Teaching the Pop Star Within: An Interview with Commercial Pop Teacher Cisco

 

Commercial Pop as a dance style is a high-energy, bold, versatile, performance-focused style that has truly changed the game for dancers across the world with how it's both fluid and expressive, and how it connects dancers to the inner star that they didn't know that they had. It combines the dance elements of jazz funk, street dance, contemporary, heels, and other dance styles to create choreography that makes you feel ready to perform and showcase yourself in a new way. 

The rise of commercial dance as a style originated and grew out of theatrical jazz, vaudeville, and street dance traditions. It has spanned over decades, starting as early as the late 1800s-1950s when early precursors grew out of vaudeville, minstrel shows, and nightclubs. 

Some of the great pioneers of commercial dance, such as Jack Cole, who is known as the father of theatrical jazz dance, shaped the slick and energetic style that was used in early Hollywood and stage performances. Another great pioneer was Bob Fosse, who revolutionized commercial and stage dance with sharp, angular movements, isolations, syncopation, and sensual styles. Katherine Dunham was someone who pioneered Afro-Caribbean and jazz fusion on stage and in film. Once the 1950s came around, dancers began breaking away from the strict classical constraints of ballet and began to experiment with more modern popular movements like street styles, jazz funk, and other modern dance styles.

In the 1960s-1970s, many variety shows on television began to introduce living room audiences to stylized, fast-paced choreography and gave choreographers a regular platform to design routines specifically for different camera angles and for home views, making dynamic choreography a household name. The explosion of disco culture in the late 70s continued to merge social dancing with mainstream commercial media and created an even bigger change in the dance world.

Commercial dance became more prevalent in the 1980s with its explosion into mainstream things like MTV music videos, films like "Flashdance" and "Breakin' ", and pop tours. It became focused a lot on street styles like breaking, popping, and locking, with studio jazz and aerobic fitness, which were driven by artists like Michael and Janet Jackson as well as Paula Abdul. Michael Jackson redefined pop choreography and music video history with his iconic routines in his music videos for "Thriller" (1982) and "Dirty Diana" (1987). Janet Jackson partnered with choreographers like Anthony Thomas for "Rhythm Nation" (1989), setting a standard for militaristic, synchronized street-jazz. Paula Abdul transitioned from a L.A Lakers cheerleader to an elite pop star doing routines like "Straight Up" (1988) and "Cold Hearted" (1989). Other choreographers like Vincent Paterson, Tina Landon, and Fatima Robinson also helped shape iconic music video choreography for pop and R&B artists.

From the 1990s to the present day, commercial dance has continued to absorb new dance subgenres into many platforms for choreography such as popping and krumping, lyrical hip-hop, heels choreography, and more. Dancers work across many different avenues like stadium tours, award shows, high-budget brand campaigns, and social media virality, showcasing the very evolving style today. 

Today, I interviewed Cisco, the Commercial Pop instructor here at Elemental Studios, to talk about his journey with dance and how he wants to help students reach their dance goals and have fun in class. But before we get into the interview, let's learn a little bit about Cisco, shall we?

"I was born in New Mexico, and I moved here when I was nine years old. I found dance when I was young and loved to do it, but I didn't really find it until I was 23. It was a little over 3 years ago. I definitely felt like I was sort of aimless before I started dance, and when I started dance, I felt like I found my passion; I found the thing that I wanted to do for the rest of my life." 

Let's get into the interview!

1. What is your favorite thing about being an instructor at Elemental Studios?

Cisco: "I think my favorite thing is just being able to, like, I guess, I really like seeing people having fun, cause I can remember the feeling I had when I first went into a dance studio, and I first took the class that made me fall in love with dance, and it was the feeling like, oh shoot, I can, I like, I was able to do something that I didn't think that I could do, so being able to see that on a lot of my students faces is like it's very rewarding and I always leave class feeling very whole."

2. What inspired you to pursue Commercial Pop as your dance class?

Cisco: "So, I remember, whenever I first started taking classes and everything, I really enjoyed jazz funk, hip-hop, and did a lot of the genres, and it was hard for me to choose. So, I was just going to everything that I could; I really loved it all. But one class that really stood out to me was a commercial class, and I was like, this feels really good cause it feels like there are no boundaries; it felt like I was a lot more freer in a sense, like I could move in different ways but, of course, keep it clean, keeping all the things. But, yeah, whenever the opportunity came, the studio was going to be opening, and I was going to be switching from a fitness class to a dance class, the idea just came to my head, and I was like, that would be cool to teach a commercial class, I don't think that we really have any classes like that and I really liked the idea of being to explore different genres without feeling limited."

3. How did you start the beginning of your dance journey? Where did that first step come in?

Cisco: "That first step, I remember in high school, I was taking show choir, it was partly dance, and ever since then, I was really in love with it, and I kept on having a friend who wanted to come with me to do an adult dance class, but we never found time and eventually, I was just like I'm not gonna keep waiting, I'm gonna do it, and I'm gonna push myself to do it even though I was scared and even though, that first class killed me and I had to just record it because I could not get it, it was Beginner Hip-hop. And I was, like, damn, I couldn't get it, but I left class feeling, like, okay, I can get it, but it makes me feel like I want to get it, no matter what, and I was going to work towards it, so, yeah, that's where it started."

4. How do you keep your classes engaging for dancers of all styles and levels?

Cisco: "I think that sometimes when it comes to classes, it can be very serious. I think that whenever I fell in love with dance, it was because we were having fun, and I feel like dance is always supposed to be fun. We started dancing, like as humans we started dancing back in B.C. or whatever, so it's like we are moving and moving to feel something, and I feel like in order to keep my class feeling fun but also being a learning environment and to learn effectively, I love just making it very fun, I like making jokes, I love making it whether I am making fun of myself or not like I definitely want to make everyone feel comfortable and I think that when people are comfortable and they are having fun, and learning is a lot easier." 

5. If Commercial Pop dance had one "feeling" or "energy" to capture, what would it be?

Cisco: "I would say, like, powerful, confidence, I would say very eye-catching and very much like main character energy."

6. Who are some of your biggest dance influences since starting your dance journey?

Cisco: "The first class that made me fall in love was jazz funk, and it was at Collaboratory, and it was from a dance teacher who I still take to this day, Dom Moody, just I fell in love with that. I love jazz funk so much, and also other instructors I look up to a lot are- I have never taken his class before- Devonte. He did the Michael Jackson piece that went viral on TikTok, and it's amazing. But there are a couple of other ones, but I couldn't really think of their names, but I look up to a lot of instructors here cause a lot of them have been mentors to me as well, like Cici really took me under her wing for a while too."

7. What is your advice for students who would like to try out your class for the first time?

Cisco: "My advice is to come into class and not take yourself seriously. I think that. Don't take it seriously whatsoever because it's supposed to be fun, and I think that whether you get it or not, I am going to have your back as much as I can. And if you are really scared, just ask me questions; I gotchu; and like I say in class, I can only help you as much as you help yourself."

8.  What are some of your hobbies that you like to do outside of dance classes?

Cisco: "I love to work out; I recently started doing more calisthenics, and I really like enjoying and exploring my body in different movements. I feel like it is has translated a lot into dance, like yoga. Just anything that gets my body moving.

9. What do you think sets Commercial Pop apart from other dance styles?

Cisco: "Commercial Pop isn't necessarily its own style; it's more so a mix of styles where you are able to pull from different genres of dance or styles of dance, and that is where you are able to really have a lot less boundaries with it, and you are able to experiment more with performance, you are able to focus more on confidence, and of course, performance and everything. That's why I'll sometimes like to do and show more performance pieces; I don't do them as often as I like, but I know that is something that I'm trying to do a little bit more moving forward." 

10. Do you have a favorite genre of music that you like to explore when making choreography for class?

Cisco: "Favorite genre... well, if you can't tell already, it's pop. I love jazz funk as a genre of dance, but as a genre of music, I love pop. But I have always loved Reggaeton so much, but that's not my class, so, I definitely feel like I want to explore that more in the future, but for right now, I definitely love being able to do the pop girly stuff and everything. But I do want to mention that I am trying to bring in more of a masculine vibe to some of my choreos here and there, I do know that I try to, for the most part, keep mine neutral, in the sense of like where they can be feminine or they can be masculine." 

Thank you to Cisco for taking the time to interview with me. I loved getting to know you and your passion for dance as well as how you make your class enjoyable and fun for everyone in the dance space. Make sure to check out Cisco's Open Level Commercial Pop Class on Mondays at 6:15pm-7:15pm and on Wednesdays for Beginner Commercial Pop at 6:15pm-7:15pm. 

See y'all in the next interview!