The Hip Hop Camp staged in Riverbank this past week had their biggest attendance since it began a few years ago with a whopping 31 participants. Hip hop coach Stephanie Argumedo, with assistance from recreation staff members Vanessa Argumedo and Jose Lopez, took the class through two routines to a mix of hip hop beats. The dancer’s age range was from about 6 years old to 13 years old with several hip hop camp returners from the previous year and a handful of new campers.

The camp began on Monday, June 12 and ended on Friday, June 16 where two routines were performed to a mix of hip hop jams for family and friends. Before the dancers busted a move for the audience, they grabbed a friend or family member to join them on the dance floor for a warm up to the Cha-Cha Slide. Not only did the audience get involved but they got the energy flowing and there were lots of smiles visible on the dance floor.

Stephanie Argumedo has been with the City of Riverbank’s Parks and Recreation Department for four years and has supervised several camps. This is one of the biggest camps that she has managed but with the help from her assistants and some of the older kids, it was a success.

“We actually had a lot of older kids that were willing to help us with the little ones so that helped out a lot,” said Stephanie. “I did have two staff Vanessa and Jose and they were on it. We separated into three teams and worked it out that way.”

“We (staff) were in great communication on everything,” added Vanessa. “It was a good camp. They performed hip hop and we did add some advance hip hop into it so that really pumped them up to do better.”

There was a large audience in the stands that were cheering and applauding during the Friday night finale. The mixes and the dances are created by Stephanie and her crew the first day of camp along with the students. To their surprise the students learned one of the routines in the first couple days of camp. This led them to create another routine. The co-ed troupe learned old-school hip hop moves like the “Dougie” and the “Jerk.”

Attendees Ariana Spears and her younger brother Jayden go to Riverbank Language Academy but live in Modesto. They both expressed that they had a lot of fun at the camp.

The City of Action will be hosting other camps throughout the summer like Outdoor Adventure Camp next week at Jacob Myers Park, which will have the Dinosaur Rock museum as a special guest.

Check the website for more details at www.riverbank.org or call 209-863-7150.