Dealing with Tragedy Through Hip-Hop

Hip-hop music fills the halls of University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s student union every Monday and Wednesday at 8 p.m. as 18 dancers sweat, learn choreography and express themselves in sync with the rhythm.

Hype dance team offers Wisconsin college students a chance to express themselves in an active and creative outlet while building relationships with like individuals. UWM junior, Candace Stingley, found Hype dance team during a time in her life where she needed to cope and express herself.

“What got me really big into dance was…really around when my brother died, and I needed to find a way to just express myself. I was just going through a lot, and I found myself in the studio for five or six hours a day, six days a week. Like, it didn’t stop. That’s all I was doing was dancing and that’s when I fell in love with it, and I found that it’s something that I’m really passionate about.”

During her first semester of college in 2012, Stingley was at a dance showcase at UWM’s Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts, when she learned that something happened to her younger brother, Corey Stingley.

“I was at a dance showcase and my brother came in and told me, “Corey’s in the hospital, we have to go.”

Stingley and her family would come to learn that their family had lost a member of the family in a racially charged altercation in which 16-year-old Corey Stingley lost his life in West Allis. He was restrained by customers at a store who said he’d shoplifted; although arrests were made, the District Attorney ultimately opted against pressing charges.

“He was in a coma for two weeks before my family had to decide to let him go,” she said.

Dealing with the unexpected loss of her brother, final exams and much more, Stingley needed to find an outlet to release the stress and emotions of what she was going through and she found that and more through UW-M’s Hype dance team.

“It’s really when I can just shut down and let my body and muscles just remember the moves. I just get to shut off my brain for as long as I’m on the dance floor and it’s like I can free myself and let myself be as expressive as I want and get to say how I truly feel without being judged for it.”

This type of self-expression is exactly what UWM’s Hype team is all about, according to UWM’s Hype director, Becky Zander.  “We’re just a huge family. We laugh and we know a lot about each other. We go out and do things together. These are friends you can have for a lifetime.”

J.C Cunningham founded Hype dance team 15 years ago at Marquette University. Five years later, Cunningham bought a UWM Panther sweatshirt and started handing out fliers around campus and birthed a chapter of Hype dance at UW-M.

Currently, UWM’s Hype dance team has 18-22 members participating. Hype dance team also accepts guest dancers as they hold open practices open to the public. Hype dance team invites college students, community members, or just anyone interested in dance and hip-hop to come to a practice and learn some choreography.

Catch Hype performing April 7 at Marquette University and April 30 in UWM’s union ballroom.