Hip hop, jazz and dancing is an increasingly popular activity among young Hanoians.

Young Hanoian at a hip hop jazz class on Thai Phien Street, Hanoi.

As music blares, nearly 100 young girls begin dancing to a medley of hip hop and jazz, guided by the direction of their young teacher. This is the hip hop jazz evening class on Thai Phien Street in Hanoi. The teacher, Hitomi Nguyen Thi Bau, is just getting started.

Still relatively new to Vietnam, hip hop jazz dance is attracting Hanoi’s young females in huge numbers. The evening class, held every Wednesday on Thai Phien Street, is always full of youthful gals sporting t-shirts and jeans, looking to form an eclectic product by combining the grace of jazz and the hard beat of hip hop.

Twenty-two-year-old student, Doan Kim Thu, from RMIT University, has followed the class for 3 months and is evolving into a skilled dancer.

“Many of my friends are also learning,” Thu said.

Another girl in the class, Mai Anh, is a student from Hanoi University of Culture, and expressed enthusiasm for dancing.

“I found out about hip hop jazz dance from my friends, and from the first time I visited the class, I wanted to learn it,” Anh said while wiping off the sweat from her face.

The smallest and also one of the best dancers in the class is Thuy, a student at Nguyen Sieu High School. She said that she liked hip hop very much and found it interesting when combined with jazz.

“It was very difficult and even painful to learn the dance at first, but I’ve tried my best to overcome the pain and learn,” Thuy said. “Now I find dancing to be not only physically rewarding, but it even reduces stress.”

Thuy Linh, a student from the Business & Technology University was even hoping that she could do a part-time job as a hip hop jazz dancer at events.

The class’s teacher, Hitomi, studied general arts at school in Japan before returning to Vietnam and opening the first class of this type in 2007. “I just teach the basic steps, relating to warm-up skills, on musical sense, etc. From this, students can form and develop their own styles,” she said. “This dance requires patience, passion and hard work, but I am happy to say that most learners take to it well.”

Hitomi is also wiling to share her learning experience with her students. “One of the most important things for learning this dance is musical sense,” she told them. “But good warm-up skills also play a role.”

Hip hop jazz dance Club in Hanoi:
- 6 Thai Phien: 6.30-8pm every Wednesday
- 1A Tang Bat Ho: 7.30-9pm every Monday and Wednesday.