Innovations: The Controversial Choreo Styles of Mike Song and Tony Tran

The collegiate hip hop choreo scene has been developing in southern California since the early 1990s. With that movement, there have been choreographers who have borrowed from different street styles while incorporating their own flavor. On the other side of the fence, street dancers have often felt cheated by some hip hop choreo dancers who have allegedly taken their moves and used them in their routines without giving credit to the original creators. Today, the situation is no different. The controversy is still there.

The world has been exposed to a new generation of hip hop choreo dancers through MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew. In Los Angeles and Orange County, we’re seeing kids, teenagers, and college students praising the choreography of guys like Mike Song and Tony Tran. Both dancers are part of Kaba Modern Legacy and the original six Kaba dancers on the show. But street dancers rarely consider these choreo heads a true representation of street styles. They’re something else. It’s possible that guys like Mike and Tony are influenced by street dancers they know or whom they’ve seen in contests or in Youtube videos. Plus, they can get basic training from fellow street dancers offered through private classes. So what is really going on here? Is this new school choreography a true innovation or is it a “watering down” of street styles that some vehemently denounce?

For this new emerging choreo scene to be considered an innovation, a clear foundation needs to be established. That hasn’t happened yet. It may be too early to make a judgement call. But what could be considered an innovation is that more choreo dancers are getting exposed to street styles and incorporating it into their work at a faster rate. This is a good sign if we consider that really ambitious choreo dancers could create that foundation we’re looking for if they persevere in their craft. One of the downfalls of the choreo scene is that individual flavors of choreographers can be hot for a while and then quickly disappear without any longevity. As a result, the community can’t build on an agreed upon foundation and move their artform to a higher level.

Coming out of this, the dialogue between street dancers and hip hop choreo heads will have to improve. It’s unfair for street dancers to always look down on choreo heads for what they do because a great artist can emerge from any circumstance. So maybe innovation will come about when both camps really start to work together on creating something new that truly is a fusion of both of their interests.