It is with great honour that we announce our first ever Crew of the Month winner, for March 2015, UNTIMITIVE. We spoke to Rudi Smit to find out a bit more about Untimitive.
Untimitive formed late 2011/early 2012 during preparation for the Dance To Las Vegas competition of that current year. The Megacrew division was newly announced to HHI in that year and it seemed like an exciting challenge and fun category to enter, so everything just fell into place as it should have and Untimitive started forming after a combination of dancers that were already part of Untamed joined forces with a number of dancers who auditioned to be apart of the team. The team has therefore been in existence for four years.
Untimitive’s achievements thus far:
Rudi Smit: Untimitive has consistently been in the top 3 during their years of competing in the Dance To Las Vegas / Dance To San Diego competition:
2012 – 2nd place.
2013 – 1st place.
(Did not compete in 2014)
2015 – 1st place.
Untimitive also currently holds South Africa’s highest megacrew ranking at the World Hip Hop Champs for their 9th place at Worlds in 2012. It was a new record set for South Africa, along with Brooklyn’s 5th place in the Adult category that year.
Untimitive also won “Crew of the year” in 2014 at the Iconic Dance Awards held in Cape Town.
Members of Untimitive:
Rudi Smit (22)
Duane Williams (24)
Amy Pietersen (22)
Cindy Cairncross (23)
Nicholas Vries (24)
Chester Martinez (19)
Jodi Brookes (21)
Densley Carolissen (21)
Janika Louw (21)
Prudence Jacobs (20)
Mandy Papier (25)
Stacey Agiakatsikas (29)
Tevin Wiener (19)
Reagan Januarie (22)
Jonathan Matroos (20)
Michele Ronné (31)
Matthew Compton (19)
Machaela Botha (19)
Kyle Valentine (16)
Gabriella Maccioni (17)
John-David Rispel (21)
Courteney Alberts (17)
Kyle Anthony (19)
Angelique Theys (24)
Kyle Walder (18)
Logan Kelly (17)
Wiaan Laing (24)
Carlisle Marshall (21)
Jody Sissing (23)
How did the name Untimitive come about?
Rudi Smit started a crew in 2009 called Untamed. This was the first crew he had ever entered into the Dance To Las Vegas competition in the Varsity division. When Untamed eventually changed into an Adult team in 2011, Rudi started a new Varsity team in that same year called Primitive. When the Megacrew division came around in 2012, it was decided to combine the two names to create Untimitive.
What is expected of an Untimitive dancer?
An Untimitive dancer firstly, should be willing to work hard and rehearse long hours. Especially when it comes closer to competition time, hours can sometimes range between 7 – 12 hour rehearsals depending on what needs to get done and the amount of time that is left to do it.
Passion is equally as important as hard work. Without the passion to want to be great at what you do, hard work will mean absolutely nothing, it will just be a waste of time.
Retaining choreography and becoming skilled at what you do comes with practice, so as important as it is – we always try to look for someone who has a lot of potential and who just radiates a love for dance when they move, if they struggle to pick up choreography or retain it it is not always the biggest issue because that can be fixed with time and practice.
Commitment to the team and the task at hand is also very important. When we have auditions yearly to form a new team, we always make sure to make it feel like a family and to feel unified by what we do. If there is no commitment and no similar mindsets between the members, that feeling of commitment and unity cannot be created or felt.
Who or what inspires the crew the most?
One of our biggest goals is to be inspired by each other and to feed off of each others energy and personalities. A lot of our choreography stems from inspiration behind the members in the team. We try not to be influenced too much by other crews, to make sure that we keep our own sense of originality. However, there are always crews that one looks up to and are inspired by. Ours would include teams such as GRV, Cookies, The Royal Family, The Company etc.
Who is responsible for the choreography and routines?
Rudi Smit is the main choreographer/director of the team and takes care of choreography, formations, cleaning etc.
Chester Martinez, Nick Vries and Jodi Brookes take over the task of cleaning, formations and choreography when Rudi is touring and out of the country. Regardless of whether he is in SA or not however, there are always sections or pieces that are allocated to them to choreograph and oversee. They are also (along with Cindy Cairncross and Janika Louw) Rudi’s “right hand” and assistants, and always help him oversee what has been done and assist in making final decisions/changes etc. where needed.
Some advice from Untimitive to other dancers/crews:
Knowing what you want to achieve within your crew is very important. Talk about your aspirations, goals and visions for your crew and make them known within the group so that everyone knows and understands what they are working towards.
Be honest. When someone is not stepping up to the plate, be honest enough to let them know what it is that they need to work on and help them with that particular struggle so that they feel included in the process of becoming better.
As a choreographer, make sure that your crew understands your movement and what you are trying to do. Don’t force movements or ideas that don’t particularly look good or make sense within the group. Make sure that what you are doing fits with your crew members, their personalities and their bodies. If you force movements that don’t feel natural, it won’t appear natural on stage and in rehearsals.
Lastly, and probably the most common thing to be said. Work hard, train hard, and make sure that you are putting in 100% at all times. If you want to achieve, you have to work to get there. If you have shortcomings or faults, acknowledge them, work on them, fix them, and make sure that both you and your team members are on the same page and want to achieve the same goal.
What’s next for Untimitive? Where can we see them next?
Our choreographer, Rudi Smit, is having a free workshop on April 18th hosted by Limitless Movement. It will be the first workshop he teaches since coming back from his European tour.
It will take place at Dance For All Studios in Athlone. (10 Aden Avenue) from 1pm – 4pm. It is absolutely free.
Untimitive will be performing at Dancers Love Dogs at the Artscape Theatre on the 7th of June, to raise funds for mass dog sterilization in South Africa.
Any new fundraisers/performances/events etc. will be posted on our Untimitive page in the next few weeks.
Slogans/sayings that Untimitive lives by:
There are two that we have been very passionate about in the last 4 years and that we have used and printed on our crew apparel:
“Limitations were created by those who were too scared to be creative.”
and
“Proudly, Entirely, Uniquely, You.”
Both of them focus on being proud of who you are, your identity, your uniqueness, and letting your voice speak for yourself. By trying to be or imitating someone or something else, you cannot achieve a feeling of pride and the general feeling of just being happy with yourself. When you want to do something, you should do it – no matter how weird or impossible anyone thinks it could be. That is what we stand for.
Be sure to follow Untimitive on their page:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Untimitive/390499714398351?fref=ts
Congratulations to Untimitive on being our first ever Crew of the Month for March 2015.
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