Dancing Green

Senior Chrys Green doesn’t just walk across a room. He spins, slides, tuts, pops, locks, jerks, and moonwalks his way across. When he uses his hands to gesture, he uses the type of wrists-at-right-angles, sharply defined movements most people only see in music videos. It’s been a long journey for Green, from a trailer park in Maryland to life with adopted parents in Alexandria. But dance has held it all together. From being “a fat, fat kid” and dancing while his alcoholic mother sang, to helping choreograph the music video for a Billboard 100 single, it has been a long journey. And the future is limitless.

When Green was 11, his mother died. Green doesn’t know all the details, but he remembers running through the trailer park they lived in, yelling for help. He doesn’t know where she is buried, but wants to find out. His father had never really been around, and so Green, at a point in life that is not easy for anybody, had to start a new life in Virginia, attending George Washington Middle School.

Dance quickly became an essential thread in Green’s life. “It’s a release, a comfort, a source of enthusiasm,” said Green. Not content to just dance, Green wanted people to dance with. In seventh grade he created Young and Fresh, a hip-hop dance crew which became a fan favorite at talent shows and other school events.

Inspired by greats such as Michael Jackson and James Brown, Green became a self-taught master of dance. Amazingly, he has taken no professional dance lessons, but he has taught professionally, at Alliance Dance Institute on Duke Street. In the summer of 2009, Green caught his biggest break yet. Through a dance-centric entertainment group called II Extreme Entertainment, he was introduced to Tina Davis. Davis’s name is probably not familiar to most students, but she is the manager of one of the most famous (or infamous) figures on the hip-hop scene today: Chris Brown.

Thanks to Davis, Green was able to assist in choreographing the music video for Ester Deen’s breakout single “Drop It Low,” which featured Brown. The song hit 38 on the Billboard 100 charts, and the video including cameos by stars including Nelly, Omarion, and Soula Boy Tell ‘Em. The experience left quite an impression. Green is set on becoming a professional choreographer. He wants to work with celebrities, on music videos and for feature films.

Right now though, Green has more pressing matters. Young And Fresh, which he sees as “a way for kids to do something positive,” has fallen victim to a mixture of negative attitudes and postponed performances. So Green is holding auditions after winter break, in hopes of reforming the group and getting a fresh start. Running a dance crew isn’t easy, and being a member has its own challenges. “He’s very demanding,” said junior Cecile Marsh of Green, “but it leads to great results.” Marsh has danced with Green for two years, and plans to reaudition after winter break. “I’ll definitely be reauditioning!” Why? “Cause we’re the bomb!” That is the attitude Green wants in the future group. Green has also been tapped to help choreograph T.C.’s spring musical, Chicago, along with senior Madeline Bryant. A loaded schedule may get in the way of Young And Fresh, since Green also plays for the T.C. ice hockey team. But he’s determined to make it work.

Some may wonder why Green does what he does. Why practice hours after school and memorize the moves from hundreds of music videos? Why keep dancing? “It’s a way for me to say things I couldn’t otherwise say,” said Green. But something far more powerful than artistic expression keeps Green going. It’s more powerful than the legacy of Michael Jackson and James Brown. “My mother,” says Green. “She’s still my inspiration.”