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Samuel A. McIntosh on street dance: roots and future
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Season Two, Episode Five: This month’s guest is Samuel A. McIntosh. McIntosh is a talented dancer and choreographer specializing in street dance styles, including Popping, Animation, and Boogaloo. With 15 years of experience, he has learned from legends and competed internationally, achieving recognition in events across the globe. An arts administration graduate, he advocates for Hip-Hop's community-building potential through its core values, fostering empowerment and creativity in others. He is the Founder of 10K Movement, a nonprofit organization that focuses on providing access to authentic Hip Hop and Street dance programming and education.
OhioDance A State of Dance is a six-part series coming out the fourth Friday of each month through November 2024. This podcast is driven by the OhioDance mission to secure the foothold of dance in Ohio through increasing visibility, firming viability, and elevating the position of dance in Ohio.
In 2016, a five-person team set out on a mission to capture the achievements of persons and institutions who have shaped the intricate diversity of dance history and practice within the state of Ohio and weave them together in an easily accessible digital format. This we call the OhioDance Virtual Dance Collection. As of 2024 we have highlighted 37 individuals and institutions. The team has traveled over 5000 miles and interviewed hundreds of individuals in all five regions of Ohio. vdc.ohiodance.org
If you like what you are listening to and are not a member of OhioDance, you can go to ohiodance.org and click the membership button to join and receive the many benefits that come with your membership. You can also donate through our purple donate button.
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Transcript
Introduction to 'A State of Dance' Podcast
00:00:07
Speaker
Welcome to a State of Dance, sponsored by Ohio Dance and hosted by independent choreographer and interdisciplinary artist Rodney Veal.
00:00:22
Speaker
Welcome to A State of Dance, sponsored by Ohio Dance and hosted by Rodney Veal, an independent choreographer and interdisciplinary
Meet Samuel McIntosh, Hip-Hop Ambassador
00:00:30
Speaker
artist. The podcast is partially based on their Ohio Dance Virtual Dance Collection, an interactive website that documents and preserves the achievements of individuals and institutions who have shaped the diversity of dance history and practice in Ohio. Today I would like to welcome our guest Samuel McIntosh, a dancer, choreographer, and hip-hop ambassador specializing in various street styles, but specifically popping, animation, and boogaloo.
10K Movement: A Platform for Street Dance
00:00:59
Speaker
He is also the founder and executive director of 10K Movement, a platform for hip hop and street dance, providing access to authentic hip hop culture through events, education and performance. Samuel, thank you for joining us today. This is going to be a great conversation. Yeah, thanks. Thanks for having me. It's always nice to kind of talk about dance and in Ohio and and just like all the happening. So I'm definitely excited. That's really cool. And I what I love about this is like, you know, being able to highlight all the varieties of dance. And I don't think people understand how strong street dance and yeah hip hop culture is in Ohio. So this is going to be a great conversation. So yeah, let's dive right in.
Samuel's Early Dance Influences
00:01:39
Speaker
So my first question is, we always know something about the history of our guest. Would you give us some information about your entry into street dance? And how old were you when you first started? Yeah, you know, I think anytime the street dance, it's
00:01:52
Speaker
It's super dynamic. ah i mean I think it goes for dance in general, but with street dance, it's very interesting. I always like to go back to you know being a kid and you know watching my aunts and uncles and my mom, my dad, and you know just being black and growing up in some of these these households where we're doing soul train dances. and It's just social dance, you know, it's just a big part of my life, you know, everything from the music to what we're eating to what we're talking about. I think I don't really remember a time when movement or just the culture of just being black in America hasn't been a part of my life. So I'm i'm really grateful for my family, just you're really preserving
00:02:28
Speaker
you know, our historic roots, not just in arts and culture, but just in general. So, um, yeah, just growing up doing soul train dances. I vividly remember doing the worm in a soul train line when I was like five. Yeah. And, and yeah, it's just a big part of it. I think it started to get serious in high school.
Discovering Crump in High School
00:02:51
Speaker
Um, I actually grew up as a wrestler and Ohio wrestling is is huge in the, in the States and, um,
00:02:56
Speaker
you know I was a big wrestler from like five years old until college really. So I was always doing something with my body, but mainly wrestling. um And I've always been interested in hip hop, but I think it's always been a but big part of my life, hip hop and funk and soul classics and things like that.
00:03:13
Speaker
Um, but until high school, that's when everybody at my school, I went to Charles F. Brush High School, um, in South Euclid, Ohio. And, uh, you know, we had a crump team, uh, which was like, you know, crump dance, uh, which is really, yeah, it's really unheard of. That is unheard of. I mean, come on in Ohio. I mean, I'm i'm thinking l LA, South Central. I think you know, they're Atlanta, ah yeah but but Ohio. ah Yeah. Okay. and And there's, there's some history to that, which I'll get into a little bit later, but we had a crump team and, uh, You know, at the time, So You Think and Dance was really big on TV. And, you know, at that point in time, I had already seen, you know, breaking and popping in in and small
Street Dance vs. Hip Hop: Cultural Differences
00:03:54
Speaker
fragments. But I really started to gravitate towards popping when I saw um a few dancers on So You Think and Dance maybe around 2007, 2008. So I really started to gravitate around that style. And of course, at our high school, everybody's doing some form of street dance. And and ah just for the record, I don't say hip hop.
00:04:12
Speaker
As an umbrella term, I say street dance or club dance. um And then hip-hop is its own separate dance entirely. So I just want to give it that energy if we were talking about these different genres. Absolutely, yeah. Yeah. So I was a popper. I had a friend who was on the wrestling team with me. One of my, I saw a graphic designer for 10K Movement, actually. He's super dope, my brother. um And he was a popper as well. We had friends that were crumpers. I had some friends that were breakers. So it's like, depending on what you're interested in or who you are as a person,
00:04:46
Speaker
It's like the Avengers, like you don't choose the superpower. It just kind of chooses you and ah in a way. So yeah, in high school, we we kind of did that for a long time and until I got to college. Um, and I started taking modern and ballet and and tap and it was able to be exposed to companies like Groundworks and and Inlet, um, just through my studies. And I, you know, being at Boulder Wireless, you're very connected to, you know, the different industries and things like that. So it was, it was a cool time to kind of see where I wanted to go with dance. I just didn't know who's going to kind of take off like that. That's so pretty amazing. i'm just I'm still the whole notion that there's a crumb team from my African elder status, because I am pushing 60, that Ohio plays a role in that. And these it ah and and that it and it can be regional. yeah and think like I think it's it's not something, oh, it happened on the east coast or the west coast. It all was also a happening
00:05:39
Speaker
in the midwest yeah the midwest and they were practitioners and so close my mind those are yeah that's really pretty cool so when you were said like especially 2007 2008 you're talking about probably the explosion of the internet do you think that that was kind of for not just you but everyone else all your brothers and sisters who were doing it it this is because now you're starting to get information about the outside world did that accelerate it Yeah, I think um that's a part of dance. I can't speak on other genres or or other cultures, but within the street dance culture, I know for a fact there's ah there's an entire generation that had came from the YouTube
The Internet's Role in Street Dance Culture
00:06:15
Speaker
era. So it's like before that point in time, you know, you would actually have to go to the source. And I think street dance was behind a couple of years because a lot of it was regional. It was very underground. It was very street. So you would have to go to the source. And that's how I got a lot of my training.
00:06:31
Speaker
which is going to New York, going to l LA. But before that, you know, I could kind of expedite my process, learning the information without the culture by just going on YouTube. And I know a lot of my colleagues were on YouTube. And street dancers at that time, you know, people were posting battles, posting tutorials on YouTube. And we always say it's like YouTube University. So we were able to have full access. Whereas When we talk about street dance, there's just not a lot of infrastructure around street dance. There's there's more so now than there ever has been, but probably around that timeframe and the couple of years before that, there really wasn't infrastructure or some institutions or schools. I mean, we talk about Randy Harris, but that is a modern dance template that he used street and he just poured street dance into where it doesn't encompass the whole street dance ecosystem.
00:07:20
Speaker
So with YouTube and the internet at that time, you were able to connect with other dancers through the comments. There's actually a portal called B-Boy Planet. It was a video sharing website where people can now Cypher online. It was very prehistoric for internet. but um And this isn't to discredit our elders and we like to say our OGs who were already creating companies or doing things that were adjacent to what Reni and other things were doing. It's just not accessible. You know, we're in Cleveland, you know, we had a few programs here and there, but if you compare it to like a You know, even Martha Graham or any even like a smaller company. It's like those are those are very concrete sustainable organizations or sustainable programs that dancers or movers who or interested can go to.
00:08:07
Speaker
Whereas street dancers, it was like, you know, call somebody on the phone or, you know, at the time, I think Skype was okay. It was pretty big, but people were using Skype to just trade information. So it did create more of a hunger for a lot of street dancers and kind of maybe a bitterness in some sense. But I do think that was a huge, it's a huge part and a huge component to street dance that people don't talk about in that era. All that information is being shared. So yeah, it it played a huge role in my life.
00:08:35
Speaker
Um, just being able to go on YouTube and kind of share my videos, but then also get feedback and then also watch some of my, now they're my close colleagues, but at the time they were my, you know, I looked up to a lot of these dancers. So, uh, it's just been very interesting to kind of see that take off. That's really cool. And you kind of, you've touched base on this. I'm going to paraphrase this question because you talked about it early on. You talked about it is just a part of the African-American culture. Like you grew up in a household soul train line and doing, worm. And you also made a reference to the fact that there's a difference between hip hop culture, street dance. And I really want you to elaborate on that because that's tied into this question of its history. Yeah, that people understand they're not interchangeable titles. There's very specific to certain things. Yeah, it's definitely. And I know, probably will end up chatting about the Olympics, but it
00:09:27
Speaker
It's crucial that we kind of separate. So, cause it's regional, right? All of these dances are regional. When, if you're a popper, you go to Fresno for California specifically, or you go to Los Angeles, technically now, if you want to be a locker and most people put locking and popping in the same group, they're completely different neighborhoods. Watts, California versus Fresno. So when we do this thing of saying hip hop dance.
00:09:53
Speaker
It's like, okay, so everything is from one place, New York City, locking, popping. Well, lockers and poppers were doing it two decades before it was called hip hop, two decades before breaking was a thing. They were doing a lot of boogaloo. We're doing a disservice to the culture when we just kind of group everything together. And then we are eliminating an opportunity to create conversations around education. um And then we're cutting off, we're just not talking about lineage at that point.
00:10:18
Speaker
So street dance is is only talking about a small subset of hip-hop culture or hip-hop dance culture. Hip-hop is the the culture with the music, a lot of the black and brown kind of renaissance from the early 70s until now, but the dance is national. You have the West Coast, the East Coast, but then the Midwest, we created the funk.
00:10:39
Speaker
So, the West Coast is dancing to our music in Cleveland or Detroit or Dayton or Cincinnati. So, they kind of emulate a flavor that we have, but in Cleveland, we never caught on to that dance aspect. What we're known for is a lot is our line dances. You know, you go to Memphis, they do a lot of Memphis juking to a lot of the older funk fo tracks, right? So, Detroit, Detroit Gin, Chicago Footwork. Midwest is known for that footwork and that line dancing because it was so social. so When you speak about street dance, you're speaking about somebody's backyard. you know And depending on that backyard, depending on where it's at, ah we just have to be clear in order for us to kind of move forward and to even have some of these preliminary conversations. So that's why I kind of refrain from saying hip hop, unless it's about specifically hip hop freestyle, light feet, or breaking.
00:11:27
Speaker
That helps because I think that that's breaking that down. This awareness and this knowledge that you've acquired is is really helpful because I feel like that's a part of the conundrum because it is connected to culture, but it's also storytelling too. yes Because it is by the region telling the story only it contains the history. It contains the flavor, so to speak, of the environment that people live in. so yeah but You revolve in battles that are on regional, national, and international levels. So, yeah, you prison battles. Explain what a cipher in a bottle is because this is that sort of educational opponent.
The Significance of Dance Battles and Cyphers
00:12:00
Speaker
And then talk about what a battle's like. What's it like to be in that cipher environment? Anytime we chat about this, I have to kind of go back to the origins. Battles come from breaking culture. They come from gang culture. It's in lieu of violence.
00:12:13
Speaker
um And some of the movements that you see are a direct reflection of the mannerisms, the attitude, the attacks, because they are attacks. They are defensive moves. There's literally a style within rocking, which is the predecessor to breaking, called burns and blocks. You burn somebody or you block them. You know, you are blocking an attack. So when we look at these dan these battles,
00:12:38
Speaker
A lot of people are saying it's very theatrical. I'm like, it it is to a point nowadays. Nobody's really trying to fight, which is great. But it does come from those roots. So we are fighting. It's much like Capoeira with some of those exchanges. So you have to look at it in the same light. But battles nowadays are a big part of the culture. You see everything from those underground battles to the battles on the big stages. I think overseas you're seeing some of these sold out arenas for street dance, which is amazing. um And in the U.S. and i I always kind of bring this up is that they value our culture a lot more than us. But the difference between a cypher
00:13:15
Speaker
Uh, in a battle is a Cypher is kind of where we, what we're doing right now, essentially you and me are chatting. We're exchanging ideas. You're learning about me, but you're also kind of giving your input. So it's a Cypher. We're exchanging ideas. If Jane hops into this call, then it becomes even more of a Cypher and she's adding some of her thoughts and and processes. And then we're just building on each other's words and and thought processes and ideas. Now, if Jane was a popper, you're a breaker and let's say I'm a wacker.
00:13:45
Speaker
you know, then we have a very interesting cypher, but it's still a cypher. If we're all poppers, then we're all just building on that style in that conversation. Each are different language that we can speak, and depending on the music or depending on where we're at regionally, that dictates what we're going to say or what we're going to say, how we're going to say it, and the music that's being played. So that's a cypher, and it's spontaneous. A cypher can happen at a party, it can happen at a cookout, it can happen at a baby shower, how that happened. I love it. Cyphers are open circles, random circles that will pop up because there needs to be a conversation that happens at that moment. Cyphers can be planned, but usually they're supposed to be spontaneous. There's supposed to be just organic moments where people are exchanging realistically.
00:14:32
Speaker
a battle can come out of a cipher and a battle can also be planned so if you and i have a conflict or a debate say if we're both poppers for example let's say your focus in within the popping web is strutting for example let's say you're from San Jose, you do San Jose strutting and ah my main style is Boogaloo. You know, I just like the roles. I like everything about it. And we have a conflict or we, we just disagree on that in itself. Then we'll probably exchange in battle, maybe two, three rounds. And if you want to go more rounds, we can do that as well.
00:15:06
Speaker
The contest is an organized format for these battles to occur, but battles can happen in a cipher. They can happen in the contest. So that's kind of the cultural aspect of it. The organizational aspect is now people are really creating a sustainable infrastructure around battles. It looks like just sporting events at this point. Overseas, you'll see a lot more sanctioned battles. ah The government really puts their money in China. They have 24-hour studios where people are just training for battles. And you see hundreds of people in there. And here in the the States, we have some pretty big battles as well. But that's the difference culturally versus the contest. So that's kind of how I put it.
00:15:45
Speaker
that's a That's a great primer of the differences so that people understand this. They can use the language and contextually in the proper way. And then also too, like invite you in to kind of discover. And so it's like you can, you know, knowledge is power, right? You know, it's one of those knowledge is awareness and and awareness allows for a greater sensitivity. So with that, we're going to take a bit of a break and then we'll come back and we'll continue this great conversation with Samuel McIntosh.
00:16:19
Speaker
We want to remind you that if you like what you're listening to and are not a member of OhioDance, you can go to OhioDance dot.org and click the membership button to join and receive the many benefits that come with your membership. You can also donate through our purple donate button.
00:16:44
Speaker
And we are back, um, with Samuel McIntosh, who's sharing an incredible contextual history and understanding and awareness of street dance and hip hop culture.
Connecting with Ill Style Rockers Crew
00:16:54
Speaker
And I love that. And so my next question to you is you're aware of the, that we have a virtual dance collection and we highlighted ill style rockers, co-founders, B-Boys, DJ Forest, Get Em Gump and Dre Live Borders. Are you familiar with them and have you ever worked together or participated in any, any sort of battle ciphers? Yeah, definitely shout out Forest and Dre Live and even Josh, all all the ill-style rockers, they they do their annual ill-style rockers jam. They're definitely 20 plus years old. I mean, if not 30, almost touching 30 years old as a crew. But yeah, definitely familiar with, you know, what they planted. And they did it at, you know, hip hop cultures beginning, or breaking cultures beginning here in the States. ah Forest, if you're not familiar, has such an extensive resume for working with Renny.
00:17:43
Speaker
to touring with New York City Breakers and then doing things on his own and as an international DJ and a battler. He's back from New York. Obviously he's here back at Akron, but it's super cool just to have those elders in the state because we don't have too many people that stick around and want to build. And I think more recently they have been trying to build with us and what we're doing. having that lineage within street dance is extremely important. it It really parallels kind of things that go on within the Black community. um I think a lot of times what you see is these gaps within information or kind of these eras and that goes back to just the sustainability within street dance. It's like
00:18:20
Speaker
you know There's not a lot of classes, there's not a lot of places to get this information other than being in the space or being in the know. you know When we have elders who want to shed light, but then also you know we're working with them and they're working with us, it's just truly a magical it's a magical time for for everybody. So both of them, I think Dre Live is at Kent State, teaching at Kent State now. and um and Forest will always kind of DJ or pop up as you know an ambassador for the culture here and there. But they've they've done events for us. One event we did in the past is called the Torch Cipher, which was like a passing of the torch to the younger generation. And that's for our younger generation to ask questions, but also older generation to kind of see how far we've come and kind of carry the torch. So that's that's kind of their involvement, but they're also just great
Evolution and Respect in Street Dance
00:19:07
Speaker
friends as well. One of the things that's exciting about that is the torch, the passing. My understanding is is that you almost can't leave and step out of it even for a minute because it it just keeps evolving. That's kind of the vibe I get from a lot of folks who I know are like eclipse yeah down in Cincinnati. It's like the US says, you step out of it for even a day. yeah ah Something has changed. Yeah. it's It's very in line with kind of like the dance itself. A couple of years ago, everybody wants to get sturdy. I don't know if you're familiar with getting sturdy.
00:19:40
Speaker
but these these social dances, right? The kids don't dance. you know When I was a kid, maybe when you were a kid, the social dance was a little different. Nowadays, I was like, you're you're going that low with your knees? There's like these different social dances, but those We have to treat our youth in the street dance community with the same respect and the same, and as if they have the same intellect as the adults, because they are essentially, they're creating the next language for street dance. And that's essentially, Light Feet was created in, really was created in the nineties, but it got its name in the early 2000s, that's 2003, 2005 on that timeline. And it's a hip hop style from Harlem.
00:20:20
Speaker
And a lot of people were just doing Harlem Shake and they added these dances like the tone walk, like the original walk, like the bad one, which were direct reflections of that community. But those were the kids at the time. They wanted us to be breakers, but breaking didn't resonate. So I'm in New York City. I'm doing the Harlem Shake. How can I feel like a breaker, but not break? I'm going to do light feet, light feet. They get spanky, things like that.
00:20:45
Speaker
So now it's a dance that's done worldwide because they just decided to keep going and we should treat getting sturdy some of these younger dances. The dance is done in the schools, some of these the junior high age group and high school age group, whatever they're doing is the next economic engine, essentially. That just blows our mind. Yeah. And that's what I love about it because it is an evolutionary. Yeah. It's not a static art form. yes I think that that it just is kind of highlighted by the notion of now we're discovering that we need to document the history. yes Embrace, like you said, respect the the younger generation doing the work they're doing, but also aware that the history is a kind of weaved itself and involved itself not just in dance, but just popular culture at its max.
Street Dance's Global Impact
00:21:32
Speaker
So talk about that international because i mean i think I don't think people fully understand the grasp of this regionally rooted yes forms taking keen on such an international presence. Anything hip hop from hip hop culture is an American folk art form. you know It's folk art. It goes to show how impactful and people will say, oh, it's mainstream. I'm like, how can it be mainstream and underground unless it it really is that powerful where it kind of transcends.
00:22:00
Speaker
But it's so rooted in the struggle and what the US has done to marginalized communities. And yet we've created things that totally are a reflection of those things. That's why it has not been static because these things are still present in the US and then obviously overseas as well. But it's American folk art form and it's so powerful that, you know, countries like Ukraine, we saw in the in the Olympics.
00:22:24
Speaker
uh, Ukrainian breakers and people are like, wow, people in Ukraine are breaking. I'm like, yeah. And they also have schools for breaking. They have extremely large battles with, you know, 2,500 or 25,000 spectators. Parents has 50,000 spectators for just a boo. Um, and just today, uh, they have summer dance forever in the Netherlands, which is one of the biggest street dance events in the world. Thousands of dancers come out trying to compete. And it's it feels like a global phenomenon when you're overseas. But then in the US, people are still kind of confused because it's like we've created this thing.
00:23:01
Speaker
yet overseas, it looks a lot different. It it has a little bit more and almost feels like if there's a little bit more validation ah in those spaces. That whole conversation gets a little blurry. But is the conversation worth having? it Exactly. Because when you travel and you realize you do turn a corner and there is this whole embrace and expiration and it's not looked upon as a ah anothering of of a dance form.
00:23:29
Speaker
That is what what I found particularly fascinating. It still resonates with me. and the The fact that Ukraine has schools, that is, ah you're in the middle of an international conflict and you still have your street dance schools going, you know? It goes back to those roots, you know, when they, when all that in the early 70s, in the Bronx, when all of that, um they were burning those buildings. There was there was all of that gang conflict. There was conflict between the politicians and the locals in the Bronx. There is a reason why hip hop was birthed out of all of that nonsense, and Ukraine said, this makes sense for what we're going through, and breaking feels good. Popping feels good.
00:24:12
Speaker
Crump, there's amazing crumpers in overseas in Ukraine. um It just goes to show how this is a universal language, but you can decide, like, I need more control in my life. like Let popping speak. I need to let out some of this, ah whether it be praise, because crump is a praise dance, and I think a lot of people forget that. It's a praise, and people say it's aggression. It's like, nah, this is just raw emotion.
00:24:40
Speaker
Ukraine and Germany ah really took to breaking in the early 90s. And if you look at what was going on historically or just within different type of political climates or whatever, look at the street dance that was most prominent during that time. You'll find some of these different parallels or or connections. And then obviously in the US, we're always creating something new because this is kind of where the culture started. So it is very interesting.
00:25:09
Speaker
So Samuel, you're the founder and executive director of 10K Movement, um a platform for hip hop and street dance, providing access to authentic hip hop culture through events, education, and performance.
10K Movement's Mission for Community Empowerment
00:25:21
Speaker
Talk about this program. so So we're about four years old. We're a nonprofit. um So we focus on events, education, and performance. um And yeah, just like you mentioned, it is it's to provide access and information for for street dance. I do think hip hop and street dance is ah is a different type of economic engine. And I say that to just kind of give the tools back to our community. um Everybody wants to be, even if you're not a dancer, there's so many different ah avenues to get involved with hip hop culture and
00:25:52
Speaker
You know, being interested in hip-hop means it can open the doors mentally or financially to something else. All we're trying to do is kind of provide our community in Northeast Ohio with, wow, I wish I could go to a house class and I want to learn a little bit more about house. So we'll have weekly classes to focus on different street styles. House is huge. I think that it goes back to, you know, Chicago being kind of the home and the the birthplace of house dance.
00:26:20
Speaker
Um, and the house music essentially as well. And you know, the Midwest culture around footwork and things, so our take on it. And we're just trying to provide access to high level and high quality battles. A lot of the time people are coming out of pocket for battles or jams. And you know, people want to battle, people want to get experience. I don't want to have to go out of Cleveland to get this experience. And that kind of goes back to the origins of the name 10K movement and and kind of how we got started. I was a product of not having the access in Cleveland. You know, I grew up as a wrestler and when I kind of was getting burnt out in college with wrestling, I i definitely shifted to dance, but I had a randomly ran into somebody who worked at the Cleveland Clinic. He was a neurosurgeon from almost so from Australia slash London, and he was also a popper.
00:27:10
Speaker
And I was like, this is wild. This is how we use it. but but We just got along. But for three years, he was in he was in residency here at the Cleveland Clinic. um He would say, hey, if you want to learn about popping, you know, hit me up. And um at first, I'm like, what can this he was like six to super like lean and long ah white guy from London slash Australia with this really thick accent.
00:27:37
Speaker
Tell me about popping and apparently he was part of a ah real prominent popping crew called G style out of Pomona California and they specialize in Pomona waving and a different type of popping called banging but he came here with his wife and yeah I didn't have access to popping I wanted to be better I wanted to travel internationally in battle.
00:27:57
Speaker
um And he said, I'll train you in the basics. Up until that point, I was dancing in high school and college, but I wasn't training in the style. So for about three or four years, he would train me. ah we would We would be training from like 9 p.m. until whatever the surge in hours. So like in the eight late evening up until like 3 a.m. um sweaty in his apartment at the time. And when he left after that residency, he was like, hey, you know, I want to give you a dance name. And in the street dance community and hip hop world,
00:28:27
Speaker
having a dance name, getting a dance name is probably like a, it's a real sacred moment. You know, it's like, wow, you know, I earned this, this name. You can give yourself a name, but when somebody else gives you a name, it is like you have, you've really graduated and he gave me the name 10K.
00:28:43
Speaker
uh, which is 10,000 hours. If you've seen the Malcolm, if you read the Malcolm Gladwell book, there's that moment where he talks about 10,000 hours, uh, to mastery. And that's kind of what I live by. And I was like, you know, I feel like I can be 10 K, but I feel like everybody can kind of be 10 K in a way, you know, and, and, and kind of reach.
00:29:02
Speaker
that next step kind of lived by that way of training. And that's where the name 10K movement came. I just wanted everybody to kind of experience what I was experiencing because he would use to sponsor my battles. He would, he was like, you got to get out. He would sponsor me. He would go to LA and I would lose so many times. if I would use moves for like the next couple of years. And yeah, it was, it was a, it was a good time and it was a super,
00:29:29
Speaker
Inspirational and that's kind of how we treat 10 K movement is how can we give you guys the best platform to succeed and expedite your growth process in Cleveland and so far we've we've been doing a great job from our Lord's a land festival which we bring in.
00:29:45
Speaker
probably like 200 dancers from all over the nation, internationally as well. Last year we had some girl from w Wuhan, China come and some girl from Slovakia. So it's, you know, it's, it's growing and we want to kind of see it become one of those next big events because we we want to bring that energy that they have overseas here, back here, you know, we don't need to be validated overseas. We should have our own sustainable infrastructure here in the States. So from our events to education and ah and an offering performance opportunities that give people a glimpse into what actual hip-hop culture is. I think that's that's kind of been our goal and that's kind of where we're going to be going to the next next number of years.
00:30:27
Speaker
I love it. Speaking of international and talking about all of these folks in Wuhan, China, the neurosurgeon popper, which is blowing my mind.
Breaking in the Olympics: Challenges and Opportunities
00:30:37
Speaker
It's kind of a segue because you talked about it earlier, we want to talk about the Olympics and breaking. So what are your thoughts on breaking, that would the breaking that was presented at the Olympics in Paris? What I would say just to clear it out is it was disheartening to see the media really focus on maybe somebody's bad around within that Australian dancer. People have seen it.
00:30:57
Speaker
And the thing is, she's not a bad breaker. She just wasn't world-class. And that was the big focus in the shift. And I was like, man, this was our debut to really showcase what we've been doing for the past 40 years at on big stages with thousands upon thousands of dancers at higher levels. And this is what they started the tournament with. It was from ah From a street dancer's perspective and an ambassador of the culture, it was frustrating to see. But outside of that, the entire tournament from the B-girls to the B-boys.
00:31:30
Speaker
It was amazing to kind of see them get so emotional. It was some of, probably some of the best rounds they've ever had in their life because they knew it wasn't just about that moment, but the bigger picture, which was we've been doing this. You gave us a platform to showcase what we've been doing. And one of our, my mentors, uh, Rockefeller and quickness said that we don't need the Olympics. It's a great platform. We don't need the Olympics, but let's build off of this momentum.
00:31:57
Speaker
Let's continue to just build and do what we're doing. So I thought, uh, I don't know if you saw the B boys or the, uh, the finals for the B girls, but it was just the biggest display of athleticism. A big part of me was like, man, I really wish like some gymnasts were in the building and it's no discredit to what the gymnasts were doing. But when I see breaking, and of course I might be a little biased, but You know, when somebody's doing eight head spins at like maybe 10 miles per hour in a row in perfect form, that shows me that this transcends athleticism or that that sporting atmosphere and also art. So it's it's it's combining two worlds together.
00:32:36
Speaker
which is a powerful in itself. And then it's also speaking on cultural roots. People were just, I feel like a lot of people were not prepared for it, but then it also prepared them as well. Yeah, I was a i was extremely emotional that whole weekend. I had to take like a long map after the Olympics, but seeing, seeing that was honestly, it's still overwhelming. It's still very overwhelming. So Samuel, I have enjoyed this conversation because I just feel like this is, first of all, a lot of our audiences is probably an introduction because it is not just reaching people who are in the dance world, but this is, this podcast is reaching people in the general populace. And so any sharing of information that I feel is always great and important and you're, you are a fantastic ambassador. So thank you for doing what you do. So,
00:33:22
Speaker
Thank you for taking time out for this podcast. Yeah. Thank thank you guys for for really having us. And then really just for street dance culture, it's the more information we can get out here and and really archive. that's That's my biggest goal. So yeah. Thank you, man. Thank you guys.
Conclusion and Acknowledgments
00:33:42
Speaker
A State of Dance is produced by Ohio Dance and hosted by Rodney Veal, executive producer Jane DiAngelo, editor and audio technician Jessica Cavender, musical composition by Matthew Peyton Dixon. Ohio Dance would like to thank our funders, the Ohio Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ohio State University Dance Preservation Fund, the Greater Columbus Arts Council, the Columbus Foundation, and the Akron Community Fund.