From Iraq with Hip Hop was sponsored and presented by the Center for Applied Inclusive Teaching and Learning in Arts and Humanities, or CAITLAH, with about 40 students in attendance. The event showcased the ways Iraqi youth engage with hip hop culture in contrast to America. The show also featured a brief opening performance from the MSU Breakdance Club.

“Hiplomacy is a way of using hip hop as a connective tissue between two very different parts of the world,” said Mike Tardiff, media and technology coordinator of CAITLAH. “By forming a shared interest in the same room, we break the initial culture barrier and make conversation easier.”

The six dancers who make up First Step Iraq — Sega, Haider, James, Halwest, Bloe, and DC — were chosen from more than 50 performers who auditioned. The performers auditioned for YES Academy Iraq, a comprehensive performing arts program for aspiring young musicians, actors and dancers ages eight and onward in Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan, Malaysia and Thailand.

Haider, a 22-year-old dancer from Baghdad, said his inspiration for dancing began in the United Arab Emirates, where he lived for seven years. Shortly after he began practicing dance, it became a dangerous art because it was frowned upon by religious groups.

“People would start killing hip-hop dancers and following them as if they were ‘most wanted’,” Haider said. “After primary school, I dedicated everything to dance and art. I had support from my family in the beginning, especially since my father is an artist himself, until the killing began. My parents would fight with me, telling me to stop, but I just couldn’t.”

Haider has performed in Indonesia, Syria, Lebanon and Algeria, but his performance with the other members of First Step Iraq at the Erickson Hall Kiva was Haider’s first in the US.