(l-r) Isaac Barron, George Kasko, Javier Garcia and Rock Williams at a FLYworks dress rehearsal

Kathy Wood, a retired high school dance teacher, saw a group of hip-hop dancers at the Westheimer Arts Festival in 1993. She remembers, “I saw these guys dancing and thought if they had some structure, they would be incredible. I realized it would be a waste not to do something with them. Somebody had to get them on stage!”

After talking with them for a few minutes, Ms. Wood invited them to her home studio, where they began working together on choreographed moves. At around the same time, Ms. Wood received notification about a local dance competition and, “just for fun,” decided to enter the group. She says, “We combined hip-hop dancing with classical music, and everybody went nuts. No one wanted to follow us. We won first place, and that’s how FLYworks began.”

As the original group grew older, they left the company for paying jobs. “At that time we were not able to pay any salaries,” explains Ms. Wood. “When they started developing families, they had to go to work.” George Kasko, one of the four current troupe members, says, “With Houston Endowment’s help, we don’t need to go out and search for a couple of part-time jobs just to make ends meet. We can focus on what we’re doing,
dedicate ourselves and try to take this as far as we possibly can.”

Before joining FLYworks, the young men danced at pep rallies, in clubs, on sidewalks and on the streets. Mr. Kasko says, “We were in local crews—guys who hang out and dance together just for fun. When we got with Kathy, she opened our eyes to see that we could do that and reach people.” In 2003, FLYworks presented performances about science, the dangers of drugs, staying in school and conflict resolution to more than 35,000 students in Houston-area schools. The company recently presented 22 shows and 78 workshops in Dallas.

Isaac Barron says, “Kathy writes a script, and we go out there and present it like a skit and incorporate dance into it.” Javier Garcia adds, “We start with a freestyle dance that includes some tumbles. It gets their attention right off the bat.” Every show includes nonviolent conflict resolution. Ms. Wood says, “In one show we have a dance competition between two of the dancers. We get all the children up to help these guys settle their problem. Then we declare them all winners because they settled the situation nonviolently.”

FLYworks influences young audiences and also gives the dancers direction and a sense of accomplishment. Rock Williams says, “We’ve become role models for the kids. After 30 minutes of talking to them, doing our skits, dancing and teaching them something, like anatomy or the history of street dancing, we get such a great response that it makes us more determined to work harder and harder.”

He continues, “I sacrificed good, sit-down, blue-collar jobs because I love to do this. A lot of my friends have cars and stuff, but I want the satisfaction of being able to touch somebody and make a difference. We’re giving out messages and entertaining at the same time. It just can’t get any better than that.”

In addition to presentations at schools, FLYworks has danced at almost every major performing arts venue in Houston and has wowed audiences across the nation and in a couple of European capitals. Ms. Wood says, “I guess I’m going to be working with hip-hop dancers for the rest of my life! Dancers like these are in every school, and they have
no avenue to express themselves. I talk to principals and dance teachers and encourage them to sponsor either a hip-hop club or hip-hop classes.” While looking with pride at her troupe, she explains, “We simply want to help kids dance down the right path.”

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