Wellbeing and expression with youth dancing Hip Hop in an urban multiethnic neighborhood

Situated in a Canadian multiethnic urban neighbourhood, this exploratory study examines the experiences of youth dancing Hip Hop. Critical and performance ethnographic research was conducted at a drop-in Hip Hop class at a community centre using participant observation and dyadic interviews. Asking youth to reflect on their experience in dance class lead to insights into the role of dance classes in their lives. Findings are presented here in two articles. The first article addresses how youth used the concept of fun to describe their subjective wellbeing. The centre created an environment that made it possible for youth to find taking on challenges and taking risks fun. It did this by empowering the youth, fostering learning and supporting youth building relationships. The second article examines how personal and collective expression were intertwined in Hip Hop dancing at the centre. Spending time and sweat acquiring knowledge and respect for Hip Hop culture through the music, dance vocabulary gave youth the capacity to combine self expression and expression of Hip Hop culture.Cette étude exploratoire, située dans un arrondissement canadien multiethnique, examine des expériences des jeunes danseurs de hip-hop. J'ai mené cette recherche performative dans un cours de danse hip-hop à un centre communautaire en utilisant des entrevues en dyade et l'observation participante. Les résultats sont présentés en deux articles. Le premier article examine comment des jeunes ont utilisé le concept de 's'amuser' ou 'fun' pour expliquer leur bien-être subjectif. Le centre a établi un environnement ou des jeunes ont trouvé que des défis et des risques étaient amusants. Le deuxième article se concentre sur l'expression au niveau personnel et collectif, qui était entremêlé l'un avec l'autre