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AND TWO DANC'NG LADIES, JAO.UI KNIChT TOOK THE REIGNS AS IHE

HEAD CHOREOGRAPHER OF A VIDEO THAT RELIES ON NOTHING MORE

THAN AN INCREDIBLE DANCE PERFORMANCE.

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Lei's rAKE rr BACK To rHE '70s. lr was a r.ry,E I//HEN NxowSCANDAL IZED A NAnON, WOMEN WERE F]GHT;NG FOR EOUAL R]GHTS,

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BEGIIVN/NG5-/T IS PRIMETIME NOW IN MOVIES AND TELEVISION-BUT

NOT SO FAR THAT IT HAS LOST /TS ROOTS.

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oI n i ts or ig ins, h ip-hop was largely a subcul ture and a form of sty le

f and expression developed by urban minor i t ies. But now i t has be-f come part of the mainstream. Street ta lk, dress, and music haveal l become an undeniable inf luence on American cul ture. In 2003,the Oxford Engl ish dict ionary added "phat, " " j iggy," "dope," and"breakbeat" to the onl ine updates of i ts d ict ionary. Slang terms l ike"bl ing" and "baby mama" are now so col loquial you can hear themon the news. Clothing trends l ike t racksui ts and hoodies are no longerl imi ted to rappers 'gear; but are worn by everyone. Hip-hop sty le hasbecome so prevalent that Jay-Z has his own clothing label , 50 Centhis own shoe l ine, and Diddy his own fragrance-and that 's just thet ip of the iceberg.

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In Apr i l of 2008, MTV launched a ser ies of shows in orderto celebratethe twentieth anniversary of Yo! MW Raps, the show that brought hip-hop to the masses. Dances From Tha Hood, part of this anniversaryseries, offers step-by-step dance tutorials, and can sti l l be accessedthrough televis ion OnDemand and through i ts websi te. YouTube andMySpace, wi th direct communicat ion through blogs, chats, and up-loaded videos, have become forums for aspiring dancers to showcasetheir ta lent and connect wi th a larger network of ar t is ts and fans.

A plethora of b lockbuster hip-hop dance movies have come out inrecent years in contrast to wild Style in 1983, the f irst of i ts kind, andBreakin'which came out in 1984. Both catered to a very small market.Todays dance movies are reflective of the reach of hip-hop dance. ln2001 , Save the Last Dance explored the racial divide that hip-hop hasbeen able to overcome; in 2006, Step Up demonstrated the inspir-ing and transformative power of dance. In 2007, How She Move indStomp the Yard brought stepping onto the scene, a style of dancewhere the body is used as an instrument. Even Disney has selectedthe hip-hop choreographer Jamal Sims for the upcoming HannahMontana: The Movie, scheduled to be released in 2009.

Hip-hop-dance has been able to monopol ize another contemporarygenre of mass media: the reali ty TV show. In part icular, Fox's So YouThinkYou Can Dance and MTV's America's Best Dance Crew have puthip-hop dancing out there in a big way. So You ThinkYou Can Dancepremiered in 2005 and encourages dancers f rom al l backgrounds,including street and hip-hop, to compete. Br inging these sty les to-gether in a compet i t ion that a lso features bal l room dancing, bal let ,and iazz helps to legit imize hip-hop dance as a serious form of expres-sion. The dancers on these shows are black, whi te, Lat in, Asian andFi l ip ino s igni fy ing just how far across cul tural , social , economic, andgeographical boundar ies th is sty le of dance has traveled.

AmericaS Best Dance Crew, produced by American ldol judge RandyJackson, premiered in February of 2008. l t is a street dance crew com-pet i t ion that is judged by rapper Li l Mama, JC Chavez of 'NSync,and hip-hop choreographer Shane Sparks. l t has already gone intoa second season. The viewership was so high that on Thursday nightpr imet ime i t held the number one spot among 12-34 year olds acrossall cable networks. Viewers are encouraged to part icipate by votingfor their favorite crew and fol lowing them on the show's website. Re-ali ty television has created the impression that anyone can be a star,but now people with real talent have more opportunit ies to performand be discovered.

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The first all hip-hop dance convention was created in 2002 by AndyFunk, his wife,'Becky, and her sister Angie Servant. Andy's backgroundin business, and Becky and Angie's experiences on the dance com-petition circuit gave rise to Monsters of Hip Ho-p, which provide: adiverse offering for aspiring hip-hop dancers of all ages across thecountry. The conventions offer classes that teach dance, the history ofhip-hop, and the business of using a dance talent agent. Stage shows,lectures, and seminars round out the convention.

Monsters uses some of the best choreographers in the business toteach hip-hop, popping, locking, and street iazz..Janet Jackson, Jen-nifer Lopez, Justin Timerblake, Beyonc6, Mariah Carey, ald Usherare just a handful of the artists that Monsters's staff has worked with.Andy explains that since the organization was formed their missionhas been to "create real career opportunities for hip-hop dancers."They haven't strayed from their mission but the convention is chang-ing with the times. "We are now launching the first all-contemPorarydance convention! So, we are expanding the Monsters way of doingdance conventions to a totally different genre of dance," Andy notes.In 2009, Monsters plans to host conventions in Cancun, Mexico andAuckland, New Zealand, venturing abroad for the f irst t ime.

Along with major cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York,Monsters conventions are held in places like Worcestel MA, NewBrunswick, NJ, and Reston, VA. Dance conventions brought hip-hopto a teenager out in rural Fort Collins, Colorado, now renowned cho-reographer Tony Testa. After taking tap classes, Tony became skilledat jazz', bal let, lyr ical, and contemporary dance through conventions.Taught by some of the greatest choreographers out there, Tony wasmost inspired by Brian Friedman, and caught' : thg brg." When Mon-sters launched, he was there to participate in the first convention andhas since risen the ranks to become a Monsters staff choreographer.

Given his first job doing choreography for Aaron Carter through aconvention, Tony's story speaks to the success of the convention cir-cuit. He was also discovered by Janet Jackson at age sixteen througha low budget choreography reel he put together and distributed atconventions. Tony is just one of many Monsters's dancers or chore-ographers now in the spotlight. So You Think You Can Dance final-ists lvan Koumaev and Donyelle Jones from Season 2, and CedricGardner, Lauren Gott l ieb and Sara VonGil lern from Season 3 have al ldanced at Monsters. Faculty choreographer Dave Scott worked onthe movies Stomp the Yard and You Got Served. Dancer and chore-ographer Tucker Barkley is featured in the new national McDonald's/Cokd commercial. . .and the l ist goes on and on.

Most recently Tony had the honor of directing the 2008 Monstersyearly showcase in LA-he was once selected for the show as adancer; then later as a choreographe4 and has come ful l circle as theshow's co-director. Only twenty-one years old, Testa uses his technicaldance training as a way to push the boundaries of hip-hop. He haschoreographed commercials for Sony and Skechers as well as musicvideos for Janet Jackson and the al l-gir l group Danity Kane. Nickel-odeon chose him to choreograph a modern day American Bandstandcalled Dance on Sunsetthat premiered in March of 2008. Though he'sst i l l young Tony has been dancing since he was eight years old. Hehas been established long enough in the industry to have witnessedsome real changes.

Reflecting on the rise of hip-hop dance, Tony makes an insightfulcomparison, "you could almost comPare hip hop to the way dancehas been. l t has been in the background for a long t ime and nowwe're seeing a t ime again where dance is in the foreground. Peoplewant to see dance for the art of it. I think hip-hop is a litt le bit l ike that.tn a sense the underdog is kind of coming up right now." ffi

LBmonsters ofhiphop.com

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