Hyfa Dance Crew
Words by Ryan Mitchell
Photography by Jarvis Ho
Hyfa Dance Crew is a dance crew that has gone through generations. Started by Eva Calanza, Hyfedelity (which was it’s name back then) was meant to involve the family into dance as well as the community. But, Eva had to stop because she had her child. That child grew up to be a dance loving girl, just as much as her mother is. That girl, Reeva, re-started the dance crew in her generation to continue her mother’s view on dance. Present for this interview was:
B: Brian Kinio
M: Marlino Ubduma
R: Reeva Calanza
Other Members not Present:
Jackie, Abbey, Eileen, Bernadette, Steph, Marc Fernandez,Marc Domecena, lae, Gian, Sunny, Joan, Niem, Kris
Describe Yourselves
R: I’m a full time hair stylist, 5 days a week. Aside from that, I visit with family, go hiking and go on trips here and there. I’m also choreographer of the group.
B: I’m a goofy guy sometimes. I like laughing and I like dancing
M: I’m the shyest guy in the group; I’m a fulltime student in interior design. I like to travel and I also choreograph and dance for the crew.
R: Our crew started six years ago, we took any show just to get experience and to get our name out there. A friend and I use to practice in the living room, at home and after that we met other people. Then I met Marlina and later on we had auditions and that’s how we met Brian.
M: It’s hard because people come in and out of the group due to commitments. The original members from Hyfa were myself, Marlina, Abby Papa, Natalie, Genisegarian, Andrew, Tony Boy, and Corey. Sometimes we would have dancers from other crews coming into the group [temporarily] with us.
Reeva, what was your mother’s intention with the dance crew?
R: In the late 80′s she started a crew named Hyfedelity, but that’s the original crew. She had poppers, break dancers, they had a little bit of other styles like ballroom or contemporary, and she started that because she wanted her little cousins to dance. They had a multicultural show every Thursday where they would dance and my Mother would sometimes be the judge at some of these shows or family functions- [back in Winnipeg]. That’s what she did up until everyone got older and stopped, and I continued it when I was fourteen.
R: She wanted to be big in dance and she wanted to people to have fun. Dance is a form of expression, it is an art, that’s why my Mother liked art, but through movements. Her main idea was she wanted to have danced around. The fact that we started it all over again, she loved that she said she couldn’t do [dance] because she had me!
Has that goal stayed with the current group?
R: For me I want to have a studio one day because we always have trouble finding a place, and of course it is expensive too. We do fundraising, garage sales, shows, just to pay off all that kind of stuff. Even just opening our show for Quest, that means a lot to us. But if we can aim bigger, the sky is the limit. We are not the most technical dance crew out there, but we love to entertain people. We are dedicated to our craft when it comes to practicing.
Reeva, are any of your dance styles influenced by your mother’s generation?
R: She is mainly a ballroom dancer but she did pop and lock. But I have a background in jazz and ballet and I was also in cheerleading. I don’t have one style, I like street jazz, obviously I love hip hop. Our movement is change to more contemporary.
What type of image you want to portray?
M: A positive image. People look at us as good role models
R: We are different from other crews. A lot of crews do auditions, it’s cool, but for use we like to include anyone. I was so surprised, Brian has changed so much in his choreography and he grew in it.
How do you keep the essence of HYFA?
R: Just the way we are, that’s the thing with Hyfa, we noticed that a lot of people are more studio like, we are very raw , we practice anywhere! We would freestyle on the street, in front of the gallery. Other crews do it a lot , but we keep it very street.
B: Reeva is very old school, that’s one thing she kept from the previous generation
What does a team have to go through in order to make it classic?
R: Keep up with everyone’s level, there is a lot of talented people. Update ourselves with media, new moves
What inspired your mother to dance? Did her contribution torpedo you into dance?
R: Like my mother, I love being the entertainer I love being the spotlight, it is a whole different me.
R: The name keeps changing, but it’s from everything she told me, mainly it’s outgoing, hyper, and very bold-in your face. When you look in the dictionary that’s not even the definition of the original name, but hyfa sounds ‘hyper’ like high energy. The fidelity is-
M: Family
R: Yeah Family! Thanks! And then Hyfa for a short [name], then we just stuck to that.
Describe your first dance steps
M: You were into Britney Spears
R: Yeah I was into Britney, the dirty pop era our moves were very S-club 7. Then I met with my friend and another we got into ballroom, and then got into salsa after the guys joined. After we gained more of a Hip Hop feel- so we added more pop-lock, and more breaking. Morleno came in we became more diverse.
B: When I came in we became more controlled and isolated.
R: We created more transitions, currently we use R&B, it is the trend right now, sometimes we still use contemporary- like Eryka Badu style. When we freestyle we use a lot of instrumental.
How high do you feel when you perform in front of large crowds, like when you opened for the Chamillionare concert?
R: That was a crazy experience, I cannot even explain it, because I’m just a normal person and I’m not even big and all these guys were like ‘touch my hand touch my hand!’ The fact that we just opened up for them made me feel like a celebrity for five minutes.
B: Once I’m on stage, it gets me nervous at first, but once I get going it usually goes smooth sailing for us.
M: For me it brings a whole other personality. When I’m in front of class, doing a presentation, I could not speak. When it comes to dance, I can express myself better.
What should the next generation expect from HYFA?
M: More performances!
R: The fact that this year we got to be opening acts for people that we looked up to. Little things , the fact that we are one of those crews [that are able to open for performers], it’s kind of cool , because we ask ourselves what are we going to be like in the next five years. We have come a long way; it’s a lot of hard work, that’s success.
M: Watch out for improvement
What does HYPE mean to you?
M: Means bold, very high level energy in your face
B: powerful Energetic, crowd pleasing.
R: HYPE is like crazy, like in your face, excited-like ‘shoot’! That’s my word , I say that a lot. That is it, nuff said!