At 8:47 p.m. on a Thursday, the walls at Beat Breakerz Studio rattle. Twenty-three dancers form a circle—what Krump culture calls a "session"—and 17-year-old Jada Williams steps in, chest popping, arms thrown wide, translating a fight with her mother into 45 seconds of controlled fury. Four years ago, this scene would have been unimaginable in Okemah, Oklahoma, a town of roughly 3,000 people best known as the birthplace of Woody Guthrie. In 2024, Krump has become something else the town is known for: one of the most unlikely hubs of the high-energy dance form in the Southwest.
This article is based on interviews with three studio directors, two working dancers, and observation of classes and performances in Okemah between January and March 2024.
From Empty Classes to Waitlists: How Krump Took Hold
The Rhythm Vault opened in 2019 in Okemah's Warehouse District, a squat brick building between a feed store and a shuttered movie theater. Owner and director Marcus Chen, 34, started with three Krump classes per week and struggled to fill them. In January 2023, a TikTok clip from the studio's "Krump & Soul" showcase went viral, amassing 4.2 million views. By spring 2024, The Rhythm Vault runs 12 Krump classes weekly, with beginner waitlists stretching to late May.
"I had people driving from Shawnee, from Tulsa, asking if we had drop-in rates," Chen said. "I had to hire two more instructors just to keep up."
The growth is not isolated. Beat Breakerz Studio, founded in 2021 in a converted church on Division Street, has expanded from one weekly Krump session to six. Soul Clap Dance Academy, the oldest of the three, launched its dedicated Krump program in 2020 after instructor Keisha Monroe—then a dancer in Dallas—relocated to Okemah to be closer to family. Monroe now trains 40 students across four weekly classes.
What explains the surge? Chen points to a combination of social media exposure and pandemic-era restlessness. Monroe adds another factor: affordability. "In Dallas, a drop-in Krump class runs you $25. Here, most studios charge $12 to $15. For kids in rural Oklahoma, that's the difference between dreaming about it and actually doing it."
Three Studios, Three Approaches
The Rhythm Vault: Competitive and Choreography-Focused
Location: 214 Warehouse St., Okemah, OK
Krump program launched: 2019
Classes per week: 12
Chen, a former competitive hip-hop dancer from Oklahoma City, built The Rhythm Vault around structured progression. Students test into levels—Foundation, Builder, and Battle—and the studio fields a competition team that travels to regional events. In 2024, the team placed third at the Tulsa Underground Dance Championships and will compete at Houston's Rumble in the Jungle in June.
The studio's distinguishing program is its "Krump Composer" series, launched in February 2024, where students learn to build solo routines around specific emotional arcs—grief, triumph, betrayal—rather than stringing together crowd-pleasing moves. "Krump was always about release," Chen said. "We're trying to teach them to direct that release, to make an audience feel something specific."
Beat Breakerz Studio: Community and Inclusion First
Location: 89 Division St., Okemah, OK
Krump program launched: 2021
Classes per week: 6
Founder Tyrell Jackson, 29, grew up in Okemah and returned after dancing in Atlanta. His studio occupies the basement and fellowship hall of a 1960s church; the basketball court where sessions happen still has the original hardwood and fiberglass backboards.
Jackson's explicit focus is accessibility. All classes operate on a pay-what-you-can model, with a suggested $10 drop-in and no requirement to own specialized footwear or gear. The studio also runs a weekly "All Ages Session" on Sunday afternoons, where teenagers, parents, and occasional grandparents share the circle.
"Krump was born in Black and Latino communities in L.A.," Jackson said. "Out here, we're mostly Native American and white. I think about that a lot—how do we respect the culture and still make it ours? Our answer is: build the community first. Everything else follows."
In March 2024, Beat Breakerz hosted its third annual "Okemah Sessions" battle, drawing 87 competitors from four states. Williams, the 17-year-old dancer, took second place in the youth division.
