In the summer of 2018, a handful of dancers started gathering at Millbrook Park in Black Creek City's southeast quadrant. They came to practice a dance most passersby couldn't name—aggressive, spiritual, and deeply personal. What began as informal sessions among friends has since reshaped the city's dance ecology. Krump, the street form born from South Los Angeles clowning circles in the early 2000s, now has identifiable roots in Black Creek City. And unlike the polished commercial styles that have dominated local studios for decades, this one arrived through parks, parking lots, and pandemic-era livestreams rather than through formal institutions.
The First Wave: 2018–2021
Darius "Tremor" Collins, then 22, founded the city's first Krump crew, Rumble Saints, after returning from a family visit to Inglewood. He had grown up training in ballet at the Black Creek Conservatory—a path that, by his own account, left him searching for something "less about correction and more about survival." At Millbrook Park, Collins and three others practiced the form's core vocabulary: stomps, jabs, chest pops, arm swings, and the explosive release known as bucking.
"When we session in Millbrook, people walking by stop because they feel something's happening even if they don't know what it is," Collins said. "It's not a show. It's release."
By late 2019, the sessions had drawn enough regulars that Collins began teaching introductory classes at the Southside Community Center for a suggested donation of $5. Enrollment averaged 12 people per class—mostly teenagers and young adults from the surrounding neighborhoods. Then came the pandemic. Rather than dissolve, the scene migrated to Instagram Live and Zoom. Collins estimates that virtual participation peaked at roughly 80 viewers per session in 2020, introducing Krump to dancers across the city who had never traveled to the southeast side.
Studios, Crews, and Crossover
The return to in-person gatherings in 2021 marked a shift. Three local studios—Pulse Movement, District Dance Co., and the Conservatory itself—added Krump classes to their schedules. Renata Okonkwo, owner of District Dance Co., had initially resisted. Her studio built its reputation on contemporary and jazz, and she worried the form would alienate existing clients. Instead, the opposite happened. Okonkwo's Krump enrollment reached 34 students by spring 2022, with roughly 40 percent crossing over from her contemporary program.
"What surprised me was who stayed," Okonkwo said. "I have a 38-year-old accountant who started in hip-hop fundamentals and now sessions with Tremor's crew on weekends. I have former bunheads who say Krump finally taught them how to use their upper bodies without fear."
Three active crews now operate in Black Creek City: Rumble Saints (founded 2018), Voidwalkers (2020), and Ash & Ember (2021), the latter an all-female and nonbinary collective started by former Rumble Saints member Jamie "Flux" Voss. Voidwalkers took second place at the Mid-Atlantic Krump Championships in Baltimore in March 2023—the first Black Creek City crew to place at a regional event. Ash & Ember has focused on local showcases, including a sold-out March 2024 performance at the Harlan Theater that examined mental health access in the city's underserved wards.
Who Gets to Dance What
Krump's arrival has complicated long-standing genre boundaries in Black Creek City. The Conservatory, historically associated with white upper-middle-class families, now runs a subsidized Krump scholarship in Collins's name. Meanwhile, several Krump dancers have begun cross-training in contemporary and contact improvisation—forms previously inaccessible to many due to cost and cultural precedent.
The demographics have shifted noticeably. Okonkwo's Krump classes draw roughly 45 percent Black students, 30 percent white, 15 percent Latino, and 10 percent Asian or mixed-race—closer to the city's actual population distribution than nearly any other program she offers. Collins notes that age ranges have expanded too: his weekly advanced session now includes a 47-year-old former social worker and a 16-year-old who found the crew through TikTok.
This does not mean the scene has escaped tension. In 2022, a dispute over whether Krump should be included in the Black Creek Youth Arts Gala—a city-funded event with a historically classical programming slate—surfaced divides about which dance forms merit institutional support. Krump was eventually added to the 2023 gala after three crew leaders petitioned the organizing committee. The performance drew one of the event's strongest audience responses, according to gala director Samuel Pena.
