Buddha Stretch: The Brooklyn Choreographer Who Organized Hip-Hop Freestyle and Taught It to the World

Dance Mogul Magazine · The Legacy · Hip-Hop Freestyle

Buddha Stretch: The Brooklyn Choreographer Who Organized Hip-Hop Freestyle and Taught It to the World

Before hip-hop dance had a class schedule, a choreographer credit or a world circuit, Emilio “Buddha Stretch” Austin Jr. helped give it all three: Mop Top, Elite Force, Broadway Dance Center’s first hip-hop class, Will Smith’s biggest videos, and judges’ tables in more than twenty countries.

April 29, 2026 · Updated October 11, 2026 · Dance Mogul Magazine · Legacy Feature

The way his faculty biographies tell it, Buddha Stretch’s first brush with formal dance training lasted about as long as it took to look around the room. He auditioned for the Dance Theatre of Harlem, saw the leotards and tights, and walked back out. The kid from Brooklyn was going to learn somewhere else.

Somewhere else turned out to be everywhere. His first music video was Eric B. & Rakim’s “Eric B. Is President.” At an audition for Diana Ross’s “Workin’ Overtime,” he met the dancers who became his first crew, Mop Top. And in 1989, according to his Peridance and NYU Steinhardt biographies, he became the first hip-hop dancer to teach hip-hop at a mainstream dance studio, Broadway Dance Center in New York. The young man who walked out of a ballet audition walked into a studio and put his own culture on the schedule.

Three years later, on the set of Michael Jackson’s “Remember the Time,” he, Henry “Link” McMillan and Jamel “Loose Joint” Brown formed Elite Force. The crew’s own history calls him “the first hip-hop choreographer.” By the end of the decade he had two MTV Video Music Award nominations for Best Choreography, for Will Smith’s “Men in Black” and “Gettin’ Jiggy wit It.”

That is the thesis of this feature, and the reason Dance Mogul Magazine is tracking him now. Buddha Stretch is not a finished chapter. He is one of the living sources of New York hip-hop freestyle: the dancer who organized street and club movement into something a studio could teach, a pop star could perform and a world circuit could judge. In 2026 he was named the first member of the International Dance League’s Cultural & Historical Advisory Board. His story is still being written.

“Music is the universal language; dance is its interpreter.”

— Buddha Stretch, Peridance and NYU Steinhardt faculty biography

Buddha Stretch at a Glance

A Brooklyn Household, a Dancing Father

Stretch grew up in Brooklyn, one of five children. His Peridance biography credits his father, Emilio Austin Sr., who danced in his youth, with guiding his early discipline and supporting his career. That detail matters. Hip-hop dance is often told as a story of kids who learned in spite of the adults around them. Stretch’s begins with a father who understood the floor.

The Dance Theatre of Harlem audition is the other half of that beginning. It was not a rejection of training. It was a decision about which training. He went on to study hip-hop as a whole culture, music, language and movement together, and that is what his biographies mean when they call his style freestyle hip-hop: a form that draws on all of it at once.

Mop Top, a Diana Ross Audition and the First Video Sets

New York’s late-1980s clubs were also casting rooms. At the audition for Diana Ross’s “Workin’ Overtime,” the Motown single released in April 1989, Stretch met the dancers who became Mop Top, the crew family that would also include Caleaf Sellers and Ejoe Wilson. The IDL credits him as Mop Top’s co-founder.

His first choreography job was Joeski Love’s “Pee Wee Dance.” Work with Rosie Perez followed, at a time when Perez herself was moving from club dancer to choreographer to star. Video by video, the dancers who built their vocabulary in clubs were becoming the people the industry hired to design its movement.

1989: Hip-Hop Gets a Class Schedule

The single most consequential line in his biography may be the least glamorous one. In 1989 he became the first hip-hop dancer to teach hip-hop at a mainstream dance studio, Broadway Dance Center. Before that, the form lived in clubs, parties and crews. After that, a stranger could walk in off the street, pay for a class and learn it.

That year is why so much of hip-hop dance education looks the way it does. Studios around the world now list hip-hop beside ballet and jazz. The question Stretch had to answer in that first room, how to teach a social form without stripping away its culture, is still the central question for every teacher who followed.

1992: The Set Where Elite Force Was Born

In January 1992, John Singleton filmed Michael Jackson’s “Remember the Time” on the Universal Studios Hollywood backlot, with choreography credited to Fatima Robinson. Elite Force’s official history says the crew formed on that set, named for the “elite” dancers placed at the front of the formation. Stretch calls it his most memorable experience. The founders were Stretch, Link and Loose Joint; the crew grew to six with Ejoe “Twelve” Wilson (1995), Brooklyn Terry (1996) and Mileage (1998), the last two joining on Mariah Carey tours.

With the Mop Top family, Elite Force backed Mariah Carey, Will Smith and TLC across videos, television, documentaries and concerts. The crew’s history describes its approach as moving in unified motion with every beat and sound, while leaving room for each dancer’s freestyle, and credits Stretch with the crew’s “tight delivery.”

The Will Smith Years: Choreography the World Could See

If one stretch of his career put New York freestyle in front of the whole world, it was his work with Will Smith. His faculty biographies credit him with the videos for “Men in Black” (1997), “Gettin’ Jiggy wit It” (1998) and “Miami” (1998). The MTV Video Music Awards nominated him for Best Choreography twice: in 1997 for “Men in Black” and in 1998 for “Gettin’ Jiggy wit It.”

Those were not niche records. “Men in Black” reached No. 1 on the U.S. radio airplay chart and the UK singles chart and won the Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance. “Gettin’ Jiggy wit It” spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and won the same Grammy the following year. Millions of people who would never step into a New York club learned party-dance vocabulary from those videos, and much of it came through Stretch.

Later work carried him further: Thalia on Good Morning America, the Broadway musical Aida and its Tony-winning star Heather Headley, Hot 97’s Angie Martinez and rapper Rah Digga. He also danced and choreographed with Full Circle, became co-artistic director of the dance-theatre company MiddleGround, and, as an MC and writer, recorded the underground track “It Don’t Matter” with Ten Thieves.

The Credit Record, Kept Honest

Credits blur over three decades, and DMM’s own earlier archive page carried errors. This table separates what is documented for Stretch individually from crew work and from claims DMM could not confirm.

DMM’s April 2026 archive page also gave his name as “Steffan Mitchell” with a 1968 birth year. His crew, Peridance and and8.dance all give Emilio Austin Jr., and no birth year is published, so both have been corrected here.

The Student Is the Teacher

Everything Stretch built points back to the classroom. He teaches the roots, language and history of hip-hop dance to dancers of every level, as the International Dance League put it when it named him to its advisory board. He is adjunct faculty in Music and Performing Arts Professions at NYU Steinhardt. And for two decades his archive has been dominated by one kind of footage: Stretch at the judges’ table, then Stretch on the floor showing the room what the judges were listening for.

In a December 2023 conversation on WNYC’s Q, he talked about his life in dance and about approaching hip-hop through a Buddhist emphasis on balance. Balance is a good word for his whole method: old school and new school, studio and street, technique and feeling, the crew and the individual.

Watch: Buddha Stretch in Motion

Eight films that trace the arc: his own words to DMM, the set where Elite Force was born, the Will Smith videos, and the world circuit.

The Teaching & Travels Tracker

DMM built this tracker so readers can follow a living legacy date by date. Every row has a published source: and8.dance event listings, the Elite Force video archive (whose titles carry event, city and year), the IDL and AbunDance Academy. It is a floor, not a ceiling. Thirty-seven years of teaching since 1989 left far more classes than listings.

Sources: and8.dance (2015–2025); Elite Force Crew video archive titles (2009–2014); IDL; AbunDance Academy; Peridance / NYU. “Featured artist” means the organizer did not name his role.

Documented listings per year · bars drawn to scale

Counts are dated events in DMM’s research set, not a full record. Years without a bar have no surviving dated listing, not no activity. The 2017 peak reflects unusually complete online listings.

The Teaching Tree: How the Knowledge Became Work

When Stretch taught that first class at Broadway Dance Center in 1989, he helped create a job: the hip-hop dance teacher. Every studio that now lists hip-hop on its schedule employs a version of that job. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that nearly all choreographers begin as dancers. Stretch’s career shows every rung above that: dancer, crew founder, choreographer, studio teacher, university faculty, international judge and cultural adviser.

The Lineage: Who Shaped Stretch, and Who He Shaped

Relationships drawn only from published sources: Peridance, NYU Steinhardt, Elite Force, IDL, and8.dance. Individual students are not named because no source documents them.

Worldwide Impact: From Brooklyn to Five Continents

Events whose country is unclear in the archive titles (Max Party, Hook Up!!, M357, Batalha Urbana, Eurobattle, JJ-Street Baltic Session) are not counted. Influence through his Will Smith videos and students is real but cannot be counted.

By the Numbers: The Economy Around Buddha Stretch’s Art

Hip-hop freestyle is culture, and it is also work. DMM keeps the figures below in tiers, because a hit record’s chart run is not a choreographer’s paycheck and a national industry is not one artist’s output. No one has published Stretch’s earnings, fees or student totals, and DMM does not estimate them.

Tier 1 · Projects Stretch danced in or choreographed

These describe the records and videos, not Stretch’s share of them. They show the audience his choreography and dancing reached. No published workshop price or pay point was found, so no workshop scenario is shown.

Tier 2 · The industries this art form feeds

Markets where hip-hop dance works · bars drawn to scale

Context only. These are whole industries, not the value of hip-hop dance or of any one dancer. Bar widths: 31.7 = 100%; 15.1 ÷ 31.7 = 47.6%; 5.0 ÷ 31.7 = 15.8%.

The most important number for Stretch is the one at the bottom of that chart. The U.S. dance-studio industry runs on classes, and hip-hop classes exist in it because somebody taught the first one. In 1989, that was him.

How the Freestyle Traveled, and What Belongs to Everyone

Hip-hop freestyle was built by a generation of New York dancers, not by one man. DMM’s earlier archive page put it well: he did not invent hip-hop dance; he organized it. Link, Loose Joint, the Mop Top family and countless club regulars shaped the vocabulary too. What the record shows is Stretch’s particular role: the first to put hip-hop on a mainstream studio schedule, a founder of two of the crews that defined the style, and the choreographer whose work on Will Smith’s videos turned party dances into global pop images.

Where Is Buddha Stretch Now?

In February 2026 the International Dance League named Stretch the first member of its Cultural & Historical Advisory Board, which advises on how street and club styles are framed in the league’s content, broadcasts and education; Caleaf Sellers, Sekou Heru, LaTasha Barnes and Sherwin “Beast” Salonga followed. In April 2026 the AbunDance Awards in Brooklyn honored him alongside Caleaf, Sekou and others. His most recent dated event listing is Snipes Beyond Doubt in Paris in November 2025. He teaches at NYU Steinhardt, and Elite Force’s site lists him and Henry Link as the crew’s active members.

A Living Legacy, and Why DMM Is Tracking It

Stretch’s own page shows why. DMM’s April 2026 archive profile carried a wrong name and an unsourced birth year, the kind of error that hardens into fact once it is copied. Accuracy: a living source can correct it, and this rebuild does. Access: dancers can still take his class and see the freestyle from the person who organized it. Value: a documented first, two VMA nominations and an advisory seat are the record that festivals, universities and leagues book against.

The DMM Archive Connection

Buddha Stretch is mapped in DMM’s American Social Dance Movement archive with his exclusive DMM interview, and DMM’s Legacy archive honored him with the Dance Mogul Magazine Lifetime Achievement Award, “for visionaries who move humanity forward through dance.” His Elite Force story continues in our feature on Henry Link, and his Mop Top family in Caleaf Sellers and Ejoe Wilson.

Career & Cultural Timeline

Why Buddha Stretch’s Legacy Matters to Dance Mogul Magazine

Dance Mogul Magazine was founded on a simple conviction: dance is a bridge to a better life, and the people who build that bridge deserve to be documented by their own community. Stretch built one of the most important bridges in hip-hop dance: the one between the street and the studio. A Brooklyn kid with a dancing father turned his culture into a class, a crew, a career and a curriculum, and then spent decades handing it to strangers in 21 countries.

His story carries DMM’s values. Character before celebrity: he stood next to Michael Jackson and Will Smith and kept teaching. Contribution before attention: the first hip-hop class in a mainstream studio is not a red-carpet moment, but it changed more lives than any video. People before popularity: his advisory work exists to make sure the people who built the culture are represented accurately.

What Dance Would Be Missing Without Buddha Stretch

What Future Generations Can Learn From Buddha Stretch

1. Choose your training on purpose. Walking out of one audition was the start of a career, not the end of one.

2. Music comes first. “Music is the universal language; dance is its interpreter.”

3. Organize what you know. He did not invent hip-hop dance; he organized it so others could learn it.

4. Teach the culture with the steps. A class should carry the history and the originators, not just the moves.

5. Build with a crew. Mop Top and Elite Force turned individual dancers into names the world recognizes.

6. Bridge eras instead of choosing one. Old school and new school are one culture with many expressions.

7. Protect the record. Correct mistakes, credit sources and keep your own history documented.

The First Class Never Ended

It started with a father who danced and a son who walked out of the wrong audition. It became a class at Broadway Dance Center in 1989, a crew on a Hollywood backlot in 1992, and choreography the whole world watched in 1997 and 1998.

Thirty-seven years after that first class, Buddha Stretch is still teaching it: at NYU, at judges’ tables abroad, and now in the room where a global league decides how hip-hop’s story is told. Music is still the language. He is still its interpreter.

Buddha Stretch: Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Buddha Stretch?

Buddha Stretch is Emilio Eduardo Austin Jr., a Brooklyn-born hip-hop freestyle dancer, choreographer and educator. He co-founded Mop Top and Elite Force and choreographed Will Smith’s “Men in Black,” “Gettin’ Jiggy wit It” and “Miami.”

What is Buddha Stretch’s real name?

Emilio Austin Jr. (Emilio Eduardo Austin Jr.), according to Elite Force, Peridance and and8.dance. An earlier DMM archive page gave a different name and a 1968 birth year; both were errors and have been corrected.

Did Buddha Stretch teach the first hip-hop class?

His Peridance and NYU biographies say that in 1989 he became the first hip-hop dancer to teach hip-hop at a mainstream dance studio, Broadway Dance Center in New York.

Did Buddha Stretch choreograph “Remember the Time”?

No. He danced in Michael Jackson’s 1992 video, and Elite Force formed on its set, but the choreography is credited to Fatima Robinson. He calls it his most memorable experience.

Was Buddha Stretch nominated for an MTV award?

Yes, twice for Best Choreography at the MTV Video Music Awards: in 1997 for “Men in Black” and in 1998 for “Gettin’ Jiggy wit It.”

When was Elite Force founded?

In 1992, on the set of “Remember the Time.” The founders were Buddha Stretch, Henry Link and Loose Joint; the crew later grew to six members.

What is Buddha Stretch doing now?

In 2026 he became the first member of the International Dance League’s Cultural & Historical Advisory Board and was honored at the AbunDance Awards. He teaches at NYU Steinhardt and judges and teaches internationally.

Sources & Further Viewing

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