By Lornet Turnbull
Special to The Medium
Back in the spring of 1997, nine Garfield High School friends, glammed up in Army fatigues and rocking some fierce hip-hop moves, snatched the championship at the local Stompfest dance competition – surprising even themselves.
Over the next three years, REMIX — as the all-girl group called itself — would go on to take either first or second place in the annual clash of area high school dance teams.
Now, nearly two decades later, a new generation of REMIX dancers is proving it, too, has what it takes to compete – and win.
Coached by Brandie “B-Rocka” Henry and Jasmine “Jazz” Andrews, two of REMIX’s original dancers, the pre-teen troupe in July took home the Spotlight Dance Cup Pacific Northwest national championship title for its division.
Spotlight is a 20-year-old regional and national competition that each year draws over 20,000 individual performers from across the country to compete in a range of dance genres.
REMIX, based at My World Dance Studio in the Central Area, competed against 23 other groups in the competition – their first national contest – which was held recently in Seaside, Ore. The group also won a Best in Showmanship studio achievement award at the event.
“To see that happening the first time we competed in a national competition against dance studios that had been doing it for years, just gave me chills,” said Henry.
Andrews, said she was proud of the dedication, commitment and hard work of both the students and their parents.
“It’s a reminder that if you put forth the effort and want it bad enough, you can attain your goals,” she said. “This accomplishment was a stepping stone for these dancers as I know that they will continue to set their standards high.”
The victory was a huge boost for the squad, coming only two years after Henry and Andrews revived their original group and a year after their protégés began competing in earnest.
Their winning performance, called American Haunted, was a blend of hip hop and contemporary ballet – a fierce, hard hitting and high-energy routine, the result of combining the coaches’ unique fly-girl moves with more contemporary hip-hop styles.
Aniyah Grant, an 11-year-old student at The Bush School, was part of the winning squad, which also included Nyah Hickman, 8, Sanae Gates, 10, and Kierra Carter, 12. She said the victory is proof that all their hard work paid off.
“To know that we have only been dancing together for nearly two years and other dance teams have been dancing since they were two or three years (old), makes all of our hard work worth it,” said Aniyah, who is also on the Seattle Storm Dance troupe.
Teammate, Kierra, who goes to Dimmitt Middle School and dances with the Pacific Northwest Ballet, called the win “an amazing experience.”
The idea for a REMIX redo came in 2012, when Henry and Andrews, who both have a passion for dance, began reminiscing about the old days. They formed B&J Movements that same year, installing themselves as co-directors.
As co-coaches, they wanted to train young girls in some of the styles they had mastered in the 1990s, combined with contemporary moves they were seeing in popular music videos.
Think REMIX: 2.0.
Henry said as a dancer she was influenced by artists like Missy Elliott, Fatima Robinson and Jackson siblings, Michael and Janet.
“I’ve always been around movement,” she said. “I love the free style, too. Jasmine is highly creative and imaginative. Whatever she imagines, she tries to create it.”
REMIX’s inaugural class of eight girls jumped headlong into the hip-hop dance scene. Their first choreographed performance was in the spring of 2013 at the Gurglin’ Green dance competition at Franklin High School.
And soon, the troupe was being invited to perform elsewhere, including area high school and college basketball games. And as they gained visibility, their ranks swelled. By 2014 they had 25 members.
“We offer our dancers hip-hop moves blended with other genres and refrain from the sexualization that you often see on TV and videos,” said Andrews, whose own daughter is a student.
Andrews says they want the students to know that “you can dance, dance well and do not have to emulate what is out there to be great, have high self-esteem and confidence.”
In many ways, the coaches trained the girls like adults. “You dance hard and maintain energy,” Henry said. “We were working them. Pushing it up a notch each time. We wanted to stay true to our REMIX signature.”
And it paid off.
The new REMIX squared off in its first competition in January 2014, at the Rainbow Dance competition, a regional weekend-long dance marathon in Seattle. The group’s entry was a piece called “On the Rise,” choreographed by Andrews as a tribute to Trayvon Martin.
The squad took high overall scores at Rainbow and won the judges’ choice award. They also qualified to advance and compete in the nationals. But Andrews and Henry decided their young team wasn’t yet ready for that level of competition.
Over the next 18 months, REMIX competed in a handful of regional dance matchups, each time placing among the top performers.
“The biggest challenge for our girls was doing it and enjoying it and looking like they were having fun,” Henry said.
In May of this year, they entered the Monsters Dance Competition, a regional hip-hop event held in Vancouver, WA. It boasted “the ultimate weekend of Hip Hop” and gave the REMIX girls a chance to observe other high-energy competitive dancers.
It was also a chance for them to work with such industry professionals as JaQuel Knight, who choreographed Beyoncé’s Single Ladies.
“We are pushing them out there to have that experience,” Henry said. “If they want to be dancers, this is what it’s all about. Here they have a chance to be scouted and to obtain scholarships.”
Not only were some of the REMIX members selected to showcase Knight’s choreography in class during the event, the team also placed second in its division. And Aniyah, one of the dancers, was awarded a scholarship for training at any future Monster event.
The girl’s entry was a hard-charging performance they called Beautiful Monsters, which included a REMIX signature move — death drop, which required the girls to jump and then land gracefully on their backs.
“This was a hip-hop-focused competition, so I wanted it to be a bit more energetic,” Henry said. “It was the hardest choreography piece for the girls and required them to have endurance, hit their moves hard and dance clean.”
With the win at Monster, REMIX qualified for the finals in Orlando.
The coaches didn’t pursue that, but instead set their sights on the Spotlight competition, submitting video of a previous competition and qualifying to compete in the national event.
Their entry was a high-energy and intense combination of winning performances from previous competitions.
“We were coming in to make a statement.” Henry said.
The competition was held July 7-11 in Seaside. Everybody was nervous, Henry recalls.
This was it.
“I was on them about showmanship,” Henry said. “Don’t just go through the motions; show emotion and character in your face. Hold it. You want the audience and judges to remember your face.”
But the moment the girls were made up – face and hair done and jewelry on — “their entire personalities changed,” Henry said. “They went from shy to fierce. They were mentally there.”
REMIX placed in the top four in its division and was awarded Best in Showmanship. They qualified to compete later that week in the finals, where they repeated their performance and won their division.
“Something flipped that day,” Henry said. “Watching them from back stage, I was emotional. All that work…they got it. I had chills.”
