Why Street Dancers Need Other Artists

We're not alone. Although sometimes we act that way. As street dancers in America, we live surprisingly isolated lives. Yes, we make connections with dancers around the world through Youtube and other friends. But, in terms of aesthetic collaboration, we haven't made bold strides in working with artists from other genres. In Los Angeles, there are plenty of filmmakers, fashion designers, visual artists, musicians, and creative minds of all kinds. Why is it so hard for us to collaborate with those beyond our comfort zone?

Collaboration is a tricky business. It's a wily animal. Managing creative risk-taking between a group of people is an art form that is rarely studied. There can be too many agendas, a lack of strong vision, or an absence of convincing leadership. More often than not, we think that people we recruit buy into our vision when they really buy into our character first. Leadership isn't a natural thing for us street dancers. We focus on individual expression, creative freedom, and walk a thin line between preserving the past history while striving to innovate on our own.

By nature, we're lone rangers. We form crews to represent, to form a tribe that will walk the journey with us. But outside of those borders, we rarely choose to venture. Much has been said in the past year about Jon M. Chu working with his LXD dancers through stage shows to their online Hulu series to Step Up 3D. But since these ventures have premiered, the dialogue has suddenly gone silent. Was it the lack of financial boxoffice success for Step Up 3D or the harsh critical reviews from the general public for The LXD that led to this muted conversation? Whatever the reason, we need more artists outside of dance who can collaborate with us. One primary reason that the hip hop elements sprung out of the Brooklyn and Bronx epicenter in the early 1980s was due to journalists and art scene enthusiasts creating venues for the Rock Steady Crew bboys and graff writers to perform for new crowds. In 2005, David LaChapelle invited the mainstream media into the world of clown dancing and krumping in his documentary film Rize.

So we need filmmakers to help us tell our stories. Or a few of us need to become filmmakers. Photographers are necessary to capture those fleeting moments that define the spontaneity of our culture. Fashion designers could help us explore new visual ideas for our bodies in motion. And musicians provide the life blood for our dance. Working with other artists is crucial to preserving our dance culture as well as exploring opportunities for evolution. If only, we were more open to collaboration.

This isn't an impossible dream. The saavy dancers will look out for filmmakers, photographers, graphic designers, and other creative minds to cook up something special. The rest of us will be blown away by the results. We have to remember that our intrinsic need to create is a powerful force in our lives. And creating is rarely done well alone. We need each other to realize our artistic visions.

Freestyle Hip Hop: Coast to Coast

What's the state of hip hop freestyle today? On the West Coast, street styles like poppin', lockin', and bboyin' have thriving communities. These cultures have been revived by the formation of new communities through Internet forums in the early 2000s to today's social networks. But outside of these street styles, there seems to be confusion about what would be considered hip hop freestyle. Lots of terms like new jack swing, old school hip hop, 90's hip hop, urban freestyle, and urban dance have been thrown around. It's confusing. Go into any studio whether it's Focus in Irvine, Debbie Reynolds in North Hollywood or the Edge. Who is actually teaching hip hop freestyle at these venues? Especially the freestyle drawing from the music and feel of the early 90's.

Meanwhile, a new generation of teens and twentysomethings are building their own scene in Orange County, springing from the college choreography scene. Now, this college scene has roots in the early 90's but the focus has been on choreography not individual freestyle. So the feel and nature of the dance is different. Musicality is stressed but it's focused on creating photogenic pictures of large groups of moving bodies on stage. This scene's development is also complicating the discussion of what we call hip hop freestyle. When we see these teams perform showcases at VIBE or World of Dance, are they hip hop freestyle, hip hop choreography, or something else? Now, a few dancers from this scene are becoming the face of "hip hop dance" to a young America that is in love with Youtube, America's Best Dance Crew, and So You Think You Can Dance. Is Hollywood media distorting our views of hip hop again?

On the East Coast, especially in New York, there's still a strong foundation for teachers like Elite Force who teach regularly at studios like Peridance, PMT, and Broadway Dance Center. Dance teachers from other scenes like house and vogue are readily available to teach like Brian Greene, Archie Burnett, and Benny Ninja. When you travel through the studios and sessions in NY, it doesn't seem to be as confusing understanding what hip hop freestyle looks like as compared to the various shades of grey in Los Angeles.

The West Coast has a lot of creative energy that comes from so many different voices coming together. But maybe it's time that we take a moment and break away from our Youtube habits. We should do our research and expose ourselves to who are considered hip hop freestylers from informed peers. There's something lacking in the soul of our young hip hop generation today. There's a freedom that's missing. The question is why?