- [Samara] Operating in a male-dominated arena, we come hard.

We are women, we can do exactly what you do in street perfo.. but we also keep our feminine aspect intact.

(upbeat music) We are Mix'd Ingrdnts Dance company, an all-female, multi-genre, multi-ethnic dance group.

- I feel that women have a capability to express themselves through their movement, but it doesn't have to be degrading in any way.

(dancers clap) (upbeat music) Samara and I met here in Oakland at an audition back in 2008.

We came up with this concept of an all-female mixed-genre dance company.

("Jump Around" by House of Pain plays) A lot of the groups that we were seeing, there was a heavy focus on the objectification of women, from the music to the actual dance movement, we didn't feel very empowered.

- [Samara] They didn't have the essence of what I wanted to portray as a dancer, which was freedom, confidence, empowerment.

- [Jenay] We just wanted to be something different.

♪ I won't ever slack up ♪ ♪ Punk, ya better back up ♪ - [Samara] Growing up, I had self-image issues.

Dance was the words to help me navigate through that and be more confident.

♪ Someone's talkin' junk ♪ ♪ Yo, I bust him in the eye ♪ ♪ And then I'll take the punk's ho ♪ ♪ Feelin' funky, amps in the trunk ♪ - It gave me a very powerful voice.

In the way we run Mix'd Ingrdnts, we wanted to give that to youth, especially young women who maybe need that confidence boost.

- All right.

- When I was young, it was a little hard for me to do that.

- Good morning!

- [All] Morning!

- So Mini Mix is a brand new youth company that we are just starting this year.

We want to pretty much mirror the same process that Mix'd Ingrdnts does.

We do everything from ballet, hip hop, house, whacking, breaking, everything under the sun.

("Get Ur Freak On" by Missy Elliott plays) All of our work has intention, okay?

It's not just us getting up there and shaking our thing.

We can do that, but we do have a message when it comes to our performance.

("Church Lady" by Dennis Ferrer plays) Oakland is a very diverse and loving community, and we wanna capture that with our group.

- [Samara] In getting a message out there, we start to delve into deeper issues and things that our community faces every day.

- [Jenay] Each individual in the company has something else to offer, which is why we're called Mix'd Ingrdnts.

We are able to tell stories through different avenues of dance.

- People are pumped about us and our message, and they're like, you know, "We want to support Mix'd Ingrdnts because that's what Oakland is about.

Community, right?

And unity.

And we want our audience to take th.. - I just want to invoke change.

I just want to inspire others to be passionate about what they do.

Yeah, you like dancing?

You guys gotta keep dancing.

- I like dancing.

(upbeat music)