Have you ever watched a movie and been fascinated by the dance battle scenes and wanted to be a part of it yourself? Start by taking your first steps at USF.
DisFunktionals Tampa is a freestyle-based group focused on street dance that has held free classes weekly at USF since May 2023, said Jehoshaphat Jacinto, 29, founder of DisFunktionals and a USF alumnus. ing. Jacinto is commonly known by his stage name Jepster.
Classes are held on Wednesdays from 7:30pm to 10pm in the hallways of the Student Services Building (SVC) and are open to anyone who wants to learn. Jacinto said you can arrive early and stay after the one-on-one session.
Jacinto said attendance is 15 to 20 people, but the group is very active on social media, so it can sometimes be more. Classes are typically made up of a mix of USF and non-USF students, he said.
“Especially if you’re a beginner,” Jacinto says. “I love beginners because they express pure joy when they first start dancing.”
DisFunktionals is unique in its focus on cultural appreciation, Jacinto said. The group teaches movement and seeks to recognize history to ensure the stories are preserved, he said.
“A lot of them are black American dance styles, and there’s a story behind them,” Jacinto says. “What we’re trying to get across is that we’re not just celebrating dance, we’re celebrating the culture behind dance, and that’s great.”
Jacinto is from the Philippines and was a member of a breakdance club in high school there. He immigrated to the United States when he was 19 years old and began participating in street dance battles.
He first attended Hillsboro Community College and transferred to USF when he was 23 years old. After he earned his finance degree in 2019, he said his trajectory completely changed 180 degrees.
“My mother wouldn’t let me take dance lessons, so I had to study finance in college,” Jacinto said. “It was a practical thing to put aside, but my love for dance was always there.”
Jacinto said he now works for a nonprofit organization called Prodigy. There, young people are taught cultural arts, painting, music and dance. He said he tries to incorporate life skills into his lessons so that students learn how to apply what they learn to their own lives.
After he graduated, he started dancing on his own at USF because it meant he didn’t have to sit in traffic after work. After dancing all over USF, he found his always-vacant SVC Breeze to be the perfect location.
When his friends started joining him, Jacinto realized that dancing was even more fun with them and founded the group. Jacinto said the group is “almost” a revival of USF’s dance scene, as many groups canceled performances during the pandemic.
DisFunktionals is working to become USF’s official student organization. The only challenge, he said, is that Jacinto no longer has access to his USF email or account because he is an alumnus.
Posted by USF IT article On Dec. 15, USF announced it would no longer maintain alumni email accounts beyond one year after active class enrollment, citing increased costs and the risk of cyberattacks.
Center For Leadership & Civic Engagement website It states that to establish a student organization, students must:
- Find at least five current students who are passionate about your organization.
- Find a current faculty, staff, or administrator with a current USF Net ID to advise your student group.
- Create your terms using BullsConnect templates and guidelines.
- Attend a new student organization meeting (session times are posted on BullsConnect).
- Register your organization with BullsConnect.
Most of these steps require students to have a USF NetID and access to BullsConnect, so Jacinto hopes USF students can eventually turn DisFunktionals into a real organization. said.
Turning your group into a student organization can help with visibility and publicity. Jacinto said students who don’t follow the group on social media will also be able to view class schedules on BullsConnect.
Since not many people in Tampa Bay are exposed to street dance, Jacinto said his other goal is to To maintain this style locally, we need to involve more people.
“The more I continued to teach and dance, the more I realized it was all about bringing people together,” Jacinto said.