Article via The Advocate

LAFAYETTE — They are an unlikely group of crusaders. Three dancers, a poet and a drummer. Their strength is a combination of narration, dance and live percussion.

And a willingness to tackle the toughest of subjects.

Jude Romero, Torrez Hypolite, Herb "Pucci" Green, Alex “PoeticSoul” Johnson and leader Terrance Morgan, collectively known as the Kabuki Dancers, are the progenitors of “Drop the BEAT,” which stands for Bullying Ends After Talking. On this morning, they're at the recently renamed Middlebrook Elementary.

Of all the causes they could preach — literacy, stay in school, physical fitness, anti-drugs — the Acadiana-based group chose the most difficult.

“Originally, we were just people who wanted to break and practice,” says Romero. “Clubs, battling in Baton Rouge, New Orleans and then Texas.”

By break, Romero means dance, a style that originated in the Bronx in the mid-1970s. Often performed to rap music by male teens in the streets, the style is characterized by intricate footwork, pantomime, spinning headstands, tumbling and improvisation.

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