Navigation Menu
Image description: A Black man with hair styled in short twists and a beard. He wears a black short sleeve button up shirt and a gold cross on a chain around his neck. He and the background are drenched in yellow light. Photo by Spencer Hopkins.
he/him/his
Peoria, Bodwéwadmi (Potawatomi), Myaamia, Kaskaskia, Kiikaapoi (Kickapoo); Chicago, IL
Jemal “P-Top” Delacruz is recognized among the top footwork dancers in the world. He rose to prominence as a battle dancer in the footwork group, Goon Squad. In 2014, P-Top co-founded The Era Footwork Crew and began to tour internationally. He has danced at festivals such as Pitchfork and Lollapalooza. P-Top was recognized as a choreographer of the year (New City Magazine) and cultural organizer of the year (FADER Magazine) alongside The Era. He has long been focused on the youth of Chicago, creating an event series called “The Ring” on the south side of Chicago. P-Top also helps run social media for the nonprofit Open the Circle, where he interviews and publishes stories featuring other footwork dancers across generations in Chicago. P-Top helped create “Footwork Saves Lives,” a campaign to help bring awareness to footwork as a positive outlet for youth in Chicago. As a rapper and poet, P-Top’s lyricism has been featured on several mixtapes, and he has been interviewed in multiple documentaries from The Chicago Tribune to VICE. Alongside The Era, he was awarded a National Dance Project grant from the New England Foundation for the Arts in 2019. P-Top is the father of five sons. Originally from the Uptown neighborhood in Chicago, he now lives with his family in Roger’s Park on the north side of Chicago.
For more information about P-Top:
