Bridging the Gap & Building Culture - Buddha Stretch

therutsstudio
May 29
4 min read

Yin and yang. Life and death. Time and space. Peanut butter and jelly.

That’s how OG Hip Hop dancer, choreographer, and instructor, Buddha Stretch, describes the dynamic of music and dance as he sits across the table from me in Studio B at Rūts Dance Studio.

Stretch, also known as Emilio Austin Jr., rode up to the studio on a Lime scooter at the exact time he said he would — not a minute earlier, not a second later. Kind enough to come early to speak with us before his Master Class, he walks through the doors in a pink and green plaid fit complete with a mala bead necklace, and greets me with a smile and a handshake.

There’s a quiet awe in listening to Stretch recollect his introduction to the Hip Hop movement in its earliest stages. Having gotten into breaking and popping in his first year of high school, he soon learned about MCing, DJing, Breaking, and Graffiti, and how all were interconnected. He had grown up with DJs in the park, listening to Rapper’s Delight, but didn’t know it was all one movement until his best friend’s brother, a rapper in the scene, had a DJ friend who explained to him the culture of Hip Hop.

“From that point on, I was like, ‘Wow. I love this. I want to be a part of this,’ and it’s been like that ever since.”

As he became more involved with the dance community, he and his friends decided they needed stage names. His name “Stretch” came from a friend who said he “stretched like a slinky” when he popped. At first, he picked the name “Slinky”, but later changed it because, quite honestly, “it sounded ridiculous” alongside his crewmates’ names, “Prince D” and “Snake”. The “Buddha” comes from his Buddhist background, which he’s identified with since the age of 17.

As his dance career flourished with choreography projects, music videos, shoots, and more (let’s not forget his impressive resume list that includes Will Smith, Mariah Carey, and Michael Jackson), he was pushed to bring Hip Hop to the classroom as more and more people saw the work he was doing. Encouraged by his “big sis” Robin Dunn, Stretch taught what is widely recognized as New York City’s first-ever Hip Hop class—marking the introduction of Hip Hop into the classroom. He explains that, “the first class was weird, [because] up until that point I had only taught people [who were] in the club life or Hip Hop [scene]… I didn’t know what I was doing.” After booking that first class at Broadway Dance Center in NYC, he saw students from an entirely different genre, trained in modern and ballet, who were eager to learn about the knowledge he had to share. The class soon became a regular slot — a turning point that brought Hip Hop into the classroom for good.

When speaking about teaching, Stretch says he loves “the experience of watching people learn in the moment.” He goes on to say that watching the ‘ah-ha’ moment is a feeling like nothing else. “You’ve helped them move from one moment to another moment, and from a Buddhist standpoint, in philosophy, you’ve enlightened them. And now they are applying that in their life.”

A key player in the movement from Old School to New School Hip Hop, he lends his thoughts about the old and new generations of dancers in the community. He applauds the new generation, saying, “this generation is ultra competitive, and that competitive nature has pushed the creativity to an all-time high…” while offering a token of advice, saying it’s “only from a competitive standpoint. They know competition but not conversation.”

Stretch says he would love to see the new generation have more conversation, while he wants his generation to see the sky again. He explains:

“When you get to a certain state, you create a ceiling for yourself. [You’ve seen] what’s possible, what to look forward to. The younger generation only sees the sky, [they see] possibility. The OGs need to see the sky again.”

As for the new generation and “that [competition] mindset,” Stretch says, “you’re going to hit a wall, because that’s all about you. And conversation, it’s about us. In competition, you're only trying to beat the person. In conversation, you're trying to converse. You're building instead of just destroying, [whereas] destruction leads to destruction. You gotta have a balance of the two. The competitive side should push the communal side, and vice versa.”

As innovation continues, pushing the creativity of movement, Stretch says dancers and teachers can honor the culture of Hip Hop by taking responsibility for the information shared with students. “In ballet, you learn where ballet comes from — the terminology, the vocabulary, the history. In salsa, you learn where salsa comes from. So why wouldn’t that apply to street dance as a whole and Hip Hop in particular?”

Coming to teach at Rūts, Stretch says he heard about the studio while visiting the community in Los Angeles earlier this year, when a couple of fellow dancers spoke highly of the establishment.

As a dancer, choreographer, and instructor spreading knowledge to everyone from icons to today’s youth, Buddha Stretch continues to influence the dance community and make a lasting impact in Hip Hop as a culture, a movement, and a lifestyle.

Missed his class at Rūts Dance Studio? Check out these key takeaways, and see where you can find more of Buddha Stretch.

Buddha Stretch’s Words of Wisdom