I went to the 4 Day Hip Hop intensive course with a pioneer of Hip Hop Henry Link, from The Elite Force Crew. I have learnt too much from the course, it has been to amazing to even sum up the week completely.
A Hip Hop dance journey is one that is long and a constant learning experience I don’t think you ever stop learning in dance. In the week I spent with Link I learnt the true foundations of Hip Hop and I have gained a lot of knowledge as to what is not Hip Hop and what is, which  helped me make a lot of sense of many of my questions. I had an interview with Link before class and he cleared up some of my questions below.

What is Hip Hop dance?
Hip Hop dance is based on social dances and vibes, a group of people sharing the love through dance. The main elements/basics of Hip Hop are the BOUNCE, ROCK and GROOVE. A way to fix problems you may have with people via calling out or battling which can lead to mutual respect.

What is not Hip Hop dance and what mistakes are dancers making?
When you do not share it, when you  do not respect each other and when you actually aren’t doing the dance. Many dancers don’t realise they are not doing Hip Hop dance they’re doing electric boogie. They’re doing so much isolation and tutting  etc that they forgot to rock, to bounce, to groove and to just enjoy the  music. There is also only one style of Hip Hop. There is no LA Style, Hip Hop in Heels etc.  (If they’re doing Hip Hop in heels what are the rest of us doing ? Hip Hop in sneakers?). There is only Hip Hop and if you’re not doing the true elements of Hip Hop then you’re  not doing hip hop. There is nothing against these dancers experimenting and creating these new dance styles. However, create your own names and don’t put it under the umbrella of hip hop you wouldn’t call ballet, hip hop so these new styles need to create a name that’s fits and just explain that the actual influence comes from Hip Hop. The same way popping, locking, breaking and Hip Hop is happy to say where their influences came from.

Quoted from Link;

1. I have a question. If you show the crowd and the dancer’s who are competing in a battle the foundation of Hip Hop. Meaning bounce rocking and grooving. Then you pick none of it, what’s the point of showing it.
2. . How do we correct what’s wrong if we don’t start with our self.

My Final Thought
A lot of people(who didn’t actually go),  have had a lot of negative to say about the workshop and links opinions and having a lot of aggression about the facts  he stated while here. Putting unnecessary comment’s about those sharing their knowledge. Anyone who chooses to teach need to be able to take what others say, especially pioneers and respect the facts that they do have to give. You do not have to agree on all they say and you do not have to stop having your own opinions, but you must respect the facts and you must keep yourself together as a teacher and respect the opinions of others without taking the opinions as a personal dig. If you don’t then how can you ever progress as dancer? Even more so as a teacher. A teacher knows how important knowledge is and how you learn new things every day. So respect those who teach you as you wish your students to do so with yourself. I saw certain dancers who professionally teach  prove Link right. They can do fast isolation routines to a high standard but couldn’t do the basic bounce, groove and rock on beat without  it being a struggle, they found the class a challenge, but humbled themselves to be able to accept that and to come back to class each day ready to learn passing on their knowledge and admitting their mistakes . That is a true teacher in my opinion!

Thank you Henry Link for this great eye opening experience.
A big thank you to Corina Best for organising the workshop  http://thespreadlovedanceproject.wordpress.com/