Rising Stars: Meet (CA)^2 Dance Crew

Today we’d like to introduce you to (CA)^2 Dance Crew. Them and their team share their story with us below:

Formed out of a need to forge a creative path of their own, (CA)^2 Dance Crew was formed by friends and now chosen sisters driven to use dance to empower, inspire, and motivate all people. Founded by black women with a passion for dance, (CA)^2 began in response to the often-misogynistic limitations faced during their teen years as burgeoning choreographers and performers on a largely male populated team. 

To the mainstream, Hip Hop, as a culture, is viewed as male-dominated. And, Hip Hop Street dance is no exception. However, as popular as the overarching images of masculinity are, there are creatives that exist within and influence this dance style and overall culture that do not fit within the stereotypical mold placed on by inside and outside consumers of the culture. (CA)^2 is a prime example of nonconforming creatives that decided to carve their own path of success within the creative sphere and more specifically within the Hip Hop Street Dance ecosystem by developing as dancers and building their self-confidence one eight count at a time. 

The three members of (CA)^2 are Chenelle Jones, Camille Jones and Anaya Ni’Kole. Formerly members of a much larger dance collective known as Studio Kre8v, these three young women recognized that within their dance team, they were viewed as weaker in comparison to their male counterparts. With larger issues at play hindering the larger collective, this imbalance in consideration along with a disintegration of the larger dance collective inspired Chenelle, Camille, and Anaya along with a former (CA)^2 member, to form an all-female dance team, (CA)^2. (C2)^2 stands as an acronym for confidently creating active achievers, words that distinguish the principles the team uses to inspire youth and adults within the Greater Cincinnati community and beyond. Forming (CA)^2 helped fuel each dancer’s passion and pushed each member to evolve as dancers/choreographers all while empowering themselves as leaders and change makers. 

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
The road has been bumpy, essentially because the team voyaged down an unpaved road. What we created hadn’t been done before within our local dance community as street dancers; as black, female street dancers; as black female street dancers that danced in a way that seemed ill-fit for our physical forms in a world that seems hellbent on over sexualizing or demonizing our black female bodies. Particularly not by black teen girls as far as we knew. 

But we persevered because we took ourselves seriously when others did not. We persevered because we took our craft seriously when others judged us as weak or less talented as the male dancers we’d trained with. We took our passion for dance seriously when others doubted our abilities and seemed determined on seeing us quit like so many of our former teammates had due to life circumstances or feelings of inadequacy, lack of support or lack of quality leadership guiding them. 

We became our own leaders and when doubt crept in, we kept each other accountable by critiquing our work with patience, love, and honesty. We became shoulders for each other if ever one or all of us needed someone to lean on, someone to understand the difficulties of asserting our dance career when we were still learning to perform better, dance harder, choreograph more expertly. 

For (CA)^2, everything is about growth. As teammates, we understand that there is no final stop to success. No checkpoint person that throws confetti and sings, “YOU MADE IT!” We are constantly reshaping our goals as we continue to accomplish each and every one. 

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
(CA)^2 (pronounced cee-ay-squared) Dance Crew is a creative and competitive street dance troupe founded by black women driven to uplift latent passion within all people through dance. (CA)^2 is an acronym for confidently creating active achievers, words that distinguish the principles we use to inspire youth and adults within the Greater Cincinnati community and beyond. As a team, (CA)^2 aims to use street dance, a fusion of authentic Hip Hop and contemporary original choreography and freestyle, to instill confidence, encourage creativity, exercise action, and actualize goals among youth and adults. 

As a team, (CA)^2 has accomplished goals we hadn’t even envisioned we could achieve when the team first began. Over the years, the dancers of (CA)^2, Chenelle, Camille and Anaya, have competed at major dance competitions such as World of Dance Chicago and Hip Hop International. In one of the team’s first ever dance competitions as a newly formed girls’ team, (CA)^2 won first place at Monsters of Hip Hop in Philadelphia and won first in a Cincinnati talent show in the same year. 

As choreographers, the team’s work has been used in numerous music videos for local Cincinnati artists. In addition, (CA)^2 made their debut as cast-members in a performance art play known as “We Are” created by visionaries and Houston natives, Tyren Duncan and Muhammad Yunus-Khaerisman. 

Presently, (CA)^2 is excited to announce their involvement in two art installation projects for BLINK Cincinnati, a major light, art and projection mapping experience that has boasted engagement in the millions. 

Beyond accomplishments, (CA)^2 is most proud of the bond we share as teammates, supporters, and sisters and the work/life balance we’ve constructed. Each member works separate jobs, Chenelle as Community Impact manager for Elementz Hip Hop Cultural Art Center, Camille as Senior Manager of Advancement for Elementz Hip Hop Cultural Art Center, and Anaya as teaching artist for Elementz and resident dance instructor for UMDA studio in Kentucky. We work to balance our jobs with our dance careers which takes significant effort. Still, we understand that the professional roles that we play now are helping sculpt our creative career futures by ensuring that we cultivate a secure community of artists, supporters, allies, friends, and collaborators in every facet of our lives. 

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Growing up, each member faced their own set of personal insecurities and family struggles/traumas that dance helped rectify. Creativity/expression had always buzzed around each young girl in different respects from Anaya’s mother who is a rapper to Chenelle and Camille’s life-long involvement in some capacity with different dance styles. However, when Chenelle and Camille met Anaya at Elementz through dancing on the street dance team, Studio Kre8v, their dance aspirations slowly started to become, in their minds, a dream worth actualizing. 

As two very shy people, dance helped Chenelle and Camille find their voices which translated in how they approached every aspect of their lives especially school. Dance helped these two sisters assert themselves as leaders more strongly within their academic careers as school club leaders and high achievers. 

For Anaya, dance fortified her belief in her abilities as well and equipped her with the knowledge that her opinions and ideas mattered and strongly contributed to a team. Like Chenelle and Camille, she struggled to use her voice to effectively assert herself, though her development within a dance team helped her realize her power as a leader by using her voice to stand up for herself and her dance sisters in the face of misogyny, doubt, and detractors. 

As young women raised by single mothers, they each witnessed the poise and decisive leadership that a resilient woman possesses. However, it took enduring challenges on a male-dominated team and witnessing issues happening in the world that spurred them to take action that truly awakened their fighting spirits. 

One such moment to act occurred one Christmas season. Though still in high school, (CA)^2 members worked together along with the guidance and hands-on assistance of their mothers, especially, Mrs. Tamara Beason to launch the first ever (CA)^2 Toy Drive, an initiative intended to provide underserved youth with a day of games, fun, and gifts. This effort led to more making the toy drive an annual feat alongside other charitable deeds for the schools (CA)^2 has partnered with to teach dance classes. 

Ultimately, the experiences of each member of (CA)^2 has shaped the team members into the women they are today. Their mothers, supporters, challenges, and triumphs have directly influenced their evolution from shy, insecure girls, to strong, motivated, self-assured women still ever-evolving and eager to embrace the never-ending journey of knowledge. 

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @ca2dancecrew
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/CA2Dancecrew

Image Credits
Flyshot Phiyah
Freewheeler