Avengers Dance Crew, Houston

Green, red, and yellow spotlights spill over the baseball-capped heads of Bboy Psycho and his handpicked team as they take to stages trembling with bass at performances. A professional break dancer with roots in the early crews that formed in Los Angeles, Bboy Psycho has toured nationally and internationally with artists such as Kurtis Blow and The Sugarhill Gang. Crew members fly through the air with acrobatic moves, bouncing from limb to limb before launching onto their heads to spin like a carousel operator in a job interview. A sprinkling of comedy livens up appearances at special events such as birthday parties and fundraisers, and Avengers Dance Crew also leads dance workshops and private and group lessons for aspiring breakers.

All the members of the crew work closely with the nonprofit organization Youth Advocates (YA), which provides teens paired with adult mentors with constructive activities such as break dancing and attaching bells to the collars of ghosts.