For most people, it’s known as breakdancing. For those who practice the art, it’s b-boying. Whatever you call it, the dance is all about feeling the beat of the music and free-styling.

Floor Lovers Illinois is a student organization that takes hip-hop culture and shares it with the rest of the University community.

The club was created from another RSO, UC Hip-hop, to spread awareness and teach about the culture of hip-hop. The only difference between UC Hip-hop and Floor Lovers Illinois, or FLI, is that it spreads the culture through the art of dance.

“Our club’s mission is to let everyone else learn more about hip-hop,” said Luis Mendez, senior in Engineering. “The original meaning of hip-hop (is) to produce peace, love, unity.”

Aside from the cultural enrichment that the club has to offer for these students, FLI is also a great way to alleviate the weekly stresses of a college student.

“All of us are either engineers or pre-med or other really prestigious programs in the University,” said Joe Peng, sophomore in LAS and fundraising chair for FLI. “We’re usually really stressed during the weekdays. So, we look for a way to express ourselves and alleviate that stress, and the best way for us is to dance.”

Dance practices are very casual and relaxed for the group; they’re not very structured in that the group does not follow the same routine every time. Members show up whenever it is convenient for them during the allotted practice time and each individual works on improving his own style. At the end, the group sometimes forms a cypher, or half-circle, and shows the others what they’ve been working on.

“The club is constructed on self-motivation,” Peng said. “If I wanted to learn something, chances are most people in the club might not know how. You just have to work it on your own. We can teach you the basics, we can teach you what we know from experience, but ultimately it’s up to you to see if you can help yourself to learn this move on your own.”

Many of the members in the club have been breakdancing since high school and wanted to continue their hobby in college. However, even those without experience can still join the club and be taught the fundamentals. These moves are what every single b-boy culture move is built on, Peng said.

“Think of it as a blueprint,” Peng said. “You can break it down and reconstruct it in whatever order you want, which is what makes it your own, which is why it’s so attractive to most people.”

Yae Been Na, junior in LAS and choreographer for FLI, found that teaching newcomers is not at all hard. In fact, teaching newcomers gives her inspiration.

“Teaching is always inspiring because I can see some people really want to be better, and I can see the heart and passion behind, and while I am teaching they inspire me.”

For Mendez, the entire hip-hop culture is inspirational and is entirely the reason he joined FLI.

“A lot of us have this one special artist,” Mendez said. “For me, it’s Nujabes, from Japan. He doesn’t have a lot of break beats that you dance to, but I like his whole vibe — that hip-hop can influence me to do things, and music is inspirational, and not just for partying.”