Versa-Style Dance Company Coming to Smothers Theatre Next Month

Versa-Style Dance Company's dynamic troupe of LA's hippest performers bring their street dancing to the stage at Pepperdine University's Smothers Theatre on Sunday, January 25 at 2 p.m.

Tickets, priced starting at $17 for the public and $10 for full-time Pepperdine students, are available now by calling (310) 506-4522 or online at http://arts.pepperdine.edu/. More information: http://versastyledance.com/

Versa-Style will follow up their inspiring show with a dance party! Audience members are encouraged to stick around and join in the fun, celebrating dance and maybe learning a few moves along the way.

Founded in 2005 by 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 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.

Artistic Directors Miss Funk and Breeze-lee share a common passion for dance and performance and their journey has led them to several hip-hop dance battles all over the country. Miss Funk is a three-time House Champion for Battle of the Belts in Los Angeles, as well as crew champion for How the West Was Won 2008. Breeze-Lee is a two-time popping champion for Battle of the Belts in Los Angeles, popping champion for Freestyle Session 2011, and just recently represented North America in popping for the R-16 competition in Korea in July 2012. As a duo, they've entered numerous prestigious US hip-hop events, such as B-Boy Hodown in Texas, where they made it as far as the Finals in House and Semi-finals in popping. In 2011, they won the All-Style Battle 2vs2 at Keep it Live 3. The ensemble also features Harry Weston, Alli Gray, Lilian Ortega, Michael Lor, Anthony Berry, and Angelo Paulos.

Cinema Libre Studio recently released Calvin Leung's documentary about Versa-Style, Furious Beauty. The ensemble also continues to host community classes and intensives, and train up-and-coming dancers ages 15-20 in their Versa-Style Next Generation program.

The Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts at Pepperdine University provides high-quality activities for over 50,000 people from 664 zip codes annually through performances, rehearsals, museum exhibitions, and master classes. Located on Pepperdine's breathtaking Malibu campus overlooking the Pacific, the center serves as a hub for the arts, uniquely linking professional guest artists with Pepperdine students as well as patrons from surrounding Southern California communities. Facilities include the 450-seat Smothers Theatre, the 118-seat Raitt Recital Hall, the "black box" Helen E. Lindhurst Theatre, and the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art.

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