A comment from Chux on my last post got me thinking about the situation in a way I hadn’t intended. I sat down to write my first little blog hoping that some of you would read it and think about it. I hadn’t expected that it would work in reverse and make me think about it myself. My thanks to Chux for his thoughtful comment, and for surprising me.

I agree with many points of your post Chux, and I’m quietly chiding myself for not examining the Teacher/Student relationship in the first place.

My intention in that piece wasn’t to highlight a problem with those teaching Hip Hop (or even those claiming Hip Hop but teaching Jazz). My intention was to highlight a problem with those who choose to live and die by a perceived Class system (not in and of itself a bad thing) to the point that they let no one into the system to fill the ranks.

I’ll tackle the issues one at a time.

Teachers are a complex and subjective issue to tackle. But in my experience teachers deviate from the path above slightly.

They believe in the culture, they believe in the foundation (if you haven’t already read Chux’s article by now, Do It, it has ninjas), and they do so with varying degrees of openness and accessibility to their students. The best teachers believe that they aren’t there to teach routine after routine, but to teach a style, a skill, a way of moving.

As Chux says in his comment – he tries to coax people onto the dance side, he focuses on people improving. He isn’t about getting people to learn a routine – so much so that his class is freeform and in direct opposite to most others you will see.

I spoke to Nacho once years ago about how he teaches his classes and how he looks at his students. He told me the routines where a means to an end – they slowly worked people into the society and culture to the point they would either run for themselves or fade away again.

The culture got people to the school/teacher, the teacher gets people to the knowledge, and the knowledge either gets the people back to the culture as teachers of others OR they walk away.

So the teacher is a vital part of scene (in a dance perspective).

What I was trying to express in the original article was to wonder why some people find the knowledge, and then choose NOT to teach with it. Why some people become so engrossed in the culture or in the hierarchy once they have moved up in status that they choose to, willingly or un-willingly, shun those below them.

Perhaps they are intimidated by these newcomers, challengers to their hard fought position in this society they have found.

Perhaps they experienced the same thing and dish it out through a miss-placed sense of duty to the cause.

Perhaps they are just f*ckwits.

The problems is that a Chain of Command (however informal, and unexpressed it may be) exists within almost all societies. Your fewest numbers at the top leading the way and your most at the bottom working away.

Keeping it to a purely dance topic for now lately there has been an influx of people into the culture at the bottom level yet the numbers at the top level have dwindled. As Chux rightly pointed out, teachers are responsible for guiding and defining the path these young one take.

However with too few teachers (in this case dance, but also just O.G’s in general in a wider sense) and too many newcomers – it’s up to the middle rank to take up the slack. THIS is what has been lacking of late. Middle ranks with a confused sense of self entitlement, a small taste of acclaim, and a flat brim cap have decided that they aren’t willing to share their knowledge with the newcomers.

The newcomers see this as a lack of direction from the top and leave, the teachers see the newcomers constantly leaving and so turn there attention to the middle ranks.

That’s a very Dance-centric response to Chux’s comment, and I’ve written WAY more than I’d meant to, so I’ll leave it there.

Thanks again to Chux for a dope reply and I hope you don’t mind me putting my attempted reply and justification in such an open forum, just thought a good question deserved a good reply from me.

Hopko

And here's a Ninja because i think Chux started a trend

So I have a friend, a shocking and unbelievable statement to some of you, but I assure you that I really do.

For the purpose of this blog let’s call her Kelly.  Now my friend Kelly loves dancing, she did jazz and tap for 5 or 6 years in her younger days, but has never done any form of Hip Hop, with the possible exception of dancing to Akon or T-Pain in the car, but we won’t hold that against her.

Now Kelly has decided that she’d like to get back into dancing, but wants to give Hip Hop a shot. She looks up some schools and heads to some classes around the place.

This is where our story hits an iceberg. I saw her a few weeks later and asked how it was all going. She told me she was enjoying class and picking up the routines well enough and having fun.

“What about the people?” I asked

“Well all the normal people are nice, but the Dancers are pretty rude, they aren’t mean but they don’t really talk to us”

If that doesn’t worry you as someone reading a Hip Hop / Dance blog then start having a think to yourself about why.

Firstly after just 2 weeks of classes she has already developed and US and THEM attitude. “Normal” People and “Dancers”. Why?

Secondly if everyone is doing the same routine and same class – then why aren’t they all “dancers”? Why is there a defined split in the people in the class?

The third thing, and the one that bothered me the most, is why wasn’t I surprised? Surely I should have been shocked and appalled at this revelation.

 I should have been able to dismiss it as a one off, unlucky incident.

But I knew she was right.

Is this how we want our community to be seen? Segmented and Inaccessible?

We as a community seem to be constantly battling in prose and voice about the problems with Hip Hop / Dance.

About how the new generation is too commercial, doesn’t understand your particular style, or doesn’t “get” hip hop itself.

About how they don’t respect their elders.

About how the Hip Hop community doesn’t get respected in and of itself.

And yet we act like a bunch of High School kids in a little clique, and alienate newcomers. How can we ever demand respect from anyone until we show respect for them? How many talented, driven, and passionate people have turned their backs on hip hop dance because of this?

Is this elitism pure and simple? Is it just the way things go? Or is there something more?

Truth be told, I think there’s a core element who like it this way. Maybe they like to keep it inaccessible to the mainstream. Or maybe they like to be in the upper echelons of this little society we have decided to live in. By creating this little class system they have created a self fulfilling prophecy of sorts, they get to talk about newcomers being disrespectful, and getting no respect – whilst creating the exact situation which breeds such animosity.

On the other side there are people who do the exact opposite – they encourage the commercial side, and attract a certain crowd (especially youth). The result?  The hardcore heads discount them as commercial or not real hip hop. They learn to keep to themselves and never the two worlds combine. And once again we have our segmented little microcosm.

How do we combat this? Or do we accept this as the dramatic circle of life and ignore it?

Well, the truth is, people are combating it right now. Some of the respected voices in the dance (and wider hip hop community) are finding new ways to encourage young minds to take part, compete, contribute, take ownership; of the direction we are headed. There are events designed specifically for first timers to enter, and more importantly be encouraged about their performance. I’d love to see these progress further with some more even match making to avoid the inevitable “rookie getting destroyed by the Pro” battle but the point is the foundation is there.

Will there always be an element of us and them? Yes. Absolutely. It’s human nature.

There will always be battlers that look down on spectators and jammers.

There will always be funk stylists that look down on new schoolers.

But there is a distinct difference between competition and competitors and straight out haters.

But it’s up to you as an open minded, passionate, and dedicated member of the community to see the difference, and push it in the direction you see fit.

It’s up to you to encourage those who need it, help those who deserve it, and counsel those who do wrong.

Have a think about the community you want to take part in 2years, and then think about how you can get it to that point.

For the record, Kelly never returned to class, she went back to tap, and, last I heard, was loving it.

This little blog has asked lots of questions, and answered very few. I’m not going to tell you how to think. The important thing is you did think about the questions. And your answers to them.

“Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”

Hopko

Hi there.

I’m Hopko.

We might have met.

Or i may have seen you around. But didnt say “Hi” cause im bad at that stuff.

Either way there’s some things you need to know about me. Because i have been given an opportunity to be heard on here, to make points, to speak a little louder than most.

But, i think it’s best if you know me better before listen to me. I think it’s important you know i used to live a double life. At polar extremes.

During the day i was standing in line, wearing my uniform, and driving tanks in the army. On the weekends i was going to competitons, watching circles, and learning to dance.

At work i had one pair of plain tennis shoes and a wardrobe of Polo shirts. At home i had a hidden collection of sneakers in a rainbow of colors and baggy hoodies.

I made up excuses to not go to the pub with the boys on the weekend, so i could go hang out in an empty carpark with a boombox and some talented friends.

I laughed and joked when someone at work thought they saw me “pop” momentarily, or when someone caught a glance of a pair of high tops in my bag.

Despite all of that (or perhaps because of it) that time in my life will still go down in my history as my formative years.

It was during this time that i grew an identity, a persona, a personality.

It was the foundation for the person i am now. My heart in one world and my mind flitting between two.

It’s this foundation that i hope gives me the qualification to write here – and more importantly, to be read by you.

It’s this foundation that has always allowed me to step back, and analyse a scene, a song, a person from not only another perspective but also a completely conflicting one.

And it’s this foundation that i hope will give me the ability to write something that someone actually reads.

So there you have it. Now you know more about me than you probably did. Or probably wanted to.

Does it make me more or less qualified to be able to post on here? That, my friends, is up to you.

Have a similar story? Let me know.

And next time you see me, say “Hi”

Peace,

Hopko.