Fresh Academicz

Hip hop was brought to life in New York City in the 1970s by youngsters making something positive out of tough conditions, creating an art form a group that has opened a hip-hop dance studio in Hagerstown hopes can change lives here.
City officials and local business leaders joined Peter Arizmendi and his friends on Monday to cut the ribbon on Fresh Academicz, a basement-level studio at 22 N. Mulberry St., which will also offer instruction in break dancing, digital music creations, and salsa and Zumba.
The 46-year-old Arizmendi, who was born in New York City, said he first started hip-hop dancing when he was 12 years old. He eventually got paid gigs, and videos of his dance moves can be viewed on YouTube under his dancing name, “Bam The Liquid Robot.”
Arizmendi said has been working on the idea for the studio for about 1 1/2 years. He tried to start the studio in other states, but the places didn’t seem right, Arizmendi said.
Then he found Hagerstown.
About two years ago, Arizmendi said he was visiting a friend in the city who was dying of cancer. He ended up making some friends who supported his idea for his studio, and he realized this was the town to fulfill his dream.
“This place is heavy,” Arizmendi said in an interview after the ribbon-cutting ceremonies.
Arizmendi also got a divorce here from his wife, who moved away. He now has a girlfriend, Emily Conrad of Hagerstown, who is helping him with his studio.
“I got a new life now,” Arizmendi said.
Arizmendi said he wants to have a positive impact on area individuals by exploring the “purity of hip hop.”
Because youths in the 1970s used hip hop to make something out of nothing in tough environments, it became a “beautiful” art form, he said.
He is critical of artists who have used the form to create music with profane lyrics, saying it was the result of greed.
Students at Fresh Academicz will be able to learn other art forms that came out of the 1970s hip-hop scene, like graffiti, Arizmendi said.
Conrad, who said Hagerstown has a long history of music appreciation, believes Fresh Academicz can be a place for new generations to explore it.
“They need a modern way and a modern platform to get up and express that,” she said.
Mayor David G. Gysberts, who cut the ribbon to open the studio during a 4:30 p.m. ceremony, said Fresh Academicz is “the freshest thing to come into the Arts and Entertainment District” in some time.
Mirrors run along one wall, while graffiti and other tributes to the dance world decorate the rest of the studio. After the ribbon was cut, Arizmendi and his colleagues gave a few hip-hop demonstrations.
Although he is still working out the details, Arizmendi said he wants to charge students $55 a month for each subject studied. There will be more charges for additional subjects, said Arizmendi, who plans to start offering classes on Dec. 1
He is renting his space in a multistory building that was recently renovated by Ridgecrest Investments.