The Greeley West theater students went on a field trip Friday to Denver to watch an international festival of hip hop dance. This is the second year that the Denver Center of Performing Arts has put on this event, which is hosted by Jonzi D in partnership with UK dance organization Sadler’s Wells. It showcases the world’s best dancers from break dancing to underground street dance. This year’s lineup included Antoinette Gomis, BirdGang Dance Company, FemmeFatale and The Ruggeds, which are all international groups.  However, local groups also performed including Block 1750, BBoy Factory, and Trick & Blows.

The official show for the public was this past Saturday and Sunday, but schools were given the chance to go and watch beforehand. Not only did this event show talented performances, but it also provided students with workshops, graffiti artwork, special guest DJ’s and open freestyle sessions. Ms. Peggy Freemole hoped her students would be able to learn more about different styles of dance which they will be learning about throughout the year. It allows the students to be able to fully understand the culture of different styles of dance. She hopes this will allow them to be able to perform better in the future.

The students enjoyed the program and the chance to be able to experience other cultures through dance. The IB junior theater class hopes that they will be able to use the things they’ve learned from the performance to help with projects they have to do next year. Students were pleasantly surprised by the performance because it was more theatrical than dance. Despite it not being what was expected, the students enjoyed the performance and look forward to applying what they’ve learned to their class work.

“I really enjoyed the performance and how high the dance crews’ energy was,” said sophomore Alyssa Wood.