Jonty Furnell and Aiden Burke encourage boys to step outside their comfort zone on the dancefloor

Townsville hip hoppers are encouraging more boys to step up to the plate and give something new a go.

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Townsville hip hoppers are encouraging more boys to step up to the plate and give something new a go.

Aiden Burke, 12, and Jonty Furnell, 11, are hip hop dancers at Step Up Dance Townsville.

The pair have been learning the American-founded street dancing from Telissa Timpone. Ms Timpone has been teaching hip hop for 10 years and said the genre was the perfect introduction to dancing.

“Hip hop is cool and acceptable for boys to do and then that opens a passion into other dance styles,” she said.

“It helps with their sports with their technique and footwork and it is also teaching boys how to interact with girls, rather than just all boys in their sport.”

Grade six student Jonty started hip hop when he was five. He said he loved being able to be himself while on the dancefloor.

“When I do hip hop I feel like I get to express myself,” he said. “All boys should give it a go and see if you like it and have some fun.”

Ms Timpone said hip hop’s popularity had skyrocketed in the past decade.

“I found that over time you have lots of parents enrol primary school aged boys and they always get to the age around grade six and they pull out because it’s not cool anymore,” she said.

“But I find that these days boys are going into high school and continuing hip hop, which is really good to see.”

Originally published as Jonty Furnell and Aiden Burke encourage boys to step outside their comfort zone on the dancefloor