Micheal “Crank” Curry’s life took an unexpected turn during his freshman year. He had come to Southeast to play football, but lost his spot after being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.
“To relieve stress I would dance,” Curry said. “That really became a big part of my life. It took a big load off of my back.”
Curry founded Fingerprint Dance Community in 2013 with four others and is now the sole owner of the name. For the past three years Fingerprint has hosted dance battles and workshops under the title Battlez of Originality, and Curry said the event has grown each year.
“The first year only one person showed up, but that was our start so we took pride in that one person, because that means we didn’t fail,” Curry said. “The next year we donated the money to MS. Last year it was about 150 people and another 100 there to watch. Then we learned how to advertise and that stuff so that helped a lot.”
The cost of this year’s Battle of Originality, Curry said has been provided in whole by six local sponsors. The workshops, featuring guest professionals from all over the country, will take place Friday March 23 at On Cue Performing Arts Studio on Spanish St. Battles in open-style, Get Buck Cypher and Kid’s open-style will be held the next night, with cash prizes up to $300.
Curry said door prizes will also be given out each night, and that Southeast students can attend for free.
“The goal is to bring the dance movement here, to make Cape a dance mecca. We already have the tools to do it, we just need to push it a little bit harder,” Curry said.
When he is not traveling for work, Curry teaches classes for all ages at On Cue Studio; it is one of the endeavors that brings meaning to his life.
His disease, which causes him to lose feeling in his arms and legs, and puts black spots in his vision, is classified as relapsing and remitting MS, and when it comes back it’s generally worse than before.
“It’s really opened my eyes to the value of life,” Curry said. “I don’t like to sit around, I’m always on the move because I know my days could be limited. It’s a blessing in disguise sort of because instead of sitting back, I go out and make it happen, that’s what I live by, adapt and overcome.”
Curry said he began traveling to dance battles around the country, which opened doors to the national dance community. The big-name dancers he met in St. Louis and Atlanta, he said were open to working together and happy to come be apart of this year’s event in Cape Girardeau.
“The dance world is so small, if you go to a battle you meet a lot of the main people,” he said. “Everybody’s friends with everybody so you never know what type of opportunities you’re going to run into.”
Curry said the goal of his organization Fingerprint and of the Battlez of Originality event is to make the art of dance more prominent in Cape Girardeau.
“A lot of people on campus love to dance and would love to learn the techniques but can’t find the outlet, because Cape is kind of blocked off from the rest of the world,” he said.
The two-day event offers workshops in Pop, B-boy and Krump genres. Animated Minds of Texas, Jack Frost of St. Louis and Soulja Eyez of Florida will teach the workshops and double as judges for the battles.
The battles, to be held at the University Center from 3 to 8:30 p.m. March 24, feature a $300 prize for the open-style round, $100 for the Krump Get Buck Cypher round and $75 for Kids open-style.
