Today we’d like to introduce you to Travis (Skitz) Simmons.
Hi Travis (Skitz), we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My name is Travis “Skitz” Simmons, and I’m a multidisciplinary artist based in Charlotte, North Carolina. I’m a dancer, performer, filmmaker, media creator, educator, and community organizer whose work centers around storytelling and preserving street dance culture.
After spending over a decade in Durham, I recently moved back to Charlotte while continuing to help lead Bullpin NC, a street dance organization I helped build alongside Jose “BBoy Rebel” Velazquez, Tyler “Xtra” McNeil, Ryan “Native” Taylor, and Jeremy “Mock V” Davis. Together, we create spaces where dancers can learn, compete, and connect through monthly cyphers, showcases, workshops, battles, and community events. Our mission has always been bigger than dance itself—we strive to educate people on the history, vocabulary, and culture of street dance while giving artists a place where they feel welcomed, challenged, and encouraged to grow.
My journey into the arts began unexpectedly. One night, while on a trip with my mom, I woke up in the middle of the night to a marathon of America’s Best Dance Crew. I was immediately captivated and knew I wanted to dance. I spent countless hours teaching myself through YouTube, studying artists like Phillip Chbeeb, Mike Song, and Dragon House Crew, practicing in my bedroom until the early hours of the morning. What started as curiosity quickly became a lifelong passion.
That passion eventually led me to dance at North Carolina Central University while studying TV Broadcasting. Here I had the privilege of performing with the NCCU Dance Group and Koffee Dance Company. During that time, I learned from incredible mentors, including Nancy Pinkney, Avis Hatcher-Puzzo, & Kristi Johnson, whose guidance helped shape not only my technique but also my understanding of dance as both an art form and a means of storytelling. Those experiences plus being in street dance taught me the importance of honoring tradition while continuing to evolve creatively.
I’ve now spent over fourteen years training in Popping, Hip Hop freestyle, Krump, and Horton. One of the things I value most is understanding the roots of each style. I believe dance is a universal language, but every style has its own history, vocabulary, and identity. Learning those foundations has allowed me to connect different movement styles in ways that remain authentic while creating something uniquely my own.
Throughout my career, I’ve been fortunate to perform alongside artists such as A$AP Rocky, Rapsody, and GS11, collaborate with creators including Socksfor1 and Blind TD, and contribute to projects for Netflix, Cheerwine, and the American Dance Festival. I’ve also had the opportunity to perform as part of the Charlotte Hornets Hive Hip Hop Crew, experiences that have challenged me to continue growing as both a performer and collaborator across live entertainment, commercial productions, and digital media.
Education has become just as important to me as performing. Every Tuesday, I teach at NC Dance District, where I encourage students not only to improve their movement but also to understand why these dances exist and the communities that created them. I believe preserving street dance culture means passing down its knowledge with the same care as its choreography.
Beyond the stage, I enjoy exploring new ways to tell stories. My latest dance film, Accept Me, My Ananke, premieres on July 19, 2026, and features dancers from across North Carolina in a story about accepting one’s fate. I’m also developing a video game inspired by the street dance community—a project that started as a joke among friends but has grown into an exciting creative project that combines my love of dance, storytelling, and technology.
I’m also an avid VR content creator. What began as daily VR streaming in 2021 evolved into a community of creators, gamers, and artists who share my passion for emerging technology and creative expression. Whether through film, dance, gaming, or virtual spaces, I’m always looking for new ways to connect with people and tell meaningful stories.
At the heart of everything I create is the belief that art gives people a window into your world. Whether I’m dancing, teaching, directing films, building communities, or creating digital experiences, my goal is to make people feel something genuine while showing that creativity has the power to bring people together.
My parents supported me the best they could while I was growing up. I know what it’s like to pursue a creative career without having every opportunity or resource readily available, so I hope my story reminds others that passion, persistence, and community can open doors. I want my work to inspire people to chase what they love, create opportunities where none seem to exist, and leave the arts in a better place than I found them.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. Like many artists, I’ve faced financial challenges, self-doubt, and moments where opportunities simply weren’t available. There have been auditions I couldn’t attend because of travel costs, projects I had to fund myself, and times when I questioned whether I was on the right path. I’ve learned that talent alone isn’t enough—you have to be persistent, adaptable, and willing to create opportunities when they don’t exist.
One of the biggest challenges has been balancing my passion with everyday responsibilities. While pursuing dance, film, and other creative projects, I’ve also had to build skills in videography, photography, editing, marketing, and content creation so I could continue investing in my own career and the communities I’m a part of. Wearing so many hats can be exhausting, but it has also made me a more well-rounded artist.
There have also been setbacks that tested me personally. Injuries, unexpected life changes, and moments where I had to start over reminded me that progress isn’t always linear. Looking back, though, those experiences shaped the artist and person I am today. They taught me resilience, gratitude, and the importance of surrounding myself with people who genuinely believe in building each other up.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that success doesn’t always come from having the most resources—it comes from continuing to show up, staying curious, and refusing to give up on the things you love.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My work exists at the intersection of dance, storytelling, education, and community building. I am a dancer, performer, filmmaker, media creator, educator, and organizer, but at the core of everything I do, I consider myself a storyteller. Whether I’m on stage, behind a camera, or teaching in a studio, my goal is always to communicate something real and preserve the culture behind the movement.
I specialize in street dance forms including Popping, Hip Hop freestyle, Krump, and Horton, with over fourteen years of training and experience. What I’m most known for isn’t just my movement, but my approach to it—I care deeply about the history, vocabulary, and foundation of each style. I don’t treat dance as just choreography or performance; I treat it as a language that carries culture, identity, and lived experience.
A major part of my work is community building. I helped form Bullpin NC, a street dance organization based in Durham, alongside Jose “BBoy Rebel” Velazquez, Tyler “Xtra” McNeil, Ryan “Native” Taylor, and Jeremy “Mock V” Davis. Through monthly cyphers, workshops, battles, and showcases, we create spaces where dancers can grow, exchange knowledge, and feel connected to something bigger than themselves. Even after relocating to Charlotte, I continue to contribute to the organization through marketing, media, and creative direction.
I’m also active in education. Every week, I teach at NC Dance District, where I focus not just on movement, but on helping students understand why these styles exist and how they’ve evolved. I believe preserving street dance culture means passing down knowledge with intention, not just steps.
Beyond dance, I work across film, digital media, and emerging technology. My upcoming project, *Accept Me, My Ananke*, is a dance film featuring artists across North Carolina that explores themes of fate and acceptance. I’m also developing a video game inspired by the street dance community, which started as a creative experiment and has grown into a real passion project. In addition, I create VR content and build online communities through streaming and interactive digital spaces.
What sets me apart is that I don’t separate these worlds—I connect them. Dance informs my filmmaking, filmmaking informs my teaching, and technology gives me new ways to expand both. I’m most proud of the fact that I’ve been able to turn community into the center of my work. Whether I’m performing with artists like A$AP Rocky and Rapsody, collaborating on commercial projects, or building grassroots dance spaces, I stay focused on creating work that brings people together and keeps culture alive.
At the end of the day, I don’t just want to be seen as a performer. I want to be remembered as someone who helped document, preserve, and evolve the spaces I came from while creating new ones for the next generation.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
For me, mentorship and networking have never really come from formal connections or cold outreach in a polished way. Most of the meaningful relationships I’ve built in the industry started through community spaces like cyphers, classes, rehearsals, shows, and consistently showing up where other artists are present.
One of the biggest things that has worked for me is simply being useful and dependable. Whether it is helping organize events, filming, teaching, or supporting someone else’s project, I have found that people naturally gravitate toward consistency and contribution. A lot of my early opportunities came from being willing to help without immediately expecting anything in return, and over time that built real trust with other artists and creators.
I have also learned that mentorship does not always look like someone officially taking you under their wing. Sometimes it is multiple people giving you different pieces of guidance over time. One person helps you refine your movement, another helps you understand the business side, another teaches you how to present yourself professionally. I have been fortunate to learn from mentors like Nancy Pinkney and Avis Hatcher-Puzzo in academic and performance settings, but also from peers in the street dance community who were just as influential in shaping how I move and think about culture.
In terms of networking, what has worked best for me is authenticity. People can tell when you are only there for opportunity versus when you genuinely care about the space you are in. I focus on building real relationships first by talking, exchanging ideas, showing up consistently, and respecting the culture of whatever environment I am in. Over time, that naturally turns into collaboration and opportunity.
I also think it is important not to limit yourself to one lane. A lot of my connections have come from overlapping worlds like dance, film, education, and digital media. Because I move across different creative spaces, I have been able to meet people in all of them, and those intersections have been some of the most valuable networking opportunities I have had.
If I could give one piece of advice, it would be this: don’t wait for someone to discover you. Put yourself in rooms where your work can speak for itself, stay consistent, and focus on building relationships rather than just collecting contacts. The right mentors tend to appear when you are already actively doing the work.
Pricing:
- Privates $40
- Video editing (Contact for more informaion)
- Event videography (Contact for more information)
Contact Info:
- Website: https://tinyurl.com/supportSkitzz
- Instagram: https://Instagram.com/travskitz
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@travskitz/videos
