Following a weekly Her Campus meeting, I happened to stumble upon a group of people jamming out and breakdancing in front of Newport Hall. Naturally, I had to go investigate. I was directed to Altered Xpressions club president, Christopher Adleson, who was more that happy to enlighten me on what I had walked into.Â
Interviewer: “So, what’s the deal here?”
Christopher Adleson: “We’re actually advertising for our charity event this upcoming Saturday for Fear 2 Freedom. It’s a jam! At the event, teams from all over the state come from places like University of Virgina, James Madison, William & Mary… Different Crews are coming from all over to battle. And there’s a really good judging panel! They’re from a crew called Lionz of Zion. Another judge is local – he’s from Virginia Beach, actually. The final judge is from where I live. And so, the way the event works is we have a set amount of money that we donate to the event which equals the prize money. First place is $1000, second place is $500. Most of the money goes to Fear 2 Freedom.
The reason I wanted to do this event was that I wanted to take something that I was passionate about, breakdancing, and apply it to something important. I dabbled with it a little in high school, but I started to take it seriously here. This is the first jam the club has ever had, and this is its twelfth year on campus! I’m also in a fraternity, Kappa Delta Rho, and as part of a Greek organization which has had too many scandals in sexual assault, I felt it was my duty to do something to help the fight against sexual assault. I wanted to take breakdancing and the culture of hip hop and apply the healing aspects of it to bring awareness to sexual assault.”
Several other members were excited to give their imput on the event and their involvement in the club.Â
Gerald Desaul: “So I’m local. I know for a fact that the [breakdancing] scene is boring in this area. Everything in this scene happens accross the bridge in Virginia Beach and places like that. Breaking Free is our way of bringing the scene here. There are plenty of areas around here that would be great for breaking, like Town Center at Oyster Point. If we could get a scene here that would be great. It doesn’t really matter how it comes about, you know? As long as it makes it here. Like if an underground scene could start at a place like CNU, a school of high prestige? So be it.”
Katie DeChristopher: “The first half of the event is a workshop, and the second half is the competition. It’s really awesome because it allows everyone to participate even if they have no experience. If anyone is interested in learning more, our club meetings are Tuesday and Wednesday in Freeman multipurpose room 1 at 9 p.m.!”
Breaking Free will also have a special guest, Hypnotic Control.
Altered Xpressionz was a joy to stumble upon and a super welcoming group. I’m definitely going to have to take them up on those club meetings one day. They promise that even someone like me who has absolutely no b-girl skills can learn! We all gotta start somewhere.Â
To learn more about the event, which is taking place Saturday, September 19, head to the Altered Xpressionz Facebook page as well as the Breaking Free event page.