"The club offers a space for people to learn something unusual," Environmental studies and sustainability junior and MSU Breakers President Emma Howe said. 

Howe got involved with the club after walking around Sparticipation her freshman year and seeing MSU Breaker's table. She talked to the former president and he told her to join, so she did. 

"I used to do competitive dance, so it looked really fun," Howe said. 

For cultural comparative politics and German sophomore and MSU Breakers treasurer Allen Hoppe, dance came easy. 

Hoppe's dad first put him in a Grand Rapids dance studio at age 11, and he’s spent about eight years breakdancing, competing occasionally and discovering how hip hop lets him let go and express the music through movement.

"Breaking is a great way for newcomers to open up and express themselves," Hoppe said. "You’re putting yourself in the music, it's like telling a story."

The MSU Breakers starts meetings off in a circle to share highlights from their week, then move into group stretching and workouts before spending some free time watching videos or learning new moves from each other. 

Midway through, they do a cipher or play a game, continue with more free practice and another activity, and wrap up with a final session-ending cipher.

A cipher is a dance circle, "One person is in the circle at all times. You always have to have fun, and it’s a judgment-free zone," Howe said. "We play music, clap on the beat, and take turns showing what we learned that day, or a set or a combo."

MSU alum Tabor Vits regularly attends the club. Vits attended MSU from 2010 to 2014 and got into "breaking" through friends and community learning. 

"For street dance culture in general, including breaking, people don’t usually learn in studio or academy environments," Vits said. "For me, especially being in my 30s, it’s exercise and a sense of belonging with a culture and community."

Biosystem engineering junior Chase Warner said the best part is seeing everyone's style develop. "I even started calling one move the 'Tabor shuffle.' I don’t know if anyone else calls it that, but that’s what I call it," Warner added. 

Howe said dancing can be a cure for so many things, "Teaching people, and seeing the people I've taught teach others gives them a place to grow or find a new passion."

MSU Breakers meet every Tuesday in the upper gym of IM Circle. They will start club meetings again next semester. 

For more information, visit their Instagram or website.