Comments on: Kelly MacMahon - Hip Hop artist

By: Michelle Taylor

Michelle Taylor — Fri, 30 May 2008 02:35:03 +0000

kelly was awesome! I really liked kelly because it was a very different from the stuff that we normally do and it made everyone go outside of there comfort zone and try something new. Kelly is also an amazing teacher. She was really patient with us and always asked if we had questions. I have taken class with her at bataille and it was really nice to take class with her again. It also got our heart rates up and it was a very good work out. I hope that she comes back next year cuz i have a great time!!

By: Natalie Horween

Natalie Horween — Wed, 28 May 2008 14:07:42 +0000

I really liked Kelly! her dance was challenging, but not so much that I couldn’t catch on. I’ve never really learned hip hop from a teacher, and it was so much fun! Breaking away from our traditional jazz stuff was a really nice change of pace. The music she picked was really good to, the tempo with the movement worked really well. Her energy and simple comments really helped to learn her choreography. This is definitely not my strongest form of movement, but it was so fun to do I found myself really trying to learn it, and not just letting the movement slip through my fingers. I was working so hard the two days, that I woke up the next morning so sore. I really had fun with her, if I was going to be there next year I would want to learn a whole dance from her!

By: Kathleen Harsh

Kathleen Harsh — Wed, 21 May 2008 01:34:24 +0000

I thought Kelly’s dance was really fun and challenging. I am not used to that style of dance, but I think her choreography was not too difficult for everyone to grasp. I can definately see the connections to jazz and African dance in hip hop; Muntu Dance Company showed us a couple of years ago that hip hop stems from African dance’s contractions and quick, ryhthmic movement. I really enjoyed the couple of days Kelly taught us and loved that I was sore after the first day- that’s always a sign that the dance is challenging enough!

By: Allison Lewis

Allison Lewis — Tue, 20 May 2008 07:54:26 +0000

I enjoyed having Kelly as a guest artist, as I took dance from her for 2 years. There is a definite relation between hip hop, jazz, and traditional African that I noticed in our 2 days together. What I’ve noticed about all 3 forms is that they make full use of the whole body throughout every moment and there’s a certain, yet constant intensity that permeates through all of the movement. Hip hop seems to incorporate the constant energy from traditional African dancing, and it also seems to incorporate the non-repetitive movement from jazz. It’s very interesting, if you think about it…

Either way, it was nice to catch up with Kelly. ^_^

By: Diana Jo

Diana Jo — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:32:30 +0000

I really enjoyed Kelly’s hip hop class. I feel its a more relaxed environment that does take work but you can also enjoy at the same time. When watching a hip hop performer you wouldn’t expect all the little movements in order for it too make up the piece of dance but that’s what makes it all up. I really enjoy the difference of choreography that was brought to the class room.

By: Julie Huck

Julie Huck — Wed, 14 May 2008 01:50:33 +0000

I absolutly loved learning hip/hop. I always thought I was fairly good at “shaking it” but I realized after a few days its alot harder than it looks. A real hip/hop dancer has to focus on the tiniest things to make the biggest difference. Also the moves are incredibly fast and sometimes challenging. The instructor helped us realized that some of the moves are more illusions, and are for the audiences pleasure. Those moves seemed to be the hardest but it was still fun to try!

By: Leticia

Leticia — Sat, 10 May 2008 04:37:41 +0000

I enjoyed working with our guest artist in hip hop. I love how its so different from what we are used to doing in class. Its always a big change, so it gets really exciting. I think its really cool because I can really notice that there are a lot of similarities between jazz dance and african dance. They are both tied together, then you get the energetic movement of hip hop. This type of dance is really fun and gets you moving for sure.

By: Nikki Verheye

Nikki Verheye — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:44:54 +0000

The jazz dance style is definitely prevalent in hip-hop dancing. Some of the differences include using more levels and isolations with different body parts. I enjoyed having a hip hop instructor in class. I think it was definitely out of many peoples boxes. It challenged many people to try something new as well. I think something that needs to be understood about hip hop is that it puts you out of your element. No one is used to moving in that way. Hip-hop dancers who are successful in their careers are ones that are not afraid to put themselves out there. Theres no need to be embarassed while dancing this particular style. Many dancers do get embarassed but they should take it as an opportunity to learn something new.

By: chantel

chantel — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 13:17:43 +0000

I really enjoyed kelly teaching us Hip Hop. I have taken classes from her before and she definitly brings good energy! I can totaly see how the African culture ties into hip hop, and in my opinion, this type of dance is my favorite. Overall, Kelly was a good expereince

By: mkarande

mkarande — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 04:16:27 +0000

To add to my comment:
I could really see the connection between hip hop and African dance. A lot of the pops and isolations were sort of similar to some of the movement we did last year with the African dance guest artist. It also had same verve that the African movement had. Unlike more structured forms of dance, hip hop is far more elemental and free, just like the tribal movement.