From Compton to Pasadena: Dancers Learn to Krump

The annual Pasadena Dance Festival has offered dance lessons in everything from ballet to African dance to ballet, but this year, the festival added something a little different.

Hoping to attract younger dancers, the festival, which ended Saturday, offered a new class in krump dancing, the dance of chest pop and stomps popularized by Compton street dancers, according to a story on the Southern California Public Radio website.

The class was headlined by Marquisa "Miss Prissy" Gardner and her dance company, the Underground. Gardner, who appeared in the film “Rize,” a 2005 documentary about the early days of krumping. hopes to take krump dancing from the underground to the mainstream stage.

Gardner told the Los Angeles Times, “"I don't feel like krump is just a dance. It's a culture."

The class attracted 80, mostly younger students. Tickets for the class were priced lower than the usual $100. Scholarships were also offered. 

For more information on the festival and the class, click here.