Often referred to as the “mother of South Bay Hip Hop,” Aiko has received numerous awards from across the country for her support of women and youth empowerment through Hip Hop.
Aiko Shirakawa was born and raised in San Jose, California. She started dancing in a group called Quick Style all style dancers in 1983. She has been dancing with Jam Patrol since 2003, who have been together since 1979, and they are still performing to this day. Aiko has been mentoring and teaching the youth starting in 1992 at the Hank Lopez Community Center in San Jose, California. When judging an event called Best of the Best, she, along with two other judges, enjoyed seeing breaking make a comeback in the early 90s. Aiko worked for the City of San Jose Parks and Recreation for nine years, organizing and hosting breaking/popping competitions such as Best of the Best, Step Up, Take it to the Floor, and so many more. In 1997, Aiko was the first woman to judge the well-known German Breaking competition, Battle of the Year.
For the past 32 years, Aiko has been working with the street dance community to help build on what the 1980s gave us in street dance, and for 29 years she has been organizing events for the dance community. The past 40 years, Aiko has been dancing professionally and teaching as well as working with local dance groups, creating choreography for performers.
Often referred to as the “mother of South Bay Hip Hop,” Aiko has received numerous awards from across the country for her support of women and youth empowerment through Hip Hop.
In 2003, she was invited to join 5th Element as a mentor, host, and organizer. Fifth Element is an organization that promotes women in Hip Hop who are artists by organizing shows/events that provide safe spaces to celebrate women through music and art. In 2006-2010, Aiko was included as one of the featured dancers in the film documentary “All the Ladies Say”. This film was created by Rocafella of Full Circle who is a respected B-Girl. All of the years of work that Aiko has put in with the dance and hip hop communities have been a labor of love; it is and always will be what she has dedicated her life to. She is honored to be on the Board of Directors for USA Breakin as the Community Outreach representative since 2022 and is looking forward to bringing her skills to the table.
