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On today's episode of the podcast, I have a conversation with my friend, Hirari Watanabe about the importance of teaching the art and culture behind dance, specifically about Waacking. I took a couple of Waacking classes from her, and I absolutely loved how she taught them, so I wanted to bring her onto the show to talk about her intentionality with teaching. We also generally talk about bridging the gap between the "freestyle" community and the "choreo" community. 

Hirari was introduced to dance in 2007 through Youtube videos and the local Boys and Girls Club of San Diego. She then found her love for dance again in 2011 at Culture Shock Dance Center. Since then, Hirari has immersed herself into the dance community joining teams in San Diego and Los Angeles such as Syde FX, Soul Fresh Fam, Super Galactic Beat Manipulators, Immabeast, Culture Shock SD, BYOG, and KreativMndz Dance Academy.  As of 2016, she was put onto a freestyle crew called Wild by Nature and has been growing alongside them since. In 2019, she co-founded an All Female Freestyle Battle called \u201cLadies First\u201d with Sierra Duarte on a mission to give back to the ladies of the Hip Hop and San Diego communities. Although dance started as a hobby for her, she aspires to pursue dance professionally while continuing to grow and give back to her San Diego community.

Below is a list of Instagram handles, be sure to check these people out!

@hirari.w

@wildnation_7

@ladiesfirstjam

@mind.in.movement