Music, sweat and cheers fill Evenground, Austin’s newest street-style dance studio. Founded by UT alumni, Evenground seeks to create a safe and welcoming space for dancers, with the hope of using dance as a way to bring people together.
The grand opening took place on Sept. 30 and consisted of two workshops taught by Vancouver-based dancers Jaymie Sorongon and Adrian Vendiola, who flew in for the occasion. Both workshops sold out within a day, with over 50 dancers from all over the state, including San Antonio, Houston and Dallas.
“Not just Austinites had their eyes on the studio, but all of our friends that we made around Texas were supporting and cheering for us to have a successful grand opening,” said Dorothy Nie, a founding and faculty member at Evenground.
Owner and founder Chris Han began dreaming of opening a street-style studio in 2016, when he started dancing with collegiate teams at UT Austin. In 2022, he began looking for a studio space, and after intensive searching, in July 2023, finally found the perfect place.
Han holds the vision of the studio acting as a third place, somewhere “that after work or school, people can go to and connect with people.” The slogan for Evenground, “equal opportunity, even ground,” comes from the belief that at the studio, no one is above another.
“We’re all trying to train together and grow. Even as teachers or students, no one is inherently a better person than the other one,” Han said. “We just have different amounts of knowledge that we can share.”
Despite challenges like the speaker blowing out, everyone held a positive attitude on the studio’s first day. Son Le, a founding and faculty member for the studio, compared the energy of the opening day to that of a concert, with a lot of people having fun, cheering and laughing.
“It was magical, to say the least,” Le said.
Following the workshop, a one-versus-one hip-hop-centric freestyle battle with 24 participants and a winning cash prize of $200 took place. Judging criteria included the characteristics of freestyle hip-hop: bounce, rock, rolls and social dances.
“It felt very family and community-centric,” said Brien Parish, the first place winner of the battle. “It felt like a celebration.”
Classes include beginner, intermediate and advanced choreography, as well as hip-hop, breaking, locking, popping, k-pop and freestyle. For those hesitant to start dancing, Evenground acts as an open, judge-free community for them. The studio offers classes every Monday, Friday and Saturday, for beginner dancers and people with no dance experience.
“We wanted to create a space that people weren’t intimidated by, and they can feel comfortable to try out dance and see if it’s something they like,” Nie said.
In the future, Han said he hopes Evenground can expand past the tight-knit community it currently serves and reach people who have never heard of the studio before.
“I would encourage people to come out and give it a shot,” Han said.
