Flex Ave and the Art of Flexn
Read time: approx 4 minutes
There may be a few reasons that the dance style Flexn could seem familiar to you. Maybe you’re a culture-vulture that took note when New York City’s newest performance venue, The Shed, invited Flexn artists in residence for its inaugural season; or perhaps you heard about performances at the celebrated Manchester International Festival; but most likely, you caught Flexn as part of Beyonce’s 2018 Coachella performance, where it was included as one of the newest street-dance styles to be celebrated by this monarch of contemporary culture.
Regardless of whether you’ve seen or heard about Flexn before, what becomes clear when you witness this dance is its ability to connect. This powerful grassroots form of movement unites performers and audiences through kinetic stories and characters that are both deeply personal and wholly universal.
Pioneered by Reggie “Regg Roc” Gray, Flexn has grown out of Jamaican street dance styles in Brooklyn – and continues to develop today. Characterized by a movement vocabulary all its own – Pauzin, Get-Low, Bone-Breaking, among others – it’s a style that flows between group choreography and solo improvisational works, which means dancers need to understand the larger framework of the dance and their place within it, while bringing their own style and story to the dance floor. This depth of personal and universal narrative is at the heart of the style – and their newest work, Flex Ave. – which tells stories of struggle and perseverance over violence, mental illness, and loss.
Calgarians will get a chance to see the Flexn dance-style up-close when Arts Commons presents Flex Ave. in the fall of 2021 as part of BD&P World Stage, but members of ActionDignity’s B.L.A.C.K. (Becoming Leaders, Acquiring Critical Knowledge) Project are getting a sneak-peek by taking part in an online masterclass with the creative team in January 2021. A pre-recorded film, dance class, and Q&A will see this group of Black youth connect with Flex Ave. artists, learn the fundamentals of the dance style, and see for themselves how dance can be an engine for social change.
For Carissa Gravelle, the leader of ActionDignity’s B.L.A.C.K. Project, the arts are a critical part of anti-racism work because: “the best way to educate and express yourself through the trauma of racism is through the arts.” So, to get ready to welcome the young people from ActionDignity to Flexn, I spoke with director and choreographer of Flex Ave., Reggie “Regg Roc” Gray, and Associate Director Joshua Sage Morales – Sage – to discover a bit more about the dance form and what folks can expect.
In our conversation, Sage points out that one of the most distinct elements of the Flexn style is its organic nature – critical to its success is how the performers move between set choreography and improvisation, and how each dancer individually interprets the style.
“We work with the artists and allow the artists to create a lot of what they perform. Everyone has their own story to tell and we embrace that and highlight that – we give them a sense of direction and theme, a message and guidelines to follow and then they create in that space, within that mental realm,” says Sage. “This allows the work we create to have a strong essence, a rawness and truth.”
This rawness is captured by Regg Rocc and Sage and added to the performance, with their own direction and choreography bringing everything together. This ‘ground-up’ approach allows the dancehall roots of the movement to not only stay alive and help the form continue to develop – but is also why Flexn continues to stir audience attention.
Sage explains that Flexn grew from a dance style pioneered by Bruk Up, the nickname of George Adams (and the name of the style), a performer who brought his distinctive dancehall style to Brooklyn from Jamaica. The Bruk Up style melded with, as Sage describes, “the Brooklyn/New York/hip hop swag, so things blended naturally. No one really sat down and tried to create Flexn.” This is a key part of what makes the style so unique, “…it kind of manifested itself. So, everything about it is very natural and raw – the blend of everything, the swag, the aura, the presence, the movements – everything fell into place by itself, and I think that’s what really separates it heavily from other styles that were molded purposely… it always feels different, fresh, and new.”
It’s this reliance on the individuality of each performer – and their own stories – fuels the style, and gives an opportunity for creative expression to be used as a tool for social change. For Regg Rocc, it’s about recognizing that everyone struggles with something, “…whether that’s a struggle with race, with culture, whether it’s a struggle in war, or within yourself, there’s always something that you’re trying to get across to someone – because they can’t understand you. So, when you see a specific thing in our show – or any show – you can relate to it, you can put it in your life and say ‘that’s how I relate.’ Someone else may be experiencing the same thing, but in a different way… there’s so many similarities we all have, just being human. I believe that’s one of the things that gives us the dialogue.”
For the students and youth involved from ActionDignity, participating in the digital master class, as well as those attending Flex Ave. in the fall of 2021, Regg Roc recommends that you “…come understanding your own struggles, and that doesn’t have to be something horrible – it can be anything. Come willing and open – that’s my take on it.” Sage adding that, “it’s the same way we watch a movie, you just know that you’re there to experience something and then the movie takes you on a trip – a journey – and you experience, y’know, whatever speaks to you.”
This initiative is made possible by the financial support of Arts Commons Presents BD&P World Stage title sponsor - the law firm of Burnett, Duckworth and Palmer and supporting sponsors ALSA Road Construction and SerVantage.
