Experience ASU urban arts at free expo

A free expo this Thursday offers visitors the opportunity to explore urban arts at ASU, from urban dance music ensembles to hip-hop theater.

The ASU Urban Arts Expo features performances, lecture demonstrations and class research projects on urban arts produced in the School of Film, Dance and Theatre in ASU’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts.

“This gathering was created as a way for students who study urban arts in the school to exchange what they have learned from the semester with other students with similar interests,” said Marcus White, assistant professor of dance and convener of the expo.

Over the semester students across several different classes studied hip-hop and urban dance forms, including breaking, krump, locking, house, vogue and footwork styles like Chicago Footwork and Detroit Jit. Those who attend the expo will see a variety of these forms through demonstrations as well as experience cypher poems about krump and scenes from “This is Modern Art,” a play about graffiti artists that was produced by the School of Film, Dance and Theatre earlier this year.

In addition to the presentations, student organizations such as the Urban Arts Club, Sun Devils Breakdancing Club and Hip-Hop Coalition will have tables set up at the event.

White, who has said ASU is one of only a few universities in the U.S. where students are able to study urban arts through several academic courses, said the expo is a chance to explore many aspects of urban arts and encouraged anyone interested to attend.

“The dance program led the way in offering hip-hop dance because hip-hop dance, and more importantly the culture, is about celebrating community, honoring history and respecting the multiple modes of individual and collective expression,” he said. “This is a shared theme in most all urban arts and what we encourage students to take with them when they walk away from their experiences here at ASU.”

The ASU Urban Arts Expo will be held at 6 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 29 at Bulldog Hall, previously Physical Education Building East, on ASU’s Tempe campus.