Q&A with Stephanie Risser
Q - As a New School Hustle dancer how would you like to see the scene grow?
A - IHDA is on the right track with completing a syllabus; standardizing and training teachers as well as judges. I think it’s important that we give upcoming dancers a standard to work off of and a judging standard to base their results off of. The trick is to uphold a standard without becoming stuck. The dance needs to evolve and we need room for that too.
We need to find the best ways to get young people into the dance. We can do that by embracing new movement ideas (whether it be from partner dances or dances like hip-hop), making a special place for them at parties and events, and by Pros making sure we impact the younger demographic. The more we get out and show people it’s not “Do the Hustle” anymore, the more people we’ll attract and the more young people we’ll attract.
I feel it’s also important that we have more interaction between Pros and the Amateurs on the social floor. I remember how special I felt as an amateur when I got to dance with any Pro and how much I learned from each experience (good ones and bad ones) and I think that was important to keeping me involved in this dance. I’ve noticed that at events that have Pro-Am Jack and Jills, a lot of the amateurs enter and are very excited about getting the chance to dance with any Pro. This shows how important this is. If we, as Pros, are very conscious of how we interact with amateurs, not only the ones that take lessons from us, but any Am, we can help to keep their interest instead of them thinking that we don’t care about them unless they are paying us.
Q - What inspired you to start dancing Hustle?
A - After college I taught ballet & modern at my old dance school and there was a couple renting space at the
studio teaching ballroom. I was hesitant, but eventually gave it a try. I did mostly Latin and Hustle because I like the music-once I tried Hustle and realized all the music you can dance to I was hooked! Then it just continued to build. Once I went to parties and competitions and realized how much dancing they did and how social the events were it became my favorite dance. It was really inspiring for me to see all the routines and realize how I could incorporate all of the training I already had into my hustle dancing.
Q - What if anything does the Hustle community need right now?
A - We are lacking support of our female professionals. There is a definite emphasis on the males in the community. There are many women who are fierce and fabulous all on their own no matter who they are dancing with and yet there are not as many women who are recognized on their own. Men will be invited to events on their own much more often than the women are. Men will dance together and leave the women sitting on the side of the dance floor late at night – we as women can start supporting each other more. We need to understand that there is a great resource in our women. And the men will realize that we as women can stand on our own.
Yeah as a non-academic street dancer, I’m more comfortable with experienced female lead dancers like you rather than less experienced male dancers who might be inclined to diesel their way through a lead.
A - Right, women can also teach without a partner, naturally the Pro women know the importance of a good lead and can teach it too.
Yeah, we have a great video of two females, you and Maer Bardai (Hooray for Hollywood Event Director) leading a male fellow Pro Wingo Hom, with Joe Kerner your partner in there for a bit; it’s fun, great actually. Check it out:
Q - What would happen if Hustle tried to go mainstream such as the way of Ballroom?
A - When we have an established syllabus it may gain more respect, but I’m not sure it will ever be accepted by the larger ballroom community. I would hate to see Hustle lose the social aspect of the dance just to gain respect from other communities.
I think that Hustle could gain more popularity if we let go of the past a little bit. I think it’s important to respect the past and learn from it and those who came before, but I also think that we can’t keep promoting the dance as a 70’s thing, we have to find a way to promote the dance as an updated version that is useful socially and still up to date. I don’t feel the actual dance is stuck in the past, but I feel like some of us let it have that reputation. We could do more to show how much it has evolved. This is important in getting a younger crowd into the dance – that is how we gain popularity as well; it starts with a younger generation and then grows from there. At this point the studios see a lot of students in their upper 40s and 50s who want to learn the Hustle because of its 70s reputation, however we need to appeal to students that are younger, who will add to and grow the dance in the future.
Q - What else could we have more of?
Musicality. Many of us get stuck in and 1, 2, 3 and we forget that there are many variations, and many things we can do within and 1,2,3. There is so much space to fill, especially in a slower song and especially for the followers and sometimes we, as teachers forget to talk about this and forget to teach students how to do this. It doesn’t mean that we have to move our feet more or do more steps, we need to show students how to move their bodies and their arms to fill the music. We need to teach technique as well as promote filling out the music.
Q - Everyone has a different inspiration dancing; being on stage or connecting with a partner, what’s your main inspiration when dancing?
Whenever I dance, the main inspiration is always the music. It doesn’t matter what kind of dancing it is, you can feel whether you are moving with the music and responding to it. There will be times that you are dancing to a song that you don’t like and you can always feel the difference. There is always something that connects you to each song that you like that is unexplainable. Why do we like certain songs and not others – it’s just the way it is, sometimes you can’t explain it. You always feel that connection right away though. If the song makes you start moving your body in any way it’s a sign – that is dancing. Getting your body to move without thinking about it, it just starts responding to the music when you let go and allow it to – that is inspiration at its best.
Q - Well put Stephanie; so it’s the chemistry of the connection that also inspires you…
The beauty of partner dancing is that you not only have the music as inspiration, but someone else’s movement and how they respond to the music. If you have a partner who is musical and responsive to a song it can also inspire different movements to come out of you, or for you to hear different things in the music than you may have heard before. There is nothing better than connecting to another person’s body movement and feeling the music come out of the movement between the two of you. Real dancing comes when you feel the music inside your body and it feels as if it’s coming from the inside of you instead of you just moving around to some random sounds.
Q - Who are your favorite original or true school Hustle dancers? And why?
A- Wow, that’s a loaded question!
Yeah, it kind of is…sorry
Q - True school meaning, who of the original style dancers are your favorite? Since many of the true school dancers have evolved with the dance or even better crafted a style all their own that is interpreted as timeless or classic.
A - A lot of the people who have kept their hustle the same since “back in the day” are not the people that I look to as examples. So, I’m just going to pick from those who came before me. There are so many out there that you watch and learn from. But if I have to pick my favorites I pick:
Beth Darchi – who I have idolized for years now. She has a great classy sexiness with a little bit of funk in it. I’ve seen her follow just about anyone and anything and still look fantastic – she never looks out of place or uncomfortable. I think that she’s one of the most underrated followers in the community. She is a true diva without the off-floor personality of one.
Arte Phillips – for his playfulness and his musicality. Arte uses the music so well, and he also showed me how to draw from many different styles of dance and put it into my hustle. He’s one of a kind in how he plays with his partners and with the music. Having worked with him on shows that did not include hustle has been a great experience for me and has taught me a lot. Arte is not just a Hustle or partner dancer, he is a dancer, period.
Louis Orlando - for his rhythmic lead. Louis has one of the nicest most consistent leads in the community. He can make you do just about anything to almost any kind of music. (Just a side note: He’s also the best hairstylist around!!!!)
Billy Fajardo – shows me every time I watch him how to incorporate all of that ballet training I had. He has a very masculine presence and he’s always projecting. Then on the flip side he looks very different when he social dances. The contrast is apparent and I think that some people forget that they are different animals.
Debra Hampton – for her attitude. Debra is a real diva on the dance floor. She knows how to have fun and draw everyone into her performance. She also has a musicality that we don’t always see in hustle dancers. Unfortunately we don’t get to see her dance very much anymore, but she is still one of the best.
Q - What sign are you?
A - Sagittarius
Q - Stephanie, thank you so much for a compelling and thoughtful interview, in closing tell us 5 or more of your favorite Contemporary Songs to dance to, and we’ll add the snippet videos at the bottom so our guests can listen…
Read Stephanie Risser’s Bio here…
6 comments
This is a good interview, new young people are needed to keep the dance alive. Love your music list. Keep up the good work. Will you be competing somewhere soon?
Stephanie is a gem. I have had the privilege of watching her dancing evolve over the last few years. She is a true dynamo.
I anticipate great things to come from her. Marvelous interview.
Very good interview and I really liked your comments of connecting to the music and connection to your partner. This brings back memories of the dance as it really was “back in the day” when creativity was the mainstream with undefined boundries. You see everyone had thier own unique style centered around the basic count of 1,2,3. Without Music dance has no feeling & without Dance music has no meaning.
Peace
Thank you for the nice comments!! J.S. I will be competing in Miami with Joe Kerner and I will also be at Swing Dance America in Milwaukee at the end of the month. Ron, thank you so much. We in Philadelphia are lucky to have someone like you that works hard to keep the community informed and growing. Ron C., I love the last line of your comment - dance definitely relies on the music to “tell” us what to do.
Stephanie will you be at the International Hustle & Salsa party or is it something else? You all look like you are having fun in the video. I have never seen 2 ladies lead a man!!! Thank you.
Maribel, I will be at International Hustle and Salsa. I’m glad you enjoyed the video, it was great fun to do! Hope to see you in Miami, come up and say hello!!
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