After the Spotlight dance competition in Richmond last year, members of Carrolton’s South of Broadway studio stayed behind to watch a style of which they hadn’t seen much before.

They watched Dustin Phillips, who has performed in the Martin Lawrence film &uot;Black Knight,&uot; and in several commercials, demonstrate hip-hop. Far unlike the ballet, jazz, tap, or other styles that the kids had learned over the past few years, this was a style jammed with spontaneous movements, loud, uneven music, and jeans and hats, taking the place of leotards and tap shoes.

The girls were interested. So much so, in fact, that by the next time the competitions rolled around, they’d practiced into one of the best group of hip-hoppers in the area. At competitions in February and March in Richmond, the youngsters won three gold medals in hip-hop dancing, qualifying them for national competition in June in Myrtle Beach, SC. Before that, however, they’ll battle the rest of the state’s best at the &uot;I Love Dance&uot; competition May 21 at the Norfolk Marriott hotel.

After over a decade of ballet, jazz and tap, Chelsea Elmore, 13, found a new way to boogie over the past few months.

&uot;I thought hip-hop looked cooler than the other (styles of dance),&uot; said Chelsea, whose hip-hop team has won golds at each of the two competitions (platinum is the highest honor a dancer can win, and a gold victory is required to move to nationals). &uot;You could express yourself more in hip-hop. You can tweak the moves to make them your own.&uot;

After she and her teammates shuck and jive to Toby Mack’s &uot;Catch the Fire,&uot; Rachel Milteer takes a break from dancing.

&uot;(Hip-hop) is a lot of fun,&uot; said Rachel, whose team was named the Best Marching Unit in the Suffolk Christmas Parade in December. &uot;You get to do a lot of different moves that you don’t get to do in dance. You can feel the music. You can feel what it’s about.&uot;

That’s a feeling that instructor Celeste Bongiornie first experienced as a student at the American Music and Dramatic Academy in New York.

&uot;It’s new and it’s fun,&uot; said Bongiornie, who danced in several shows at Busch Gardens before starting at South of Broadway in September. &uot;It’s also hard, so once you figure it out, it’s more gratifying. It’s not what you’re body’s used to doing, especially as a ballerina. Ballet is more fluid and long; hip-hop’s motions are more grounded and contracted.&uot;

On May 14, Phillips will be putting on a demonstration for those interested in learning more about hip-hop. For more information, call 238-2064.

jason.norman@suffolknewsherald.com