Nick Gates breaks it down, on TV and at COCA
By Bill Beene
Of the St. Louis American
Forget what you heard and peeped on the streets, in clubs and videos. Hip-hop dance isn’t just sexy rump-shaking to a beat in short skirts.
Those are the paraphrased words of COCA’s hip-hop dance instructor Nicholas “Nick” Gates, who has taken on the hard task of cleaning up the dance genre’s smeared image.
For nearly one year Gates has been schooling kids and their parents on holistic hip-hop by way of its foundation: breakdance.
“My purist, elitist mentality is learning, knowing the history and the four elements of hip-hop and being well-rounded and dwelling in every aspect of hip-hip movement,” said Gates, who co-created the Washington University Breakdance Club.
Now Gates is taking his techique and influence to national TV as a contestant on Fox’s American Idol spin-off, So You Think You Can Dance. The show airs at 7 p.m. Wednesdays.
“I want to see how deep my skills truly run with dance, so I’m just basically challenging myself,” Gates said.
Gates was the only breakdancer to make the first-round cut in Chicago recently, crediting partly his grasp of the choreography that incorporated various styles from ballet and salsa to ballroom. One guy even danced on stilts, he said.
“Your audition defines who you are as a dancer, but people tried to blend styles and didn’t rep on core style, so a lot of them didn’t make it,” Gates explained. “Many also couldn’t grasp the choreography, and that cut them from the second round.”
Gates said he, on the other hand, “showed strong foundation-based skills – popping, locking and not just spinning on my head. It was healthy mix.”
Of other hip-hop dancers, he said, “They can’t do a routine – just one aspect, which is spinning on their head. They have tunnel vision and lack the ability to have versatility in their dance.”
What made Gates stand out among competitors, he said, was his introduction: “My name is Nicholas Gates, and what I’m about to show you is the full monte of hip-hop dance.”
Hearing the East St. Louis native talk about his skills might cause one to think he’s a bit cocky, but the soft-spoken, personable dancer is just confident, and he admits he’s still learning.
Gates comes from a family of entertainers and art lovers. His father is legendary on-air personality and deejay “Gentleman Jim Gates,” and his mother has always pushed the arts.
Gates’ two brothers are also deejays. One, DJ Needles, is St. Louis’ premier hip-hop spinner.
What a dynasty, with Gates and Needles holding down two of the four elements of hip-hop. Now all they need is a grafitti artist and an MC in the family to complete the quartet.
Gates’ COCA family is also tops in the Lou. The community-based arts center is committed to the creation, presentation, and display of the visual and performing arts and has producer several national performers who often return to the Lou.
Gates will also return, whether he wins the TV dance competition or not. He has COCA family members teaching in his place until he returns.
The winner of the competition in So You Think You Can Dance will receive $100,000 and an all-expense-paid apartment for one year in New York.
Meanwhile, Gates’ goal remains to implement the most powerful program that St. Louis has to offer within the walls of COCA, which may soon start a dance company to feature Gates.
“Hip-hop dance is far from where I would like it to be,” he said. “I want it alongside jazz and ballet. I want it to be required if you want to pursue dance.”
To support Gates in the competition on Fox, visit: www.cocastl.org
