Does Our Dance Future Lay Outside of the U.S?

Let's face it. Our scene isn't growing within Los Angeles. We are maintaining a status quo but are the level of education and training and the professional opportunities for our street dancers at the level we want them to be? We would be short-changing ourselves if we felt that today's level is the best we can do. Here's what we're facing: our local communities of bboys, poppers, lockers, and other street styles remain an insular subculture with a few individuals finding the opportunities to make careers out of their passions. Our jams are not growing in consistency. In fact, many have come and gone. And the awareness and in-depth understanding of our culture among the public is fleetingly better, but it's not enough to inspire a critical mass to adopt our passions.

Many of us in LA's community often turn to Europe and Asia as the new frontier for our street dance culture. We look at Battle of the Year, the U.K. BBoy Championships, Juste Debout, KOD in China, and Old School Night in Japan as premier events were street dancing is valued, sponsored, and celebrated. Is it true that street dancers have a better standard of living in these other countries outside of the U.S? Is it plausible that a larger public appreciates arts education and culture in Europe and Asia than stateside? It's hard to know without concrete facts and data. Maybe it's just a case of the grass being greener on the other side. If street dancers truly had it better in Asia, for example, wouldn't we see whole industries of aspiring dancers performing, teaching, and making money with their skills? We don't see immediate evidence of such an industry. Instead, one could argue that a young artist should aspire more to be a pop singer than a dancer given the more prevalent opportunities for musicians than dancers in Asian entertainment culture.

One thing is for certain: those of us in the Los Angeles street scene really need to get our act together if we hope to sustain the culture financially. Without rich benefactors or sponsors, it's incredible to see how local promoters can keep producing jams and shows. Venues are expensive in LA unless you can get them for free. And it still takes a budget, no matter how small, to hire a DJ and rent suitable audio equipment. If we want to grow beyond these circumstances, we need to consider better production value and event planning. We don't need to copy the way others are doing it in Europe or Asia. We simply need to find what works in our current environment and make the most of it.