Our latest interview with dance collective Gully South Block explores the culture behind the Krumping dance style and talks about community and the importance of being able to express emotions through movement. At FORE, we believe in the power of collaboration with other collectives across the creative industry. This is why we have decided to partner with Krump dance collective Gully South Block on ‘FORE THE BLOCK’, a beautiful spoken word piece portrayed through dance. In this interview, I talked to Chaquille (a member of GSB) about the formation of Gully South Block and the origins of Krump dance culture.

Can you tell us about the origins of Gully South Block and how the collective was formed?  

GSB was first created in 2015/2016. The back story is that Lisandro began teaching Krump workshops at Devas Youth Club every Thursday for a period of time. There were so many attendees that we decided to create a group chat in order to keep track of, monitor, and update everyone about each class. During these workshops myself and Lis had a number of conversations about turning the chat into a South London collective and pushing the Krump style/Culture. Fast forward 2017 we spoke with Taylor, Laqwarn and Boogie about joining and being members of GSB.

What does ‘community’ mean to you and how important is it to GSB?

Community to me means my environment, my culture, my upbringing, my experiences, my goals and my passions. It's what inspires myself and GSB to continue to keep doing what we are doing now. GSB was made by the community, and it is for the community. We stand by that with whatever we do.

Can you tell us more about the Krump dance style and the culture behind it? What makes Gully South Block unique in the world of Krumping and how would you describe your style?

The word 'Krump' stands for 'Kingdom Radically Uplifted Mighty Praise' and was created in LA. The style and culture has allowed people from across the world to express their true feelings and emotions through the movement. The reason as to why GSB has gravitated towards Krump is because it has allowed us to utilise our individual environments and experiences through movement in its rawest form.

I would describe our style as 'The Endsz'. This means that our characters, personalities through the movement all come from growing up in South London. I believe we are unique due to the fact that we dance to music from our culture as well as the krump culture. In addition to this, we dressed a certain way, we speak a certain way, our energies and presence feels as though we're giving you 'The Endsz'.   

How does Gully South Block approach the creative process when choreographing new routines or performances?  

Our creative process is simple. We either listen to the track we're going to use and freestyle to it, then pick out the best parts from that freestyle. Or we'll watch music videos, previous performances or someone may have an idea that they have wanted to use for a while.

What are some of the key values or messages that Gully South Block aims to convey through your dance?  

Our key values that we want to convey is that anyone from any background or culture can understand feelings and emotions through movement. We want to give our audience a deeper insight into who we are and what we're about by using such an expressive style. Our aim is to highlight that we all have a voice that can and should be heard.

Can you share some of the notable achievements or highlights in Gully South Block's journey so far?  

Performing at Breakin' Convention 2023

Performing at Dancers Delight 2021

Putting on our GS Sessions once again

Involving the community with our visuals and other projects

Collaborating with other creatives, brands & performers

Being a voice for OUR community 

How has Gully South Block evolved and grown as a collective since it arrived on the scene?  

We have added two more members to the brand who both share the same values and mindset that we all do. As each member has gotten older our aim for GSB has gained a lot more depth and longevity to it. We have done a lot more performances, visuals, and community work.

What are the future aspirations or goals of Gully South Block as a collective? 

Our future goals and aspirations are:

•To have our own merch

•To create our own show

•To put on our own events

•To host more workshops

•To collaborate with more brands on various projects

•To continue to give back to our community any way we can