Photo by Michael Donahue // Buy this photo
Scotti Fife
If you hear a popping sound and Scotti Fife is around, it’s probably his feet.
That’s not unusual, said Fife, 23: “Everywhere I go — in the car, walking around, sitting down. I think people hear it, but they don’t really know what it is ’cause it’s pretty loud. And it gets louder. Especially when I have on flip-flops.”
His feet are “still changing shape. They’re widening in different places. Things are spreading.”
Fife attributes it to dancing, which he does almost all the time. In addition to being a student at the Collage Dance Collective, Fife teaches beginning and middle ballet at KIPP Memphis Collegiate Middle School, hip-hop at Studio 413, a movement class at Memphis Point Gymnastics and an after school dance program for children at Ross, Sea Isle and Germanshire elementary schools. He’s also a performer and a guest choreographer with Bridging Souls Productions.
“Monday through Saturday, I’m teaching. Sundays, I have either a show or a rehearsal.”
This weekend, Fife will dance in the “Yesterday Tomorrow Always” number in “Believe,” which will feature students and members of Collage under the direction of Kevin Thomas and Marcellus Harper at The Buckman Performing and Fine Arts Center at St. Mary’s Episcopal School.
“Collage’s whole thing is showcasing dancers of color because there’s so few in classical ballet. You see them in modern and contemporary, but in classical ballet there’s not very many. So much stigma goes with doing ballet — being called ‘ballerinas.’ The boys in my classes go through that. I’m happy to be a black man that can show you, ‘Yes, we can do that.’”
Fife, who played soccer and ran track and field in high school, began hip-hop dancing when he was 18 at Hampton (Va.) University. A friend persuaded him to try out. “We were on the ground one minute and then ... all these syncopated hits another second and hand motions — it was crazy. ... My heart was beating out of my chest. I had some crazy non-dance clothes on. ... I had like some jeans, a long sleeve T-shirt. No cool sweat pants and sneakers. And I did it.
“They let me in because I had energy: “Energy, we can work with you. You’ve got ways to go, but we’ll work with you.’”
He later joined the Hybrid Performance Group in Memphis, where he began doing “hip-hop African fusion,” which he described as “the sharp hits of hip hop, but (with) almost animalistic ancient tribal movements.”
After becoming a Collage student, Fife found ballet more strenuous than soccer. “It’s much harder and there’s no short cuts. There’s no slack given. It’s literally from head to toe. There’s names for turning your head this way and names for turning your head this way. And names for your arm being here and here and here. Your hands have a certain way. The thumb can’t be out. Fingers can’t be in fours. It has to be relaxed to look like you’re not doing anything. ... It’s much harder than any sport I’ve ever done.”
Along Fife’s right arm are the tattooed lines from two Bible verses out of Joshua “speaking about perseverance.”
Fife believes he looks different since he’s taken ballet. He stands straighter. His shoulders are dropped and tightened. He holds his stomach in all the time. His thigh muscles are bigger. “My feet are shaped differently. They’re more like hands. ... I can pick up a bottle of water with my feet. ... Your toes, your arch changes. Your ankle changes. There’s much more articulation within the joints.”
Fife gets some time off from teaching and studying dance, but that’s when he continues dancing. “I’m a big partier. I love to party. It’s crazy ’cause I can dance all day and then go out and dance all night. And it’s totally different, because there’s no choreography. There’s no counts. There’s no timing. There’s no show. I just dance. I put on my own little show. Me and a couple of other area dancers, we go in the club and we shut it down. I’ve gotten really tight with a lot of the club owners around town because of that.”
When he’s not dancing, Fife eats. “I get my bean sprouts and my salad.”
He’s joking.
“I go to Wendy’s and I get my double whatever with cheese and fries and chicken nuggets on the side with a Frosty and a Sprite and I’m in heaven.”
— Michael Donahue: (901) 529-2797
“Believe” featuring the Collage Dance Collective
7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the Buckman Performing and Fine Arts Center at St. Mary’s Episcopal School, 60 Perkins Ext. Tickets are $25. For more information, call (901) 537-1483.
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