Photo via the UND Hip Hop Crew’s Facebook page.

For most students, hip hop is just another music genre that is easily skipped while searching for a good station on the radio. But for a select few, it is a way of life.

UND’s Hip Hop Crew offers a unique experience for anyone interested in learning more about the fast-paced world of hip hop dancing.

Founded less than a year ago, the Hip Hop Club is one of UND’s newest organizations.

“I’ve always been into dancing, and there wasn’t much of it here at UND,” Hip Hop Club Vice President Newzaira Khan said. “So two friends and I started the club last year, and it became official this year.”

The club meets several times a month in the Wellness Center, and is open to people of all dancing abilities.

“Our club is a little different than most,” Khan said. “We have a social meeting each month, and then dance practices twice a week. The social meetings are just for organizing what we’re going to do, and practices are basically just learning new dances.”

The group is always open to a wide variety of hip hop beats.

“The club has so many different members, so we like to have input on song choices from lots of people,” Khan said.

Starting Out

“It started back in 2012, when it officially got named the UND Hip Hop Crew,” choreographer Eller Bonifacio said.

The crew is completely free to join.

For questions about the club, Bonifacio can be contacted through UND Hip Hop Crew’s Facebook page.

“The club is available for anyone to join, but the crew requires you to actually dance,” Kahn said. “You also have to go to mandatory practices.”

Practices are what prepares the group for all the events they perform at.

“When we start learning choreography, it’s not very difficult,” Kahn said. “As it goes on, it gets a lot more intense. But it’s a fun kind of intense.”

The UND Hip Hop Crew has already given several performances this year, and will be giving their newest performance Thursday at South Middle School for Native American Culture Night. The event is free and goes from 5 to 7:30 p.m., and participants will be treated to a traditional meal and live dancing demonstrations by Northstar Dancers and the UND Hip Hop Crew.

Last Saturday, the crew performed a fusion dance routine in front of an attentive crowd at the Empire Arts Center for the Northstar Council’s annual fundraiser.

The crew will be performing the same routine this Thursday, due to popular demand.

“We are very much excited to perform again,” said Bonifacio. “We got very good feedback the first time so we decided to do a repeat.”

The crew is no stranger to dancing for a good cause, and was one of the features at last year’s Hip Hop for Hope event.

“Hip Hop for Hope is basically NDSU’s program for raising money, and whatever money they get they give to their charity,” said Kahn.

Last year’s charity was Who We Are: Unseen Ministries, a nonprofit organization that fights hunger, human trafficking and supports orphans overseas.

Brendan McCabe is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected].