Veteran dancer Royce Kerapa is bringing his passion for hip-hop to Whaingaroa with free classes at the Raglan Community House.
Held every Wednesday from 5.30-6.30pm, Royce believes in providing an outlet for youth to be creative in a safe environment.
“I want to share my passion and skills with the local youth and give back to the community,” he says.
Royce’s hip hop career spans over 20 years, his journey beginning with the Time Bandits group who toured nationally with 4 Corners, a merging of the four elements of hip hop culture – rapping, DJing, breakdancing and Graf art.
With 4 Corners and more recently the Pirate Kings, Royce’s career highlights include performing with DJ Sir-Vere at the Missy Elliot concert, making the top three of 70 bands entered in the Coke Tunes at Edgefest ’06, touring with Nesian Mystik and Misfits of Science and featuring on Maori Television, Mai Time and Space.
They have also supported top New Zealand acts such as Che Fu, King Kapisi, P-Money, Deceptikonz, Footsouljahs, Frontline and Scribe.
Having experienced the buzz of competing and performing himself, Royce is keen to eventually form a Raglan Hip Hop crew to perform at competitions and events.
The Youth Hip Hop workshop is part of the Raglan Youth Innovator Program coordinated by Maryann Tuao at the Raglan Community House to provide activities and mentorship to meet the emerging needs of youth in the community.
Open to all ages, Royce is happy for people to just turn up on the Wednesday evening to check out the classes.
Janine Jackson
For more information contact Maryann at maryann.tuao@gmail.com or 021 251 4676.
