Known internationally by her stage name ‘Lady C’, Caroline Fraser is a unique artist with a diverse background and skill set. Her main focus is in Street Dance culture and although she has made her mark in this global community, her training also includes a background in Ballet, Contemporary and Tap Dance and most recently extends into Jazz Dance forms with Holla Jazz Dance Company. She is a member of Symbiotic Monsters Crew (Montreal) and Soul Shifters Crew (USA). Caroline is also a recording artist under the same pseudonym and has collaborated with many other dancer-musicians such as Kay-Bee aka Kid Boogie and fellow Soul Shifters crew mate Cody ‘Coflo’ Ferreira. She continues to pursue a career in both art forms and strives to find a synergetic relationship between both expressions.

Dana e. fitchett, founder and director of Movement for Liberation, is a transdisciplinary artist who teaches movement classes; choreographs; makes visual art, music, and plant-based foods; and freelances as a justice- and truth-focused writer, writing coach, and editor. dana seeks and finds endless lessons in study of the African diaspora, literature, human engagement, and the entire natural world, and splits time between Oakland, Brooklyn, and Boston. dana holds a bachelors degree in urban studies from Vassar College and a masters of fine art in interdisciplinary art from Goddard College. Her voice and perspectives are informed by her deep listening practice and life experiences, including over a decade of work in K-12 education and nonprofits. All of her pursuits are unified by an explicit concern for moving our individual and collective realities closer to liberation.

Niki found dance at a very young age and has been dedicating her life to it ever since. She is a fan of genuine expressions and finds inspiration and grounds within the hip hop culture and her world wide travels.

Niki is a well known figure in the international dance scene, she has been invited to teach, perform in more than 40 different countries and she is constantly traveling across the globe to share her unique expression and exchange with others. She finds her ground within the Hip Hop community and loves the art of freestyle. To her it’s a way to tap into the unique language of the soul and connect with the present moment. Therefore she has based most of her dance practices around that and developed exercises and philosophies that she shares around the world through workshops, lectures, battles.

She has received several awards, grants and prizes throughout her dance life such as Juste Debout Hip Hop Finals -Paris, WDC Hip Hop Japan, The Gannevik Grant, 2 Guldbaggar for the documentary Martha & Niki that follows their dance journey to mention a few.

Ariston “ReMinD” Ripoyla was born and raised in Stockton, CA. From this small town in Northern California, he would emerge to be what many consider one of the most influential B-Boys of the modern era. From the tender age of 6, ReMind was steeped in the culture and elements of Hip-Hop. His earliest exposure to Breaking was from his cousins who he saw practicing headspins on cardboard in their garage. He was amazed by what he saw and became hooked right away. He started practicing with his cousins’ crew and entering underground battles and talent contests, effectively becoming their “secret weapon” against opponents.

As Breaking started fading out in the aftermath of its exploitation by the media in the 80’s, ReMind took to other activities–some positive and some negative. He got caught up in the street life, becoming involve in criminal activity and gang culture for a period. At the same time, he took to other forms of dance. The energy and spirit of Hip-Hop was alive within him as he performed the party dances of the New Jack Swing era. It was that spirit which grounded him through run-ins with the law, tough times and confrontations that surrounded him. He loved art and music and was influenced by everyone from the Nicholas Brothers and Michael Jackson to New Edition and Bobby Brown. ReMind was also heavily influenced by the house and freestyle dancers of the “209” (the area code for the region of Northern California he was from). In that golden age of Hip-Hop from the late 80’s to early 90’s, people were coming up with extremely unique styles and riding the wave of free expression. ReMind would see legendary dancers from Stockton such as Walter Johnson and Darrick “Quali-D” Fields who would have a major impact on him.

The seed of B-Boying within him had not disappeared either. ReMind began to pick up Breaking once again in 1991. Together with his close friend Boogie-T, he would travel far and wide, getting into different clubs (despite his young age) and battling people at parties. He was known early on for his unmatched level of energy, creativity, and fearless battle attitude.

As his skills progressed and the dance began to get more serious for him, ReMind set his sights on taking things to the next level. In 1993, together with B-Boy Ivan, he created the name “Style Elements,” which would soon become recognized worldwide for ushering in a new style and innovation to the element of B-Boying in the 90’s and beyond.

Both on his own and with SEC, ReMind collected a countless string of prestigious victories and titles, quickly becoming a star in the B-Boy community worldwide. His incorporation of freestyle and house into his breaking had a major impact on a whole generation of dancers who began to similarly incorporate different styles into their moves. ReMind also innovated a series of transitions, neck rolls, headslides, wrist moves, freezes, and concepts which would be taken up by B-Boys and B-Girls around the world. Like other members of Style Elements, his signature moves became adopted so widely that they have today become standard vocabulary of the dance, referred to by some as the “new foundation.”

Aside from his lasting contributions to the dance, ReMind has also appeared in a variety of feature films, live shows, theatrical pieces and underground documentaries. Today, he continues to perform, battle, teach, and judge regularly in the B-Boy community.

ReMind’s goals are to further spread, innovate, elevate, and preserve the roots of HipHop culture throughout the world. He is currently working on revolutionary concepts which combine ancient cultures together with the future–giving birth to a “Future Primitive” of infinite possibilities of movement, which he’s dubbed Weapon Of Mass Expression (W.O.M.E).

Being half Lakota, ReMind has also spent a great deal of his recent time traveling to various Native American reservations throughout the U.S., teaching dance workshops, and spreading his principles of creating positive energy through Hip-Hop. Through his life and his art, he is here showing how we are all related.

Meaning Behind the Moniker

The name “ReMind” has its origins in a poem Ariston wrote when he was in the 6th grade. It spoke of him being killed by his own people on the Battle of Little Bighorn, a historic battle in 1876 which involved several Native tribes against General Custard and the US Army 7th Cavalry. In the poem, Ariston referred to himself as “Remind” and the piece itself was a reminder of what his own people had gone through. The name stuck with him as he kept on writing it repeatedly wherever he went.

Overtime, the name also came to serve as a tribute to the legendary dancers out of the 209 that inspired him. Every time Ariston breaks, he is “Reminding” the world of the styles which shaped and influenced his own expression

Todd “PopNTod” Breithaupt, repping the legendary Soulbotics and Wave Gang crews, has been regarded as one of Southern California’s innovators in the dance form, popping, specializing in styles such as waving, robot, and animation. It was through spending innumerable hours street performing on Hollywood Blvd., subways under New York City, or in Portland, Oregon, that PopNTod was able to create his foundation with the robotic styles. He has appeared in a number of commercials and other media including Chris Brown’s music video, “I Can Transform Ya”, which he co-choreographed. Todd has also performed for Carnival Cruise Lines, claimed victor to numerous dance competitions across the continent, & shared the stage with E-40, Ludacris, Common, etc, to name a few of his accolades. He has performed as a resident dancer with the company, iLuminate (3rd place finalists in America’s Got Talent season 6) throughout the world in the technological dance and light show and off-Broadway success, Artist of Light. His current passion is mentoring his students with his online dance program, iLL SkiLLz Dance, which has impacted hundreds of people in their dance journey.

Brice Johnson has taught for 15+ years, known from “So You Think You Can Dance” as “Professor Lock”, Hood Lockers YouTube and TedTalk. He has judged, danced and hosted countless battles / events, choreographed into plays, danced in misc. TV shows like Dancing with the Stars, Danish Music Awards and others. He performed for Madonna and was a regular choreographer for the Danish Christoffer.