SOC!ETY DANCE ACADEMY

WILLIAM “QUICK” REYNOLDS IS A NEW YORKER AND SELF-TAUGHT HOUSE DANCER.  HE HAS AN UNUSUAL RHYTHMIC SENSE, RIDING THE LONGEST LINES OF THE MUSICAL PULSE, PURPOSELY STAYING IN TEMPO, THEN GOING OFF TEMPO BUT EVENTUALLY COMING BACK, EXACTLY ON THE BEAT.  THE BODY IS ALWAYS RELAXED, AND HIS SIGNATURE MOVES ARE MULTIPLE, FAST BARREL-TURNS, PERFORMED LOW TO THE FLOOR, HIS BODY MAKING SPIRALS AS HE INSCRIBES A LARGER CIRCULAR PATTERN ON THE FLOOR. REYNOLDS BEGAN SERIOUS CLUB DANCING WITH HIS BROTHER WHEN HE WAS 16, LEARNING ON THE SPOT, IN THE CLUBS.

HE ORIGINALLY WENT TO THE TUNNEL “TO OBSERVE STUFF, TO SEE WHAT WAS GOING ON, AND IT FELT REAL GOOD. SO EVERY WEEK I WENT. I TRIED TO GET A LITTLE BIT BETTER AND BETTER, AND LEARNED HOW TO DANCE, JUST A LITTLE BIT MORE, EACH TIME.” HE IS INSPIRED BY MOVEMENT AND “I DON’T KNOW TOO MANY PEOPLE’S NAMES. I RESPECT THE MOVES.” LIKE MOST HOUSEHEADS, HE ADMIRES SMOOTH, POWERFUL PHRASES “BUT IT HAS TO HAVE BALANCE, HAVE A LITTLE TECHNIQUE TO THE STYLE.”

REYNOLDS DESCRIBES THE PHYSICAL AND IMPROVISED DIALOGUES OF THE CIPHER NOT JUST AS “BATTLING,” BUT AS “PLAYING WITH SOMEBODY. I MEAN, CAN YOU DO THAT BY YOURSELF?  ISN’T IT ABOUT THAT GIVE AND TAKE? BETWEEN YOU AND THAT PERSON?”  THIS PARALLELS THE “PLAY” SENSIBILITY OF THE CAPOERIA’S RODA, AND IT ALSO DESCRIBES THE INCLUSIVE VIBE OF HOUSE, WHICH IS DIFFERENT TO THE HARD COMPETITION OF HIP HOP CIPHERS.

REYNOLDS SUMS UP HIS COMMITMENT WTH THESE WORDS:  “I THINK EVERYBODY WAS BORN WITH SOMETHING THEY CAN DO. AND DANCING IS JUST WHAT I WAS MEANT TO DO.”