Essay On Hiplet

For centuries, there have been very set ideas as to what ballet is. Even today, many believe that ballet is a classical dance form not to be touched by other dance styles. However, one man stepped forward proving this idea wrong. Combining classical with modern, Homer Hans Bryant created a new dance hybrid challenging the conceived ideas of what ballet is as well as providing an expressive art form tailored for a group of dancers still sometimes excluded from the dance world: African Americans. Through drawing inspiration from two very different dance styles, he formed a unique art, giving African Americans an opportunity to prove themselves in ballet. Thus, through his collision of two seemingly contradictory dance forms, hiplet was born.

Dancers performing this style are African American ages 12-18. Although the performers are usually female, Bryant dreams of someday starting a professional hiplet company adding males to the style. Just like pointe is essential to ballet, pointe is also important in hiplet but, has a different effect. In ballet, the term pointe means “on the tip of the toes” (Kourlas, New York Times). Pointe shoes are used by ballerinas to create the illusion of floating or weightlessness as they perform their highly technical movement. In hiplet, however, the pointe work has a more grounded effect, conveying a sense of earthiness. For example, this can be seen in hiplet signature moves like hiplet struts or duck walks. In hiplet struts, the dancer walks on pointe with their hips swaying from side to side and their feet piercing the ground. Similarly, in duck walks, the dancer bends their knees until their buttocks nearly brushes the floor while hoping on pointe with their arms swishing back and forth. In addition, hiplet also has a sense of soulfulness and polyrhythm, one of the five principles of African concert dance; “while the lower half of the body can be sharp and percussive, the upper half…conveys a natural flow” (Kourlas, New York Times). Despite this, Mr. Bryant’s hiplet is more from classical ballet and less from hip hop. “It is definitely ballet first” said Mr. Bryant in addressing this