Hip-Hop Meets Dancehall (HMD) is an open-level community dance workshop developed by Leyda "Lady Sol" Garcia, a self-proclaimed Professor of Practice who grew up in Chicago's street dance community at the intersection of House, Hip-Hop & Dancehall club culture. HMD explores the Jamaican sound system and its influence on Hip-Hop's foundation, (namely music, dance, and community). Participants will be introduced to Jamaican social dances of the 90's and 2000's which developed in direct connection to its popular music genre, Dancehall.
Artist BIo
Leyda “Lady Sol” Garcia is a proud XICANA born (Mexican-American) street dance professional, mother, and wife from Chicago who is globally recognized as a Teaching Artist, Creative Director, Manager, Producer, and Cultural Ambassador. She has worked with major media networks including MTV, BET, NBC, TBS and alongside super-stars Busta Rhymes, Wyclef Jean, Lauryn Hill, Elephant Man, Cedric the Entertainer and Ellen Degeneres.
Lady Sol is responsible for bringing Chicago’s Footwork/Juke culture to global stages via the FootworKINGz dance ensemble who have performed with Madonna, Will.I.Am, Missy Elliott, Chicago Sinfonietta, IBM, Nike and Red Bull. She has produced and choreographed FootworKINGz dance theater shows at NYC’s Apollo Theater, Lincoln Center, and the Kennedy Center in DC.
She is a Co-Founder of Kuumba Lynx (KL), an internationally recognized arts organization that empowers young people through the cultivation of Hip-Hop arts education and social activism. Lady Sol is a self-proclaimed Professor of Practice who has taught fusions of Afro-Caribbean & Hip-Hop movement workshops at Harvard U, Columbia College, Stanford University, Northwestern U and University of Chicago. In 2015, she partnered with Jessica Phoenix and Co-Founded FIYAH Fit USA, an Afro-Caribeña dance fitness & cultural experience that champions women.
In 2018, Lady Sol joined the 3Arts Chicago family as a new awardee for her work in the teaching arts. This grant supported her new, developing work, “Lady Sol’s Dance Diary” an autobiographical solo show coined as a #hiphoptheatermemoir. LSDD humorously explores cross-cultural identity, sexual trauma, and the transformative power of uncovering self-love.
Lady Sol’s notable dance teachers include Jamaican born practitioners Global Bob, Professor Orville and Latonya Style. Locally, she trained with faculty at Joseph Holmes Dance Theater and with Idy Ciss of Muntu Dance Theater. Her immense gratitude is endowed to her mother Maria Garcia, sister-mother Maricela, and her life long mentor Efe McWorter, all of whom have granted Leyda wisdom and purpose as a teaching artist. “I intend to continue preserving street culture by promoting, teaching, and presenting it locally and globally.” says a passionate Lady Sol.