Attitude and energy key to hip hop success
A talented bunch of pocket rocket hip hop dancers are taking out dance championship titles left and right with their explosive high energy performances.
The Hellraizers, a junior dance crew between the ages of 9-10 years, have just won the World Supremacy Battlegrounds Sydney (Junior Division) as well as first place at the Australian Dance Crew Championships (Junior Division). They also represented Australia and went up against other junior dance crews from around the globe at the recent World Hip Hop International Championships in Las Vegas.
Canterbury League Club helped the Hellraizers go to Las Vegas with a donation of $2,000 which went towards covering the costs of flights and accommodations for the crew and their chaperones.
Hellraizers, formed by LA Talent in Sydney Olympic Park over a year ago, is made up of Samira Wang, Mikayla Khoury, Maddison Potter-Rose, Zak Skaf, Ricardo Fernandez and Abigail Adriano, all whom live in the vicinity of the Canterbury-Bankstown district. The crew is choreographed by So You Think You Can Dance Australia Top 100 hip hop dancer, Jet Valencia.
The dancers train five hours a week and this can increase to as much as 20 hours – squeezed in between school and homework – leading up to competitions.
“Aside from regular exercise, they are also taught disciple and dedication and are aware at a young age of how hard and rewarding it is to achieve a championship title. It is also a lot of fun!” said Loren Espulso, LA Talent studio manager and trainer of Hellraizers.
Aside from hip hop, each dancer also trains in a variety of dance styles including classical, jazz, tap and contemporary. They also sing and take acting classes.
“The passion to dance is already within the child. A lot of constructive criticism along the way really helps improve each and every one of the Hellraizers throughout their journey,” said Espulso.
The Hellraizers are currently training hard to rock the stage against other international dance crews at the 10th World Supremacy Battlegrounds Final which will be held on October 3-5 at Dallas Brooks Centre, Melbourne. They will be facing delegates from across Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Guam, Taiwan, Singapore, Brunei and Thailand.
