Hiplet Ballerinas perform new dance style inspired by hip-hop

Hiplet is the newest contemporary dance style, which combines ballet with hip-hop. And it started in Chicago!

Two months after a video of the Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center (CMDC) hiplet dancers was posted online, it went viral with almost 9 million views. CMDC artistic director and Hiplet creator Homer Hans Bryant, along with the Hiplet Ballerinas stopped by WCL to perform.

Bryant founded the Bryant Ballet School, later renamed the Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center to reflect the diversity of dance and the student body. His slogan, "The fun is in the discipline, the discipline is in the fun," has become a mantra for his current and former students and their parents, and has established Bryant as one of the most respected teachers nationally and internationally.

CMDC is the only contemporary ballet school in the world that teaches Hiplet, a ballet class that fuses classical pointe technique with hip-hop and urban dance styles. The Hiplet journey started with a ballet Bryant created in the early 90s called "The Rap Ballet." It was set to rap music and had girls doing the "running man" and other popular dances on point. They started to play around with different hip-hop moves which eventually led to the Hiplet technique.

For the past six months, Bryant has posted videos of the dancers on Instagram. The videos were shared on Facebook, then BuzzFeed and then the team appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America."

This spring, they had 190 students enrolled. This fall, they want to expand to 300. They would love to have enough scholarships to accept financially challenged students.

For more information, visit http://www.cmdcschool.org/.