Tucker Barkleys Class "Come with me"

Tucker Barkley and Sean Bankhead Demonstrating Tuckers Combo to "Come with me"

All in the Family

Tucker Barkley got his start at his mother’s studio, Carla’s Dance Studio in Amarillo, TX. From tap to jazz to clogging, no genre was off-limits for this burgeoning B-boy and his older sister Kelcee. “I kind of grew up inside the studio,” Tucker remembers. “My mom put me in dance classes as soon as I could walk!”

Dance quickly morphed into one of the only constants in Tucker’s life, as his family moved from Texas to Kansas and finally to Florida, where Tucker began hitting the competition scene with a vengeance. “He brought home a scholarship almost every time,” his mother explains. (See “Trophy Case” on p. 52 for Tucker’s comp kudos.)

One convention that made a lasting impact on Tucker’s career was Monsters of HipHop. At age 11, Tucker got his first real exposure to the form while attending a regional event in Dallas. “Once I did Monsters of HipHop, I was hooked,” says Tucker. “I met Brian Friedman, Gil Duldulao and Rhapsody, and their amazing hip-hop choreography just stuck with me.”

Tucker made a big first impression on Friedman, who says Tucker’s dancing was “brilliant” even at a young age. “He was one of those raw talents that doesn’t come along very often,” remembers Friedman. “I saw something special in him—he was a little bit crazy and spastic and wild, but it’s great to have all those qualities because you can harness that into something really incredible.”

Tucker Barkley

Cyber-stalk Tucker Barkley and you’ll come up with no fewer than 25 YouTube videos—not to mention message board testimonials like this one: “Tucker is the best hip-hop dancer I’ve ever seen!” Yet the most telling page may be Tucker’s profile on Boogiezone, where he shares his personal dance motto: “The audience may forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.”

No doubt about it: The dance world is “feeling” Tucker. When he hits the floor, he takes no prisoners with his crisp, in-your-face style. Yet his movement is tempered with a graceful fluidity typically exhibited by ballerinas. Top that with an almost frightening degree of flexibility: One of Tucker’s many talents is an uncanny ability to contort his limbs. “I don’t think I have any joints in my upper body,” he laughs. “I can clap my elbows, pull my arms behind my head, and almost completely dislocate my torso.”