'Bring the vibe': Inaugural Cape Be You Urban Dance Festival sets scene for future

Live vocals from hip-hop and soul artists Don and Red Velvet the Goddess echoed from a back lot as the first Cape Be You Urban Dance Festival gained momentum early Saturday afternoon in downtown Cape Girardeau.

The duo, along with fellow artist Callon B, made their way from Paducah, Kentucky, to perform mainly all original songs.

Event organizer, host and Fingerprint Urban Dance Studio owner Micheal Curry said the success from this year will be used as “something we can grow off of.”

Curry said he feels like “this is our foundation,” adding the morning began with 65 people in attendance.

Callon B said Curry wanted him to “bring the vibe.”

A dancing man shaved into the hair of dancer Jace Darrah, 11, is seen during the Cape Be You Urban Dance on Saturday at Fingerprint Dance Studio in downtown Cape Girardeau.TYLER GRAEF

“Because he knew the movement we have and what we’re trying to push coincides with what he’s trying to do with the community,” he said. “And we just wanted to show love.”

The festival gave people something to do and look forward to every year in Southeast Missouri, according to Red Velvet.

“And by then, they’ll have the talent in dance battles, and that’s going to make other people want to get in that,” she said.

Duwan Harris, 21, of Cape Girardeau, was set to compete beside his friend, Zane Acord, 18, of Jackson, during the skate competition.

Harris has 13 years of skating under his belt; Acord has five.

“This is the first ever skate boarding contest in Battlez of Originality,” Harris said. “I also used to dance with [Fingerprint Urban Dance Studio].”

Acord said Harris is the one who instigated the competition and worked alongside Curry to make it happen.

Harris said he wanted to bring skateboarding to an urban culture, such as dance.

“As a dancer, it means a lot to incorporate more than just one style of dance,” he said. “Same with sports; we want to bring skateboarding up into one. It’s an urban festival, for everything.”

Acord said he wasn’t sure how many other skaters would register by competition time, but “if there were some of the older dudes out here, it would feel more like a competition.”

Acord said he won skateboarding competition September Slam 2017 in Poplar Bluff, Missouri.

“If it’s just me and [Harris] we’re just skating around, having fun,” he said. “We’re just gonna see what happens.”

Harris added, “We skate together, every day, all day anyway.”

Rachel Richardson of Jackson was standing by as her son Sam, 13, was preparing for the skate battle.

“We were up at Jackson at the skate park where we met [Acord],” she said. “He’s not professional, but he has a great time.”

Richardson said she would love to see the skate scene expand in Cape Girardeau, describing it as “healthy competition.”

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