National Hip-Hop Dance culture conference Recap
- FullCircleSoul NYC
- May 16
- 2 min read
April 25th and. 26th Full Circle hosted a two day Hip Hop culture conference in the Bronx, gathering cultural leaders from around the U.S. and Puerto Rico. The conference took place at the Justice Sonia Sotomayor community center named after the first Latina to serve Supreme Court Justice who spent her childhood there in what was known as the Bronxdale Houses. She has been an advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion.
The National Hip-Hop Dance Culture Visions conference, the first of its kind, brought the No Excuses violence prevention and intervention training back to NYC for a second time curated by the Good Foot Collective based out of Seattle. On day one we gathered at the Bronx Music Hall, the borough’s first independent music venue, located in the South Bronx. This training encouraged participants to reflect on the roots of violence in our communities through group activities, talking points and exercises. The discussions that resulted were thought provoking but also included light hearted moments and laughter. All groups in attendance agreed that these issues deserved more focus from our dance scene.
Photo Credits: Johnny Castro
Day two brought Hosts, Dj’s, and organizers together to share ideas, and brainstorm ways to keep culture alive and relevant at Battle jams. Bougie Cutie Boards catered the event with an array of savory and sweet snacks for attendees. The Conference kicked off with Rokafella and Kwikstep offering a brief intro on the historical movement and music influences to breaking and break beats. This opened the discussion up to ways we could incorporate these cultural aspects into our events and hopefully inspire more community interest and awareness to the legacy of Hip Hop dance.
After the conference we gathered for dinner at a local Bronx steak house. The Good Foot collective, 10k Movement, Time Machine Squad and Furious Styles Crew got to network and build with some of our local leaders including CUDA Culture, Battle Wire, 360 Flow Studio, Roundz of Flame, DJ DP One, DJ Forrest Gump, DJ Hameen, Bgirl Herstory and Battle for NY organizers. It was an inspiring and uplifting summit that left us all beaming with the excitement of future building and growth.
A huge thanks to everyone who came to share, build and keep the movement growing. Thank you to Natasha from the Mellon Foundation who attended and got to know many of our dance leaders.
You can watch recaps of the event from the GoodFoot Collective here:
Also be sure to save these dates for upcoming July events Express Your Skillz in Puerto Rico and Lords of the Land in Ohio (flyers below)
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