A B-Girl Continuum

Generously funded by The Ohio State University Arts Undergraduate Research ScholarshipIntroduction/Background: My project began after I noticed the contradictions and limitations of teaching dances out of their cultural contexts, specifically within university classrooms teaching dances of the African diaspora. This led me to the questions: How might understanding the cultural values of a dance unfamiliar to me inform the way I learn its movement? In what ways and of how much significance do community values have on their individuals, their culture, and their movement? Methods: For my research, I take a culturally sensitive, ethnographic approach by structuring my conclusions around primary source evidence. I conducted interviews with local hip-hop practitioners asking for them to share in their experiences and expertise about the ways dance and its values have influenced their lives. The significance of these interviews is that I can learn about my research subjects' extensive wealth of embodied knowledge through the ways they tell their stories; I can understand the contexts they describe through their narration without having had the exact experiences they did. The information my interviewees offered gives me access into what they learned through dance to help me better understand what values their dance culture upholds and how these values show up in the movement. In addition, I connected with local b-boy Kaleb Murphy, also known as B-boy Vanilla Nice, who introduced me to the breaking (breakdancing) scene in Columbus. Here I engaged as a participant-observer within the dance, supporting my discoveries with personal testaments on the ways breaking carries out the values of hip-hop culture. I support my primary source evidence with dance scholarship and documentaries. Results/Current Status: By analyzing my discoveries at breaking practice and comparing my interviewees' experiences, I found that shared values among practitioners engaged in hip-hop culture include self-confidence, consistency, respect, and knowing the culture's history. Furthermore, each interviewee emphasized how showing up in the culture and dance remains imperative to the practice which I quickly recognized through my own personal dance experiences. Conclusions: I concluded from my research that cultures, especially dance, cease to exist if people do not participate with it closely and in person. Specifically regarding hip-hop culture, if the dance is experienced out of its cultural context, then its cultural values risk losing their significance and influence on the movement. The need for understanding the cultural context of a dance remains integral to uplifting the culture to which it belongs.No embargoAcademic Major: Danc