Prince Ali

We’ve seen the lockdown footage of folks in urban areas dancing on apartment balconies—a hopeful sign of life and defiance during COVID.

Yet, how does a professional dancer survive a global pandemic? It’s not easy. For Alex “Prince Ali” Flores, San Jose native and veteran street dancer and instructor, the pandemic is one more challenge in a life in which one has chosen the path of art and rarely looks back. “I’m just blessed to be in the situation I’m in right now,” he says. That situation for many of us is in front of a computer running Zoom. He’s assembled what amounts to a studio dancefloor in an apartment bedroom, equipped with wide-angle cameras so he can dance, teach, and break down the technique of his students. It’s a strange environment for popping—Flores’s dance style of choice for over 15 years—a street style that has a history of battle culture, competition, and community.

“The style that I do is not the most popular,” says Flores. “I don’t advertise myself as this hip-hop-studio, commercial dancer. I do something that’s a very old-school, traditional style of street dance. I had to bounce back and get creative.”

Getting creative is at the heart of popping, which took shape here on the West Coast in the Oakland communities of the 1960s, where local kids developed a style called boogaloo. “It started in black communities in Oakland around the Civil Rights Movement. These kids were essentially creating this dance, characterized by a lot of soul stepping, stops, and animated-type movements. It all started in Oakland with boogaloo,” says Flores.

The soundtrack for boogaloo was often live funk bands, or James Brown on vinyl, blasting out of driveways and talent shows and echoing in local gyms. Middle and high school mascots would even face off in boogaloo dance battles for school pride and street cred. As the music got faster into the 1970s and more digital in the 80s, the dancing changed with it. In the mass-market sense, we now know it as “breakdancing” or “hip-hop” dance, yet purists know that each genre has its own style, moves, aesthetic, and aficionados. For Flores, popping was his first love. “Popping is its own style, a beautiful style,” he says.

Growing up in a close-knit Mexican family in East San Jose, Flores was a shy kid whose father loved fishing and the outdoors and encouraged his son to become a public service officer and serve the community. A cousin who would break and pop at raves turned Flores on to street dance, and by high school, he had found his calling and an alternate way to serve the community.

“I was always the quiet kid, and I didn’t really

Written by Kevin Marks Photography by Leopoldo Macaya

have a voice in school,” says Flores. “I was always the wallflower in the back. I made this conscious choice. I’m going to do this. This is the thing I’m going to focus my energy on.”

Popping provided a focus, a passion, and a way to navigate adolescence and avoid gang culture in the neighborhood. He befriended local dancers Aiko Shirakawa and San Jose legend Spacewalker, who mentored him and critiqued his moves. It was urban folk art happening in the moment.

“There really was no school for popping. The way we learned was by being around people. It was very organic,” says Flores.

As he grew older, he continued to learn from the most established Bay Area dance crews, such as Playboyz Inc and Renegade Rockers, until a hallelujah moment arrived with an offer from Bobby and Damone from Future Arts, who offered him a salary equal to his day job to teach dance. He jumped at the chance.

He continued to work on his craft, teach, and compete until winning his first world title for popping in 2019 at the Freestyle Session World Finals in San Diego, a seminal moment for his career and his art.

The arts in general, and street dance in particular, are in a curious position in 2021. Superstar-sponsored, mass-market dance shows are reintroducing wide swaths of the population to dance and choreography, yet perhaps missing the point when it comes to freestyle and street dance, which is more immediate and of-the-moment, like jazz and hip-hop. For Flores, who has served as a judge and showcase artist for shows like World of Dance, he sees the world turning on to dance, but also tries to stay true to the form, even as street dance in general evolves and emerges.

While acknowledging that the competitive aspect of popping and street dance will always be a part of the form, Flores imagines a focus for street dance in the post-pandemic landscape that leans more toward helping one another through art, instead of trying to prove who’s best. He sees the city of San Jose and its communities as part of that equation.

“If we can have some sort of facility where artists can go and get paid their worth, that would be amazing,” says Flores.

Among his many dance education offerings, Flores teaches an intensive dance boot camp called “The Renegade Way,” which seems to describe the ethos one must have to pursue a life in street dance. For Alex Flores, his smile is disarming and his demeanor is warm and friendly, but when it comes to dance, his determination is evident.

“I’ll never stop dancing,” he says. C

ented, but I also see enough room for art appreciation,” said Lacin. “I would love to see more art events—performing arts, festivals, dance—here in the Bay Area and San Jose, as well as more support for artists and greater creative community.” In 2018, Lacin founded Magnetic Pole Fit, a community-oriented pole, dance, and LACIN fitness studio with a mission to create a safe space for members to express themselves freely in a nonjudgmental, supportive,

Every entrepreneur knows and motivationthe value of strength, flexibility, al environment. But it wasn’t and resilience, but it’s rare to an easy start for her. “When I meet someone who embodies first opened the doors of Magthese values both mentally and netic Pole Fit, I knew very few physically the way Lacin Keles people in San Jose. I had no does. Lacin was born in Turkey network, so I had to start from near the Black Sea, where she scratch,” recalled Lacin. “For began her dance training and the first two months, almost no KELES earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. She later lived and traveled across different countries from

Russia to Spain, training in various dance styles before she found herself in San

Jose after her husband got a job offer. Since then, Lacin has opened her own business, is about to graduate with a Master of Fine Arts in dance-creative practice and is now forming her own dance company. After first moving to San

Jose, Lacin realized more people were creating apps than art.

“Silicon Valley is very tech-ori-

Written by Michelle Runde Photography by Milan Loiacono

magneticpolefit.com lacinkelesmovement.com Instagram lacinthemover

one came to my classes. I was dancing by myself in the studio.” After working on getting more visibility though her own marketing, more people came. “Eventually, the most amazing and beautiful individuals started to fill the studio, and our community slowly grew,” said Lacin. “People saw how pole dancing changed their life. Students were connecting not only with me and one another, but they were also making connections within their bodies.”

A consistent challenge Lacin has faced are preconceptions people have about pole dancing, starting with assuming all types of pole dancing are the same. “Pole sports, pole fitness, pole dancing, pole artistry, and more,” Lacin explained, “for me, pole dance is a dance genre, it is an artistic workout. People may have their opinions about what they think pole dancing is, but for me, it is a powerful form of artist expression that celebrates our bodies,

strength, and women’s sexuality.” Lacin has seen the benefits this can have for women who are willing to try, both for their bodies and their minds: “I see many beginners coming to pole dancing classes thinking that they aren’t strong enough or flexible enough for pole dancing, or they think they don’t have the right body for pole dancing, or they think that they must have a certain dance or gymnastics background. However, it’s quite the opposite,” said Lacin. “Through pole dancing we learn to love our bodies and be proud of our imperfections and be confident in our feminine identities and sexuality. As we practice, we build our strength, flexibility, increase our mobility and awareness. I usually say that I’m not doing pole dancing because I’m strong, I’m strong because I’m doing pole dancing.”

As with so many small businesses, Magnetic Pole Fit was forced to shut its doors in March 2020 due to COVID-19, and later that year the studio closed permanently, though Lacin still hosts virtual and private lessons. Although it was an emotionally difficult decision to close, Lacin seized the opportunity to shift her creative energy into a life-long passion project. “I’m currently working on establishing Lacin Keles Movement, my dance company, this year,” said Lacin. The company’s mission is to empower women, cultivate artistry in all ages, and inspire the audience to embrace their voice and full potential.

As part of her master’s thesis, Lacin will debut a duet with fellow Magnetic Pole Fit community member Amanda Mendoza in June at LeFevre Theatre of Saint Mary’s College. Lacin explained the performance’s message: “There are many challenges we women face in life every day where we’re still living in a culture of [masculinity] and a male dominated world. At work, at school, at home, on the streets, there is violence, abuse, sexual harassment, discrimination, judgment, rape, murder, and more. Through dance and movement, I aim to address our collective traumas as women and the challenges we face and the importance of gender equality and women’s rights.” Lacin’s goal is to empower women and to inspire her audience to embrace a world where women are free to express their feminine and sexual identities. Lacin is also working on a solo dance film highlighting the duality of women living their sexuality freely, while suppressing it because of social oppression, culture, religion, and fear of violence. Although Lacin Keles Movement is starting small, there is no doubt Lacin will soon have an eager audience who’s as passionate about her mission as she is. C