It’s been a big month for Logan, who was named to the Boston Center for the Arts’ “#HellaBlack Vol. 7: Shift” roster of acts last week. That showcase is on Oct. 3.
Her style draws on a lifetime of dance in many genres. “I call myself a wiggler,” Logan said. “You can’t put me in a single category. My movement is a little bit awkward, but I have, they would say, a hip hop pocket. I’m a little bit more bounce oriented.”
Popping – a subgenre of hip hop – involves isolating and tensing muscles. “You’re creating pictures, and you look at how these pictures look and how people use the track to manipulate how they move through the pictures,” Logan said.
Men tend to dominate the form, she said. “I’m like, ‘okay, well, there’s not many of me. I just want to show you the joy that I feel.”
Where to find her: www.instagram.com/lannalalo/
Age: 26
Originally from: Cambridge
Lives in: Cambridge
Making a living: Logan is a secretary at Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Charlestown.
Studio: The dancer rehearses in different studios, including at the BCA, and her studio apartment has a small open area. “I get real creative in that little space,” she said.
How she started: “I’ve danced my entire life,” Logan said. “I don’t know anything else.” She studied jazz, tap, modern and contemporary dance. At six, she auditioned for Lil Phunk, the Boston Celtics’ official junior dance team, and performed at games and special events.
“I was the youngest on the team,” she said. She was with the group until she was 10.
What she makes: “I make track,” Logan said. “I’m giving you what I’m hearing.”
How she works: Although popping takes physical strength, Logan’s secret weapon is listening.
“I work mainly with my ear,” she said. “I could not train popping for a month. I could not show it to a class for two months. And I could be listening to this popping mix, and I could have heard a new song and not have any space to do anything. But somehow, someway, I’ve sat enough in my head to have it somehow in my body.”
Advice for artists: “Be as honest as possible,” Logan said. Performing at the Boston Red Bull battle, “every time I went up, I was honest,” she said – even if that meant sharing what a push it was.
“I was like, ‘I have nothing for you. I gave you everything. I don’t have anything left,’ and that was as honest as I could be,” she said. “That translates. People feel it when it’s fake.”
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