Raphael Xavier
“Improvisation is the best conversation you can have with your environment or with yourself because it teaches you wherever you end up is exactly where you’re supposed to be”
“Swerve, Eli,” a 2024 short-film release directed and performed by Xavier, centers around the Philadelphia youth BMX community, a community that Xavier himself has belonged to throughout his life. Xavier manages to faithfully and lovingly depict the city, saying the film “couldn’t have happened anywhere else.” The film also serves to explore the role mentors can have in defining the path of one’s life, with Xavier asserting, “If you give a kid a mentor…you can steer where they’re going next.”
Xavier’s “Unofficial Guide to Audience Watching Performance” was created with a grant from the Pew Research Center in 2013. This performance was autobiographical in nature, meant to investigate Xavier’s 30 years of experience at that point. It’s an exploration of different genres wherein Xavier, as in many of his works, acts as both the narrator and dancer. This project earned the National Dance Project award.
“Point of Interest,” a piece both choreographed and performed by Xavier earned the National Dance Project award in 2016. The work is focused on examining sustainability and evolution within the art form, particularly through a lens of aging as a Breaker. The performance utilizes the spoken word accompanied by Breaking, specifically Xavier’s own style of Groundcore; this style encapsulates much of his modern work.
“If you’re grounded, the only place you can go from there is up.”
GROUNDCORE
Groundcore is the hip hop dance style that Xavier originated after a debilitating spine injury in 2007. Learn more about it in these two videos wherein he details the journey he took to create this form.
W.O.R.X
W.O.R.X (Works of Raphael Xavier) is a non-profit founded with the Institute for Cultural Partnerships dedicated to creating accessible spaces for teaching and performing artistry, specifically for African American youth. Through W.O.R.X, Xavier shares both the knowledge and promotes the evolution of African diasporic dance forms such as Breaking and Groundcore. The project includes educational programs in music, dance, and theater across Pennsylvania that mentor the next generation of Breakers.
Check out more of Xavier's works & interviews below
"Without the next step, or the realization that something exists outside of the one-dimensional hip-hop world, [breaking] will never reach the potential it's meant to reach."
Did You Know?
Originally from Wilmington, Delaware, Raphael Xavier is an award-winning artist and alumnus of the world renowned Hip Hop dance company, Rennie Harris Puremovement. He is a 2013 Pew Fellow, 2014 MacDowell Fellow, 2016 Guggenheim Fellow and 2016 United States Artist Fellow as well as many others. Xavier has been working in a variety of fields over the course of his career including photography, visual arts, filmmaking and music production.
