A dance professional once asked me why I loved krump dancing so much. It’s a great question, and one I’ve thought about for countless hours. Instead of offering a reason, I thought I’d start this blog. Along the way, I’ll probably find the words to express my feelings. Or better yet, show you why.

I’ve always loved street dancing. Since the late ’90s, I’ve taken hip-hop dance classes, first in New York City and then in Los Angeles, where I currently live. I’ve also been a hip-hop journalist for much of my career, although I have not written about music in a while.

In 2006, I relocated back to my hometown of Venice, Calif. I got a newspaper job, where I stayed for four years before deciding to take a leap and go back to get a MA in journalism. Luckily, I received an Annenberg Fellowship to pursue a MA in Specialized Journalism (The Arts) at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. It was a life-changing experience.

I’ll never forget when, during a meet-and-greet before grad school started, I went to meet Sasha Anawalt, who would become my mentor, and she told me to go go out there and discover hidden dance communities around L.A. It was if she knew I would. And I did.

I found Miss Prissy teaching at Debbie Reynolds’ Dance Studio in North Hollywood. I had seen her in David LaChapelle’s 2005 film Rize. She was one of the founders of krump. As I stood in her krump dance class trying to follow along, her 2-year-old toddler girl sitting at my feet “talking” to me, something clicked. I went up to her after class and told her that I wanted to write a thesis on krump. She took me seriously and invited me to a weekly krump session that happened every Wednesday starting at midnight in a Ralph’s parking lot in NoHo. I went the following week. The 818 Session is where my adventures begin.