Hip Hop Identity Crisis: Our Love-Hate Relationship with Hollywood

Will we ever have peace with Hollywood? Hip hop dancers go back and forth between yearning for the opportunities to dance before the camera and then despising the general media-making machine for portraying our dance in a cheap fashion. Every dance movie seems to run on a formula. Reality TV dance shows have become a staple on the airwaves, but they're running out of new ideas. And yet, hip hop dancers still flock to audition for the meager opportunities that are thrown our way. Many of us dream of making a living by dancing, but the success rate is very slim. Maybe even harder than being a working actor in Los Angeles.

So the love-hate relationship with Hollywood continues. The opportunities for us to perform are so few that we're often willing to be part of projects we're not so proud of. And the studio executives and producers aren't going to bet on a revolutionary new dance movie that deviates from the norm unless they're sure it will make money. That's why dance movies have fallen into cliches over the years - although we bemoan their formulaic nature, there still is an audience that pays to see it. As long as a movie can make it's money back from the audience, these films will continue.

The most refreshing strides taken have been through independent filmmakers and projects whether it's Benson Lee's Planet BBoy or the promise that's held in Jon M. Chu's LXD project. These projects have more flexibility to break the mold simply because they are labors of love with a keen eye on making some money back by being different. Maybe we need more of this. Otherwise, how will we ever take control of our own stories and how they're told on screen?