Versa-Style Dance Takes Smothers Theatre in “Freemind Freestyle”

“Los Angeles’ best dance troupe for hip-hop empowerment.” –LA Weekly

Malibu, CA – November 7, 2023 – L.A.’s most dynamic troupe Versa-Style Dance Company brings their stylistic and educational dance performance to the Smothers Theatre stage at Pepperdine University in Malibu on Saturday, January 27, 2024 at 8 p.m.

Versa-Style’s Pepperdine performance will feature the company’s most recent piece, Freemind Freestyle—unadulterated Hip Hop movement that will explore the depths of improvisational dance, using streetdance vernacular such as locking, popping, hip hop and krump as vehicles of expression. No show will be the same, each night will offer a brand new experience of freestyle street dance live on stage. Audiences will walk away with a vivid immersion into hip hop dance culture.

Founded in 2005 by Artistic Directors Jackie Lopez (a.k.a. Miss Funk) and Leigh Foaad (a.k.a. Breeze-lee), Versa-Style Dance Company has taken Los Angeles by storm, fusing dance styles that are energetic, uplifting, and culturally meaningful to the community.

“Versa-Style Dance Company is very excited to be back on the Smothers Theatre stage at Pepperdine University!” said Brandon Juezan-Williams, Director of Touring and Events for Versa-Style Dance Company. “We have developed an amazing long-term relationship with this theatre and its staff, as this will be our fourth time performing here since 2015. It always feels great to be at home, building with our community! We are bringing a fully revamped version of our latest production, Freemind Freestyle, which explores the depths of improvisational dance and the concept of mental, physical, and spiritual freedom. It will be a unique Street Dance Theatre experience as each presentation of Freemind Freestyle is different, so we are looking forward to going on this journey with you all!”

Versa-Style Dance Company has some of the most committed and conscientious young artists in town, representing the diversity and beautiful complexity of Los Angeles. Their work fuses hip-hop styles such as ‘90s hip-hop, house, popping, locking, whacking, and boogaloo, and Afro-Latin styles such as salsa, merengue, cumbia, and Afro-Cuban. As a reaction to the widespread media misrepresentation of these dance forms, Versa-Style specifically performs for the youth of Los Angeles to instill the roots, history, and social and political issues surrounding the art of their generation; they aim to break down barriers of race and socio-economic backgrounds using dance to promote the freedom of expression, freedom of individuality, hard work, and self-discipline.

Lopez and Foaad share a common passion for dance and performance. As L.A. natives, they embrace the culture and honor the history/legacy of hip-hop dance by passing it on to the future generations. They have been guest choreographers for Santa Monica College, L.A. Valley College, Columbia College, and University of Utah. Lopez and Foaad served as cultural ambassadors for the US through the Arts Envoy Cultural Exchange Program in which they were able to perform, teach, and lecture in countries such as Israel, Egypt, India, and Colombia. As a mainstay of hip-hop culture, Lopez and Foaad have traveled to several hip-hop dance battles nationally and internationally, winning many victory titles in places such as Korea, Italy, Canada, and France. In addition, their biography premiered in their documentary Furious Beauty at the L.A. Film Festival where it garnered glowing reviews.

Through the combining of education, cultural inclusion, and, of course, dance, the Versa-Style Dance Company’s performance of Freemind Freestyle at Pepperdine University is sure to once again entertain and thrill audiences from all walks of life.

Tickets, priced starting at $22.50 for the public and $10 for full-time Pepperdine students, are available now by calling (310) 506-4522 or online at the ticketing page. For more information, please visit the event page.

About the Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts

Delighting more than 50,000 patrons and participants annually with live performances, art exhibitions, and local outreach opportunities, the Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts serves as a hub for the arts on Pepperdine University’s Malibu campus, uniquely linking professional guest artists with Pepperdine students as well as patrons from surrounding Southern California communities. Three performance spaces, including the 450-seat Smothers Theatre, the 124-seat Raitt Recital Hall, and the “black box” Lindhurst Theatre, host hundreds of performances, rehearsals, and master classes throughout the year. The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, a dynamic, two-story exhibition space, showcases a revolving selection of modern and contemporary art with a focus on art made in California.

EVENT DETAILS:

WHAT: Versa-Style Dance: Freemind Freestyle

WHEN: Saturday, January 27, 2024 at 8 p.m.

WHERE: Smothers Theatre, Pepperdine University, 24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, CA

TICKETS: (310) 506-4522 or ticketing page.

PRICES: $22.50–$45 for the public. $10 for Pepperdine students.