Hip Hop Dance is a style of movement characterized by bounces and rocks executed to Hip Hop music. It has deep historical and social roots in African American culture, having emerged in Black communities living in 1970s New York. While frequently referred to as a singular dance style, Hip Hop dance is part of a whole culture of Hip Hop, that includes Deejaying, Graffiti, Emceeing, and several sub-styles of dance, including Breaking and the Ugandan versatile creative artist Muwanga Gilly has mastered this art in the United Kingdom.
Gilly’s quirky and eccentric dance style which he dubbed the G-sauce drawing inspiration from Hip-hop, New Jack swing, and Krump won him the 2017 UK Choreographer of the year award.
His originative and visionary executions that concretize effortless surfaces and strong variations have seen him showcase on big stages like the on BBC three Southside story, Got to Dance, Sky 1’s pineapple studio, and BBC’s move like Micheal Jackson.
He has worked with big names like Mel B, Boyz II Men, and Pitbull. He has also worked with clients such as BBC, Sky Sports, CBBC, Armani jeans, Barcardi, and MTV.
As a rapper, Gilly has a hit song titled Griselda Blanco that featured Lil Mon.
Gilly is also a member of Frobacks, a four-piece, male street dancing group that adds comedy into their routines. During Britain Got Talent search 2020, the group wowed the judges including the famous Simon Cowell with their urban turtle’s performance.
Frobacks is a dance group of old friends who grew up in the same dancing community. Ryan had an idea to create a street dancing group that was fun and could appeal to all ages. He spoke to Gilly about it and they got their friends Alex and Reece to join.
Within the group they all have their unique roles. “Gilly is the ring master and the flamboyant one, Alex is the ladies’ man, Reece is the big friendly giant and Ryan tries to be the organiser and leader.”
Secretly, they all want to be superheroes. Gilly said: “There needs to be a superhero with dreadlocks!”
Speaking about their reaction when the Mirror opened during the Auditions, they said: “That was shocking and surreal. One minute you’re in the studio, the next we saw thousands of people. We didn’t know what to make of it. None of us remembered when the mirror opened – it’s a blur! Our hands were up in the air when it opened, it felt like a rollercoaster! We felt a big high and a rush of adrenalin.”
Having unearthed his paroxysm for dance while still very young, Gilly through his group Frobacks teaches dancers, weekly classes, for prospects Fraternity with the aim of getting more young people into the industry.
Dance group prospects Fraternity made it to the finals of BBC one’s The Greatest Dancer show, a show which Frobacks also participated in and also made it to the finals.
