Get Down: A New Way to Rise. Professionalizing Urban Dances, From Street to Stage.

With Get Down, Belgium now has its first management agency dedicated to street dancers. That is essential for the future survival of an art form every bit as authentic and culturally relevant as all other forms of contemporary dance. Writer, rapper and activist Melissa Farah Salvi discusses the need for hip hop to be granted legitimacy with the initiators behind Get Down.

Hip hop and street dance have been the passion of many for more than thirty years all around the world. Belgium is no exception. Our streets have carried on the memory of b-boys and b-girls one generation after the other, passing on fire, rhythm, dedication, and strength. Yet for a long time, Belgian street dancers were on their own in terms of managing their career. Whereas any other artists could go and ask for funding and support from institutions, street dancers had to fight their way to the stage by themselves. Camille Philippot, a PR and digital communication expert, saw the need and decided to provide a solution. Also accredited in management, marketing, and branding, Camille was working as a press agent for La Monnaie, the well-known opera house in central Brussels. Passionate about hip hop and dance, she resigned from the lyrical institution to create Get Down, a management agency dedicated to street dancers. “The idea was born of a recurring echo from the street dance community. There was a lack of professionalization, a lack of support, of tools even, and I already had a foot in the institutional system, in the cultural scene. I saw a need and my ability to meet it. I could help them access theaters and festivals, but also TV productions, music videos, advertising, and so on.” Located in Brussels, Get Down rolled out its services in Belgium and abroad. Acting as a link, they connect their artists with the cultural players or business clients willing to work with them.

One should know that hip hop was not meant to be a style. It was a culture, a movement. Rappers, DJs, breakers, and graffers represented the voice of the voiceless. On one side they made sure to be heard and seen, on the other, they rebuilt the strength of a community that was falling apart from poverty and despair. Hip hop brought hope and resilience into the darkness, teaching values such as love, peace, unity, social justice, self-worth, and respect. It was a way to have fun and to be dedicated to a greater purpose. Over the years, it became an international phenomenon. Hip hop went from the underground to the mainstream, building empires and seducing all social classes. Rebranded as “urban”, the music of hip hop could not resist the call of money and power, half the time forgetting the value system in which it was grounded. As for the dance counterpart, it has been spared to a certain extent. Its global influence did not damage its core, even though here too, we now talk of urban or street dances. Evolving through space and time, the genre has spread out over many new practices. Krump, popping, locking, dancehall, ragga, voguing, waacking, and even house share the particularity of having emerged in the street instead of the studio. In their transition from the street to the stage, artists face many battles. Too rough for theaters, too deep for commercials, they sometimes have to choose between a paycheck and the authenticity of their art. Moreover, though having the potential to create a bridge between entertainment and high art, they evolve in a world that keeps on denying the consideration they deserve as professionals.

“Hip hop brought hope and resilience into the darkness, teaching values such as love, peace, unity, social justice, self-worth and respect.”

Looking at how street dances evolve in the professional sphere, one factor cannot be understated: there is a clear dichotomy between the cultural world and the entertainment industry. Still warming up to the phenomenon, theaters are not yet completely seduced by it, whereas the industry has understood the power of street dances for a very long time. They know how bankable it is. And it’s true, street dancers sell more than ballerinas – as long as it’s not too hip hop for some. As a result, those who want to perform must be ready to compromise and comply with a more diluted style than their own. Whether it be by smoothing the edges or commercializing their vibe, street dancers shouldn’t have to try to fit in a box. They shouldn’t have to follow the lead of people who know nothing about their art. They deserve a respectful transition to professionalization and to be treated as artists, not as products. As for theaters’ preference for contemporary dancers, if one refers to the definition, street dances are the ultimate contemporary style of this generation. Whether it is in movies, commercials, on social networks, or in music videos, the way people dance today is unequivocally influenced by them. So how is it that theaters and committees are not more fond of it? Our first instinct could be to blame the people in charge of these institutions. It is no secret though that diversity is a prerequisite in terms of fair representation. In order to gain better visibility in the long run, along with artistic freedom, it could be wise for today’s generation to aim for those strategic positions. Entrepreneurship-driven dancers like Yannick Bras (Impulsion Dance), Anissa Brennet (Freestyle Lab), Mouss Sarr (Timiss), Younes Ayoute (Funky Feet Academy), Zach Swagga (Sessions Ça Danse), and others could represent their peers in our cultural institutions and artistic decisive departments. The way Alida Dors took over the Theater Rotterdam last year is proof that everything is possible.

BEYOND TECHNICAL DEMONSTRATION

In the meanwhile, Get Down makes sure their artists know how to convince artistic directors. Helping a lot in terms of communication issues, their job is to fill the gap between the cultural world and the urban scene. Far from stating that the following is a generality, some street dancers don’t know yet what to do or what to say to be heard in an elitist society. They often feel like outcasts in a system that wasn’t specially built for them. Having to be careful about how they speak or how they dress, many street dancers could use a little help as they familiarize themselves with the professional crowd. As for the latter, some doors are wide open, the KVS being a beautiful example. Their willingness to widen their audience paves the way for others to see the beauty of street dances and street arts in general. Hip hop values are actually more than relevant to most institutions, dancers just need to know how to speak their language. “Cultural centers are hungry for urban shows, but we have to go beyond the technical demonstration,” proposes dancer Milan Emmanuel from the company No Way Back, “It has to be moving and smart: an eye-opening experience to the youth with real content and a message. In order to be heard and seen, street dancers must find their own singularity, their own uniqueness and have something deep to say.”

“In their transition from the street to the stage, hip-hop artists face many battles. Too rough for theaters, too deep for commercials.”

As a matter of fact, many measures have been taken over the years to help produce urban creations. Different organizations and people have done their share, reaching out to committees and commissions to get street dancers the funds they need. Some even produce and stage the show. Unfortunately, most artists get to perform it once then end up helpless. This is for several reasons, the first being that street dancers were not taken seriously for a long time. They were not considered real dancers in comparison to their contemporary and classical peers. Another cause is the persistence of institutional racism. It got better along the way, helped by the gentrification of the genre, but there is still a long way to go. All the more so as the cultural sphere is often hiding behind a conservative perspective of art. Facing that reality, the lack of entrepreneurial spirit among most Belgian street dancers can also explain the shortfall of professionalization in their field. It is actually something that is missing altogether in Belgium. While giving them the distribution support they need, Get Down insists that street dancers start investing in themselves instead of relying on people’s willingness to help.

 

This article was originally posted on Etcetera and has been reposted with permission. To read the original article, please click here.