Breakdance as a vehicle for personal achievement
By Chris Advansun
Exclusive Interview -- From her seventh-floor studio overlooking Montreal’s picturesque Mont Royal, Studio Sweatshop co-founder JoDee Allen shares her company’s mission to use breakdance as a force for positivity and personal empowerment.
JA -- When I first started learning to breakdance, I was part of a group of all-women breakdancers. This allowed us to have a truly safe and cool space for all of us women to start learning. We supported each other, we cheered for each other even when we sucked, and we just had a good time and didn’t care about how good we were. So if you can get through those tough, early stages of learning to breakdance, eventually you do get better. It’s so easy to judge oneself when learning something as difficult as breakdance. It’s easy to say, "I’m not going to pick this up," or "I look stupid." One of the reasons why I was able to stick with it was just that we all supported each other and had such a blast dancing together.
Studio Sweatshop emerged from my desire to create for others that positive, non-judgmental learning environment that was so helpful for me when I first learned to breakdance. So in 2004, I launched Studio Sweatshop with my then partner, Helen Simard, with whom I had been dancing for several years. Initially, we wanted to create a positive, safe environment for people to start learning to breakdance.
CA – This is quite unique - a duo of female breakdancers. Has that been a challenge, given how closely breakdance and hip hop culture are often associated with the tough-guy, macho values system?
JA – Definitely. I find that many people are still discouraged from breakdance because of that "hardcore" image. It can be intimidating. Breakdance is a dance of confidence and it’s also a competitive dance. Those two things can be intimidating and can approach being very negative, depending on how they are viewed.
In my life, I’ve chosen to use them as positive elements, to use the confidence that’s required to breakdance as a source of personal strength. The same goes for the competition aspect. It’s quite a profound experience to step into that circle and look somebody in the eye and think, "Okay, here I am, and I’m going to show you my moves." In our workshops and classes, Helen and I often use an expression we’ve coined to help students see that the competitive aspect of breakdance can be so positive. "You get to become a superhero version of yourself," we tell students. And how cool is that? In our everyday lives, we don’t often get to stand up for ourselves and get in someone’s face when challenged. In breakdance, you take on a persona that allows you to do just that, and it can be a very empowering thing.
JA – When a student walks into Studio Sweatshop for the first time, we don’t expect that they will become a professional dancer, or a ‘Bboy’ or ‘Bgirl.’ We want to teach a respect for the dance and to create a positive community where people feel welcome. Hip hop, at it’s core, is very positive. That’s what we emphasize here at Sweatshop. The sharing. The learning process. We want to stay away from the negativity often associated with hip hop.
CA – A part of the hip hop world is perceived as a negative cultural force. Hip hop can often associated with the glorification of crime and violence, the objectification of women, and so on. How do you juxtapose that with what you guys are doing with hip hop?
JA – I don’t necessarily go to conferences and symposiums and speak out vocally against the aspects of hip hop culture that I’m opposed to. Doing what I do here at Studio Sweatshop is my way of countering those forces. Just by being here and focusing on creating a positive environment for people to experience breakdance, we’re building a more enlightened perception of what hip hop can be all about. We don’t actively criticize what’s wrong with hip hop, we simply represent the positive aspects and realize what it can be. We hope that this will foster a better image of hip hop and breakdance.
The fact that we are a nearly all-female breakdance crew is another thing that has helped to broaden people’s understanding of breakdance. We show up to events in baggy pants and we roll around on the floor, and this gives a people a whole new perspective on femininity. Breakdance can be a very masculine dance, so we’ve had to strike a balance with the way we teach it. It’s not about following a prescribed idea of what breakdance is "supposed" to be all about. It’s about finding yourself within it, and bringing your own style and personality to your dance, whether male or female.
I always tell our students, "You don’t have to come in here and dance like me." Find your own thing. Find yourself, your inner-super hero.
CA – Have you ever encountered friction due to the fact that you are a Bgirl (a female breakdancer)?
JA – Firstly, I want to clarify that we started out as an all-female breakdance company, but now we have a strong mix of men and women teachers and students here at the studio. We have a very open philosophy.
I've had some strange reactions. I remember one funny moment a few years ago when I was down at the Pro-Am in Miami with an all-female crew I was representing with at that time. We showed up and entered the battles. When they called our name, we went and stood in one corner while the other crew went and stood in the other. In a battle scenario, this is how it works – each crew takes its corner. A bouncer came over and said, "Ladies, you can’t be standing here. This is where the crew stands." We were like, "Ummm....we are the crew." At the time, we were the first all-girl crew to enter the battles. Usually, there’s one girl on a given crew – the token girl. So we totally blew their minds when we rolled in, dressed like train-wrecks wearing trucker caps. I think I was wearing a Canada t-shirt with a fuzzy beaver on it. Everyone was like, "Who are these people?"
These days, of course, Bgirls are much more common. Breakdance has evolved a lot.
CA -- Tell me about the clientele here at Studio Sweatshop. It seems quite diverse.
JA – The range of people who’ve responded to what we’re doing here at the studio has been amazing. I love teaching or watching a class where you’ve got people from age 15 to 65 breakdancing and house dancing. It really just demonstrates one of the core beliefs behind Studio Sweatshop: there is nothing stopping anyone from learning to dance. It’s a choice. And if you’re going to do it, this is the place.
And you don’t have to be perfect to step into the studio. You may have never danced in your life or done a single push-up. That’s okay, because our classes are progressive. Each level and skill builds on the last. We also do a lot of strength training so that students are able to progress to higher levels at their own pace.
We’ve taught breakdance to soccer moms, teenagers, contemporary dancers, and retirees. At the end of the day, if you’re willing to learn and want to have fun, you’ll feel welcome here.
Our philosophy is that our students are here to learn and to grow. We’re here for the benefit of our students. What’s most exciting to me is witnessing the little, incremental victories that students experience as they grow and improve. At first, learning a particular new move can seem impossible. But you practice and practice, and then when you finally hit it, you ask yourself, "Okay, what else can I do?"
CA –You guys have some big things happening, in terms of expansion. Talk to us about that.
JA – We’re in the process of renovating the studio. In September, we’ll have two separate dance studios, so we’ll have multiple classes going on at the same time. This will allow us to have more ‘break one’ classes (beginner breakdance) as well as a few totally new classes.
We also plan to have more break jams and dance nights. Sometimes you want that feel of dancing and vibing with people but you don’t necessarily want to go to a club. We want to give people an outlet for that.
We’re going to unveil the newly renovated studio during our ‘free week’ at the beginning of the fall session. We offer an entire week of free classes from September 15th to 20th. Anyone interested in checking out a class can drop in and try it out for free. The only thing we ask is that if prospective students are visiting a class during the free week, we want them to participate, not be a spectator. This makes sure that everyone feels comfortable, is on the same page and gets a great workout.
Our regular session will start the following week, running from September 22nd to December 21st. We have a very flexible class structure, so that students can sign up for one class per week or multiple classes.
We’ve seen quite a bit of recent growth, so this expansion is overdue. It’s a really exciting time for us.
CA – JoDee, this has been great. Thank you for doing this.
JA – My pleasure, Chris. Thank you.
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Image credit: Gene Pendon
Posted by on 08/14 at 11:50 AM