Voice of Real Australia is a regular newsletter from ACM, which has journalists in every state and territory. Sign up here to get it by email, or here to forward it to a friend. Today's newsletter is written by Border Mail journalist Jodie Bruton.
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ARE you down in the cabbage patch? Up on your iron horse?
Are you tutting, popping and bouncing with glee to every sick beat?
Then you too, my homie friend, are learning the art of hip hop! Rad!! What a coincidence!?
Cabbage Patch is not a doll: it's a dance move.
The Iron Horse is not a steam locomotive: it's a sequence.
Tutting is a street dance style based on angular movements, which are supposed to stylise the poses seen on reliefs in the art of ancient Egypt, and refers to King Tut.
But you probably already know this if your dance teacher is on the same page as mine.
When I accepted an invitation to join Stars of the Border 2020 Dance for Cancer in January, no one even mentioned "hip hop" in a sentence.
It was all-singing, all-dancing with a super side of fundraising thrown into the neatly-choreographed community event.
The important money-spinner for Cancer Council NSW did not have a breakdancing component, as far as I knew.
Mine is hip hop.
Training with Wodonga hip hop teacher Kim Blanza out of Al's Indoor Skate Co in Wodonga, I finally have some street cred with my daughters. Admittedly, if they saw me on the mini ramp they would soon change their minds.
Having started an adult ballet barre class two years ago, you might think hip hop would be a natural extension. Wrong! The genre is proving quite a stretch for me but I am thoroughly enjoying my ever-expanding vocabulary!
On Sunday night, I hosted a Barre Night at Beer DeLuxe Albury as a fundraiser for Cancer Council NSW.
It was a barre class with booze to boot.
My hip hop teacher did a popup class after the ballet session.
People got out of their comfort zones; moving and shaking, grooving and stretching together.
Turns out it was probably good preparation for the weeks and months ahead.
When in doubt, dance it off!
Stars of the Border 2020 Dance for Cancer has been postponed for now, giving us a bit longer to try to master our dance genre. In reality, that would take years! Keep up here.
Firstly, however, hold on a minute while I get back up on my Iron Horse!
Oh geez, my knees!!
Jodie Bruton
journalist, Border Mail