sam, a 15-year-old who goes by the name Bboy Question. Sam was teaching McLaughlin some moves on the floor while she was more interested in doing cartwheels.
I like it because it makes me flexible, McLaughlin said.
In the center circle Guanzon was explaining the difference between battles among individual dancers versus the open circle, and how it can be used to help kids get along. For example there are prescribed rites such as call outs where a dancer can challenge another to a bout of skill on the dance floor, instead of a fist fight on the playground.
Many people still lump break dancing in with gang activity, something the teens deny is the case, and they frankly admit that the classes at the Y after school program are designed to help dispel that offensive stereotype. While some sources online say break dancing was used to settle territorial disputes between gangs in the past, the call outs and challenges are now a positive factor and a productive way to settle disputes without people getting hurt.
It takes dedication to know how to dance, and to be better than them, Guanzon said. It doesnt for fighting.
The teens have drawn raves not only from the youngsters getting the free lessons and mentorship, but the program directors and workers, who get to take a breather while the breakers hit the floor.
Tiffini Schlosser is the site director for the Allen Creek program and she said the dance classes provide the students with the opportunity to learn something new and cool. There are as many as 17 teens working with up to 35 kids at any given time, and all have a designated buddy to work with them on a regular basis.
The younger kids think its awesome; this is something they are actually excited about, Schlosser said. I think they love it even more because its not something thats coming from an adult, but its something coming from a teen.
Its also a great way for teens to learn leadership and responsibility, according to Schlosser because if they dont show up there is a disappointed youngster pouting.