Katie Woodruff: hip-hop

Katie Woodruff remembers her first hip-hop performance in sixth grade. She remembers the white button up shirt underneath the red suspenders. She remembers the socks pulled up over her jeans, and the black converse on her feet. She remembers the rectangular tortoise shell glasses with white duct tape in the center. She remembers a red bowtie.

Woodruff remembers the smell of hairspray as well as her nerves growing backstage. She remembers the people in the audience and the butterflies in her stomach. She remembers nearly hyperventilating. But she also remembers feeling ready.

Woodruff, freshman, danced her first hip-hop performance to “Somebody to Love” by Justin Bieber. It was the first performance in the inaugural year of the Center of Creative Arts’ Hip-Hop Crew. Three years later, Woodruff says her nerves have settled every year since that first performance.

“I’m always anxious. But as the company grows, and you grow, you learn how to manage your anxiety and your fear,” Woodruff said. “You learn to take the positive energy out of everything.”

It was energy that got Woodruff into dancing. According to Woodruff, she was a hyper child and a drama queen. When she was 3, her mother, Stacey Woodruff, put her in dance classes to exercise and to express herself.

Woodruff first danced at Lucille Rapp Dance Studio and then the Dance Center of Kirkwood. After a two-year stint pursuing competitive swimming in first and second grade, Woodruff returned to dance. She enrolled at the Center of Creative Arts (COCA) in fourth grade hoping to become a more serious dancer.

Five years later, Woodruff takes dance classes 4-7 days a week nearly year-round. These classes cover six different types of dance: jazz, modern, musical theater, hip-hop, ballet and tap.

“You always have to be continuously taking classes,” Woodruff said. “You can’t just come to half the classes. You always have to be there every day. You can’t take a break.”

Woodruff takes hip-hop class twice a week, as she is a member of COCA’s Hip-Hop Crew.  Woodruff loves the contemporary music of hip-hop, as well as the different styles such as street, breakdancing and studio. Woodruff and the Hip-Hop Crew have participated in a flash mob for Dot Foods Inc., and also performed a music video rendition of Ciara’s “Got Me Good” which got retweeted on Twitter by the artist. COCA’s Hip-Hop Crew does not participate in competitions.

Woodruff said there is a negative side to being involved in all of COCA’s classes and performances. Until this year, Woodruff danced on Fridays after school from 4:30-9:30 p.m. Because of this, she was not able to go downtown with her friends or attend Friday night football games. However, Woodruff said the disappointment of missing out on weekend activities was short-lived.

“Once I went to dance I kind of forgot all about it,” Woodruff said. “It was kind of all about being there with my friends and doing something that I love. It’s my second home. I feel safe there. It’s some place I know I can be myself and everyone understands who you are.”

Woodruff decided to take Fridays off this year, but dance takes up Saturdays too, forcing Woodruff to frequently stay home on Saturday nights to do homework.

According to Woodruff, she is enrolled in more than 10 hours of dance classes a week. The week leading up to a performance, called a “show week”, consists of weekday tech rehearsals from 4:30-9 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday ones from 11 or 12-7 p.m. While Woodruff admitted the lifestyle is grueling and tiring at times, there is a constant pull to keep it up.

“You never really get sick of it because you trust everyone there and you learn to build relationships,” Woodruff said. “Some people you only have in classes once a week and you’ll want to go see them that one time a week just to see how they’re doing.”

Woodruff said that she has known her closest dance friends for five years. She said she makes many more every year from dancers transferring studios or moving in town.

“We don’t talk about school stuff,” Woodruff said. “We just talk about what’s going on in dance; about what our teachers are doing, what we’re doing, what shows are coming up. It’s not about ‘I’m so stressed over the homework’ and you’re not thinking about school stresses and friend stresses. It’s almost like a drama-free zone, but you also get to know each other personally because of how much time you spend together. It’s just weird to not be with each other.”

 Woodruff said what she loves most about dance is being surrounded by people that share the passion to express themselves and learn. Woodruff recalled a saying from her hip-hop teacher, Redd Williams, that she holds dear to her heart:

“You can never stop growing. You can never stop learning from others around you and from yourself.”