FeaturesJuly 24, 2016
Faith, footwork and artistry
Jimmie Miller enters his dance studio, still dressed in his button-down, tie and slacks from a full day of work as a web designer at Red Letter Communications in downtown Cape Girardeau. Although he is dressed for the office, he will soon transform into the dancer and teacher with whom his hip-hop students are more familiar...
Jimmie Miller enters his dance studio, still dressed in his button-down, tie and slacks from a full day of work as a web designer at Red Letter Communications in downtown Cape Girardeau.
Although he is dressed for the office, he will soon transform into the dancer and teacher with whom his hip-hop students are more familiar.
"I program and code things during the morning and then I come here and I dance. It's my area, my space, my love," he said.
Miller is the owner of Broken and Redeemed Studio, a faith-based hip-hop dance studio in Cape Girardeau.
A lifelong dancer, Miller found his passion the hard way at 6 or 7 years old through his mother -- who was the praise dance leader at their church -- requiring him to dance during church services.
"And next thing I know I'm on stage with a flag in my hand, mumbling under my breath like, 'Mom,'" he said with laugh.
Eventually he went to a school dance as an early teenager and was introduced to break dancing, a concept quite far-reaching from his original experience on the church stage.
"I was like, 'Yo! I can get down with that!'" he said.
He left the dance early to go home and watch YouTube videos to gain inspiration from well-known break dancers like Michael Jackson and Usher. Break dancing quickly became an outlet for Miller, who grew up in a single-parent household in St. Louis.
"My mom was trying to be everything that she could and I'm grateful that she was, but at the same time, the surrounding areas -- there wasn't a whole lot of good stuff to get involved in, so a lot of the times I found myself bored," Miller said. "I was glad that my mom introduced me to something that I could do -- even though I hated it -- but once I came to love it, it really just took off for me and it's just something I feel like God has definitely bestowed on me."
After he started to learn more about break dancing, he helped start a dance crew that eventually began performing at local churches. Working his way up, he began teaching at dance studios and gaining visibility in the community.
"I started teaching at all these other random spots and it just snowballed. People start hearing my name and I start getting asked to do shows, like paid shows, so I was like, 'I don't know how this happened,'" Miller said. "It's kind of one of those things where you're just doing it for fun for once, and the next thing you know everyone's revering you as this professional."
More recently, he has put his efforts toward Broken and Redeemed, a studio previously called Gift of Dance Performing Arts Studio, which he had worked at and overtook from former owner NaTika Rowles.
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"Broken and Redeemed -- it was definitely, it was something from God," Miller said. "That's something I also hold very close to my heart; I am unapologetically Christian."
The name for the studio came to Miller one day while he was in the shower, where he says the best thoughts typically surface.
"As Christians, we are hopelessly broken because of our sin, but at the same time we are also redeemed because of the grace of God and his son Jesus Christ," he said. "... It's this paradox of being both equally broken and equally redeemed at the same time. It's a really dope concept and it's also an acronym for 'bar,' like ballet bars."
The studio offers predominantly hip-hop-themed classes that are broken down into specific genres under the main umbrella of hip-hop dance, including beginning hip-hop, intermediate hip-hop, hip-hop aerobics, krump 101 and b-boy hip-hop. Miller also offers beginning tap/ballet/jazz combo classes and general drop-in classes for those interested in more traditional options.
"I saw a need in Cape where people want hip-hop, but they don't really understand or know what part of hip-hop they want, and there's no one else in this area that's teaching it in the way that I would like them to be, and in the way that I think it should be taught," he said.
Miller said he enjoys teaching kids about hip-hop and introducing them to the concept in a more positive light, because he can help challenge any preconceived notions people may associate with the music and the art of hip-hop dancing.
One of his favorite aspects of having the studio and teaching classes is being able to introduce students to Christian rap artists like Lecrae, the 116 Clique (based off the Bible verse Romans 1:16) and Andy Mineo -- all artists he grew up listening to.
"There is this stigma that hip-hop is always this hardcore, gritty and nasty ... and hip-hop does not have to be that way. It's not that way, actually, when it first started it wasn't anything like that, it was a different kind of outlet," he said. "So now I get to take hip-hop -- a genre that people consider to be so bad and so vulgar and mean -- and show them there is an actual alternative to it, that there are Christian artists that actually sound good who do this and we can dance to it."
The studio has several mottos, including "Be phenomenal or be forgotten" and "Faith, footwork and artistry," but most often, Miller likes to encourage his students with the motto: "You ain't doin' nothin' if you ain't workin' hard. My mind is set on Jesus; his word is on our heart."
"There is no in between," Miller said. "Either you're working hard and you want this, or you don't want it. Everything else is just gray space."
Miller said he hopes to be a role model for other minorities in the community and to create a space where people can learn and enjoy hip-hop and their faith.
"I think there is a definite need and a want for clean hip-hop and there is also a need and want for hip-hop period within Cape Girardeau," he said. "There's a lot of people who want this who just aren't really aware of it yet."
Broken and Redeemed will have a hip-hop master class taught by Neal Hopson of Boost 101.9 and Miller from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday, July 30, at the studio, 1217 N. Kingshighway, Studio No. 250 in Cape Girardeau. Go to brokenandredeemed.com/purchase-classes/ to view all available classes, including the master class.
lyoung@semissourian.com
(573) 388-3632
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