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They Hip-Hop Back to Revive Break Dance

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It’s no joke. And it’s not a time warp. The group of about 25 San Fernando break dancers who practice together in the gym at Recreation Park say they’re serious.

So is their leader, a 26-year-old deejay/rap/hip-hop performer who calls himself DJ Hazze. Hazze said break dancing may have faded since its zenith about a decade ago, but it will never die.

“We’re getting people into it again,” said Hazze. The San Fernando resident volunteers to help coach a group of dancers three days a week. “It’s keeping kids out of trouble,” he said, adding that hip-hop and break dancing have nothing to do with gangsta rap, which many observers say glorifies gangs, guns and liquor.

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Judging by the frenetic enthusiasm of the kids at the gym, Hazze--who looks like he just stepped out of an “Electric Boogaloo” movie in his purple polyester Adidas sweatsuit, super-fat shoelaces, helmet and kneepads--is right on target with his upbeat forecast for break dancing.

The San Fernando group got going late last year with a small clique of kids who used a corner of the gym to dance, said Gwen Indermill, recreation supervisor for the city of San Fernando. With the city’s encouragement and Hazze’s involvement, the group expanded. The city hosted a break-dance exhibition at Recreation Park in January that drew a crowd of about 200, Indermill said, and will host another performance April 12.

At a recent rehearsal, the group formed a circle on the basketball court and started “breakin’ down”--practicing routines involving spinning, sliding, miming and martial arts-style kicks and leaps, all to the backdrop of 10-year-old hip-hop tunes.

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For more information, call the parks department at (818) 898-1290.

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