From Rushour To Re-Fl3X, Local Dance Artists Making A Positive Impact
The streets of the Quad Cities can get pretty rough for some of these kids. There is not much to do outside of getting into fights and causing trouble in some instances. Some kids have less than perfect lives. Some of them never make it out of this lifestyle. Drugs and jail time end up being norms and dreams fade away and die. But some kids find that something inside of them that drives them to go for it. Some kids fight to change their stars.
One kid I know that grew up with my oldest son, Curtis Bell, did just that. At a certain point, he decided he wanted to do something with his incredible dance talent. He gave up all the rough stuff and started teaching kids to dance at The Dance Connection in East Moline, IL. Out of this was born Rushour, a dance team that frequented grade schools to entertain and inspire kids and adults alike.
I ran into Curtis recently and asked him about his next show so I could see about writing a review on it for Quadcities.com. “This will be our first show as Re-FL3X,” he said to me. I replied, slightly befuddled, “What?” Curtis then informed me about how they have recently went through some changes and even made a new Facebook page. You can find that link at the end of this article.
Re-Fl3X is a dance team that consists of Curtis Bell, age 23 of East Moline, IL and Juan Valtierra, age 21 who was born in Mexico but has been a citizen of East Moline since age 4. They have been dancing together for 3 years. Juan originally was a student at Curtis’s studio. They received most of their training by traveling to cities like Chicago, LA, Texas, and many others. They learned from many different famous background dancers “To name a few, Les twins, Lyle Beniga, Wildabeast, and Shuan Evaristo”, Curtis informed me.
I asked Curtis to give me a background story on him and his partner, Juan, to give you guys a little bit more of an understanding at what kind of a wonderful show this really is. He explained, “We worked together on a routine and, during that, we “clicked”. We liked the way we worked together and so we decided to become a duo. Once that happened, we started to, not only perform in the community, but we began to perform at schools.”
Curtis continued, “We started to see the way that young kids were looking at us and looking up to us. So we decided that we wanted to always be leading the kids in the right direction. And we make it our goal to always try to reach people and show them a better way. We know that we wouldn’t be the people that we are today if it wasn’t for the people that came into our lives and helped us along the way. We want to do the same as well as become better dancers!” Great work, boys. I am incredibly proud of you both.
I will be attending their show this weekend on Sept. 24. Re-Fl3X presents “The Showcase”.
Sponsored by QC United and hosted by Corey “C Grey” Dixon, the boys will be dancing and doing their thing. Additionally, some other amazing acts that will be performing in this showcase.
The doors open at 3:30 and the show goes from 4-6pm. Tickets are $7 in advance and $10 at the door. The location is Davenport Junior Theatre located at 2822 Eastern Avenue, Davenport. For more information, call either (563) 459-7406 or (309) 749-5667.
Do not forget to Like their Facebook page and share it! You can search it by typing Re-FL3X into your search bar or click on https://www.facebook.com/ReFl3xHipHop .
