Stephanie Caballero aka Stephy Styles has taken the dance community by storm. Born and raised in Jersey City, Stephy credits her Ecuadorian and Colombian family for helping her spark her creativity as a dancer in her early years. Although she’s traveled across the country and lives in Seattle now, she’ll always represent JC and take that part of her wherever she goes — from national competitions (she just competed in Red Bull Dance Your Style in Miami) to other countries and even underground dance clubs. She hopes to inspire others through her waacking, a style of street dance that uses fast rotational arm movements, and most importantly, her story of growing up “in the hood,” as she described it, and becoming a professional dancer. Read on for Hoboken Girl’s Q&A with Stephanie Caballero aka Stephy Styles.
Hoboken Girl: What was your childhood like growing up in Jersey City?
Stephy Styles: You don’t wanna know! (laughs) First of all, I want to say Jersey City is different from when I grew up. I was born on April 25, 1989. My mom originally is from Ecuador and my dad is Colombian from the Caribbean where he’s Afro-Indigenous, but he was born here in the States. They met at a house party in the late 80s. I grew up in West New York originally and was bouncing from different places — Guttenberg, North Bergen, Weehawken. Growing up in Jersey City I was blessed because I was around diversity so much and I heard so many different types of music. At the same time, growing up in the hood, it was dangerous. We were exposed to drugs early, gunshots, fights. I grew up on Bergenline Avenue, on that strip with all the different types of food and businesses that were locally owned by Latinas like us. There was always music around me — music was such a big influence.
HG: How did you get into dancing?
SS: My Ecuadorian side, we’re like 33 first cousins, so the house parties were always lit at night. My uncle is a DJ from Ecuador so when he came to the States here, he was my first dance teacher. I was 5 years old and my uncle would be like, ‘Whoever is the best dancer at this party gets this prize.’ That was my first initial reaction to like, ‘If I dance and I do this, I will get something.’ In elementary school, I just danced. I locked myself in my room or went outside in the neighborhood and danced on the streets too. It wasn’t until I was in high school where I thought I was going to be a designer and then I went to college at Hudson County Community College, and I ended up just taking studio arts. But then I decided to stop school, continue working and just grind on my own in NYC. That’s where I started breakdancing in my early 20s.
(Photo credit: @k.chameleon.photography)
HG: Was it hard to get into?
SS: I kind of started late. Breakdancing is something you’re supposed to start in your teens but I was doing it at 22. I would go to the clubs in NYC and I would meet underground OGs who would come in and be like, ‘Hey you have a lot of potential. This is where you should go, these are the communities you should be going to, these are the dance competitions, these are the classes.’ In my 20s, I started a collective called Ladies Adios. We’re a group of six girls from all parts of the world. We decided to be more of a group that supports women in breakdancing. Then we started creating a fundraiser called “A Jam Called Tribe” and that’s what our main focus goes into — community work. It’s an annual event that we’ve been hosting for three years straight since Hurricane Irma in Puerto Rico (2017). That’s the highlight in my career. We stopped [during the pandemic], but we’re planning on doing one soon: “A Jam Called Tribe Cyber Punk 2022.”
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HG: Can you share some obstacles you had to overcome being a woman in the waacking community?
SS: That’s a really tough question. It goes deep for a lot of women. The breakdancing world is about a lot of men and less women. When you’re in that environment and trying to overcome something that already the world is telling you you can’t do it, it’s already hard, let alone when men try to come in and try to put their egos on your or their love interests on you. There’s been a lot of times where I had to practice my power stance, which is knowing your boundaries and voicing them. There’s also a stereotype of looking a certain way. These stereotypes are definitely in our minds and hard to overcome but finding women who come together, that’s when they can help heal each other.
(Photo credit: @davidgaviphoto)
HG: How did you come up with your nickname ‘Stephy Styles’?
SS: Stephy Styles was born because I was such a fashionista. I go by other aliases because I do other things too. I’m Stephy Styles when I’m just dancing in my freestyle form, I’m Madame Steff when I’m performing burlesque or waacking, Sporty Steph when I play soccer. All these names have a purpose because they’re all different phases in my life and I just honor them. I want to continue having these different personas.
HG: How did it feel being part of the Red Bull Dance Your Style competition in Miami on October 17, 2021?
SS: This competition specifically was an expression of how I felt during this whole pandemic and was my first time competing after two years now. It was my first national competition in the sense of having a company (Red Bull) flying me out and hosting me. I was nervous but also excited to represent my city, Jersey City/201 since I’ve been doing it all my life. It’s a good platform to be able to share where I come from and my background. I mostly do [these types of competitions] to represent little brown girls that look like me, that are mixed and come from different places.
HG: What would you say are your top career highlights?
SS: One of my biggest highlights was winning the 2 vs. 2 “all styles of waacking” out in Italy. That was a beautiful moment. That day I didn’t make it to the waacking category when I felt I gave it my all. I went to my bathroom, started crying, wiped my face, and then entered the all styles category with my boyfriend at the time. We won the whole thing! Another moment was winning Queen of the Hill 2017 in Seattle. It was underneath the Space Needle and there were hundreds of people. I never had a stage with so many people. It was 7 to smoke meaning you’re on the Queen hill and 7 other people try to knock you out. It was a big triumph moment for me. Another dope career moment was when I was part of the Miami Art Basel in 2017. I was this Go-Go dancing creature and I saw Marc Anthony, different people from the Miami scene. That was one of the peak highlights of my career too. It was so much fun.
(Photo credit: @stylophonicdoll)
HG: Are you still based in Jersey City?
SS: Now I’m in Seattle. I’m part of a community here. During the pandemic, I went to Portland and that’s when I decided to start growing weed, learning how to grow vegetables. I’m getting more connected with the earth so that’s why, during the pandemic, I really stopped dance. Now I’m in a space where I’m going back to competition.
HG: How often do you come back to visit Jersey City?
SS: I never moved out of Jersey City. Even though I was living in Chinatown in NYC during 2015, I was right there by the PATH Train so I would go straight to Jersey City all the time. I have all my family in Jersey. I enjoy visiting them.
HG: What are your favorite places to visit when you’re back in town?
SS: I love going to the water by Exchange Place. I like going to Grove Street. There’s really cool spots out there and by Journal Square. I like to hang out at the parks. My favorite part in the whole world is Boulevard East in Weehawken — it’s my favorite place to sit down, see the city and be reminded where I come from. The skate park at Berry Park is my favorite part right now too. I go there to hang out with friends and support my graffiti artists because they do a lot of murals there.
(Photo credit: @ladiesadios)
HG: What’s your advice for girls who want to start dancing?
SS: Take the first step. Just put yourself in the moment and just really surrender to it. Surrender in that you know that you’re not going to be good and that’s okay. Also taking the risk, and you should be proud that you’re taking the risk. From there on, just keep building your courage and coming to class or have time where you need to really understand that everything’s energy. If you want to learn the craft, you have to put in that same energy. Don’t let anyone tell you you can’t. You have to say ‘I want to do this because I want to grow and evolve in this.’
HG: What else do you have going on in your life right now?
SS: I’ve been picking up a lot of hobbies lately. Right now, a big one is I’m a grower. I like to grow plants and I’m trying to grow weed, medicinal weed, to help us heal as dancers. I do work for foundry10 where we’re working on curriculums for the high school students for the hip hop dance teams. I love dance so much, but right now I’m transitioning my focus to production music and producing beats. And I do burlesque, so I’m doing burlesque shows soon. I was always a person where I couldn’t do a 9-5 [job] — I have to do different things to make me happy!
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(Photo Credit: Daniel Zuliani)
HG: Anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
SS: I just want to share that I’m so proud to be in Jersey City. I’m proud that I come from such diversity. I’m proud that there are people that are willing to read my story. There are so many people out there that have so much potential. I want to show gratitude to the people in my city. I’m looking forward to seeing what Jersey City can continue doing for artists. It’s so important for the arts to continue.
To follow Stephy Styles’ dance journey, be sure to follow her on Instagram by clicking here.
