For Brian Henry, Finding Krump Felt Like Home, but a Better Version
The New York Times The dancer, also known as HallowDreamz, is the face of krump in New York. Now hes found another artistic home with the choreographer Andrea Miller.
Brian Henry is a dancer of biblical proportions. Its not just that hes commandingly large and muscular, with a Moses-like beard. His dancing, though rooted in the street style called krump, has an ancient gravity. Standing in profile with his chest angled forward, he could be an Assyrian sculpture. Breathing like a dragon and then opening his eyes, he could be inspirited clay, the first man.
Or thats how he appears in song, a solo he made in collaboration with the choreographer Andrea Miller that hes performing this week during her dance companys 15th anniversary season at the Joyce Theater.
For Henry, 34, a self-described street dancer who has become the face of krump in New York, performing in a concert dance setting is an opportunity to show that krump is a dance form to be held on the same level, he said recently.
But Henry, also known as HallowDreamz, isnt altering how he dances. Because Im telling a different story doesnt mean I have to step outside of my process, he said. Its just that hes used to people perceiving him one way before he dances and another way after.
