Why We’re Not Using the Term “Urban Dance” Anymore | STEEZY.CO

Hey STEEZY Nation,

Thanks for taking the time to learn more about how our community is evolving!

We invite you to join us in promoting a culture of honor, respect, and authenticity by leaving the term “Urban Dance” behind. While “Urban Dance” was a term initially coined to give respect to foundational art forms like Hip Hop, the term was inaccurate at best and derogatory to many.

We’re excited to enter a new chapter of positive, meaningful growth by setting the record straight on “Urban Dance” and making space for terms that allow everyone to feel accurately represented.

We welcome you to leave a comment, ask questions, and join the discussion below!

With Love,
STEEZY Squad

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CAST
Arnel Calvario @arnelcalvario

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Get started on your dance journey today with STEEZY Studio. Learn dance fundamentals, workouts, and choreography anywhere, anytime from the best teachers in the world.

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#UrbanDance #DanceHistory #STEEZYStudio #OpenStyle #DanceCommunity

[AppoBean]

"Open style choreo" has a good ring to it. Makes the community sound like as it is: open (and welcoming). I dig it

[miksfruitjuice]

i love how you express and talk so much about dance culture respectfully. we don't get to see it much these days. awesome video!

[afsaaasiazaira]

Please make a video on types of hiphop dance. I'm only 12 and have little knowledge about the genres and techniques of dance. But I enjoy hip hop, contemporary etc. I really wanna learn dance.

[levelup_emilou]

Love this breakdown of the evolution of hip hop as a label into urban and why it has always been problematic. It's true-- our dance styles are ever evolving due to the mass amount of personal individual expressions but staying true to the roots in a socially responsible way is KEY! And also-- shout out to the Filipino-American Community for really contributing so much to how the styles of hip hop have grown, expanded, and have been exposed to so many--- Me included!! Those Filipino Culture Showcases circa early 2000's THO 👀 !!! 🔥 🔥

[mohanram]

Well, shit, this is one of the best videos from Steezy. So much information. No doubt Steezy is my favourite dance related YouTube channel.

[HugoTheSavant]

Just adding a major PART 2 to this:

This was a great informational video, and I appreciate you guys having done this. However, you missed out the part of the large scale commercial exploitation of the hip-hop name by the studio dance industry. What I'm more specifically referring to isn't the earlier generation of hip-hop dancing teams who gradually integrated parts from other dance styles into their routines. I'm referring to the wave of professional studio choreographers and instructors with ZERO hip-hop background who decided to bank on the hip-hop name.

Once hip-hop (the social dance style, not the breaking style) began to see itself more and more in dance competitions and music videos, jazz and ballet dancers wanted to get in on that hype. So you had white jazz and ballet choreographers and instructors with absolutely no hip-hop knowledge, technique or connection to the hip-hop culture and community who decided to copycat some of the moves and poses of hip-hop dances and funk-styles into their jazz/ballet routines, and then market it as "hip-hop dance" to aspiring dance students who don't know any better. In addition to this, they were also teaching these routines to everything BUT hip-hop music (r&b, pop, contemporary jazz, etc), which only intensified the misinformation. All this happened on a MASSIVE scale, and as many of us know, the dance lesson / fitness-dance studio industry is where the most money is at (this dwarves the money made by back-up dancers and music video choreographers). This is by far one of the biggest forms of cultural appropriation and exploitation that many people are NOT aware of: the milking of the hip-hop name by posers for money, money, money.

Hopefully you guys add a new video featuring this information!

[SOBKsAsian]

Would absolutely love it if ya'll make more videos regarding the history of different dance styles and dance in general. Is something I always felt like I missed out on when a friend from some dance team would talk about all that they've learned about the history and why things developed the way they did.

[michaelangelotuazon]

"Appreciate your own style", bec ur on ur own, love ur style and love urself so you can express ur self and show it to the world, loud and proud!!!dance has no language, ..❤️❤️❤️

[liammangthomas]

Thank you steezy so much, i am actually a teacher in a studio here in UAE na I've been scared of teaching hiphop classes so thats why my coach a teacher as well in the studio explained me why we dont use the word "urban dance" anymore and we exchanged the name of the classes to open style choreography, its though that student don't come often since they don't know what is "open style" or this new term for "urban" but I'd rather respect the culture of its history or the community, rather than putting "urban dance" and will disrespect the community, thank you so much for the explanation

[ZALDYTV]

Thanks so much STEEZY ♥️♥️♥️ I am now more confident on doing my own dance style. ♥️♥️♥️

[zoev]

Thank you for this information! I'm glad to be entering a community that motivates awareness and cultural respect, and I'm glad to support a company that makes all of it known and accessible. Love yall!

[KuyaGTV]

THANK YOU FOR OPENING UP THIS TOPIC! MUCH LOVE! ❤️

[jeremys]

Thank u, thank you, thank u for all the effort you put toward expaining "Hip-Hop". I've been Hip-Hop since 79' and it became an "umbrella" term, but Hip-Hop is specific, not just songs w/ bass & rap. In fact there's also a difference between "choreo" & "street dance" as well. I taught my daughter that "street" moves all have names to it, where as "choreo" moves dont.

ie: hit the folk, hit the quan, stanky leg, whoah, etc.

Yall are the BEST, keep doing what u do educate & perpetuate.
HIP-HOP YA DON'T STOP!

[orlandocardenas]

Just out of curiosity, Arnel explained that the Philippino identity was tied to hip hop culture. Lots of other Asian-pacific or Asian decent YouTubers/icons (Tim Chantarangsu, Jimmy Yang, etc.) have similar stories of tying hip hop to their upbringing. What specifically about hip hop was relatable or seemed so appealing to the Philippino culture? Thanks for the great content and for educating me through this video 🙏

[DSCKansas]

Thank you for this video! I recently watched a video from Luam, and she was discussing the use of the term Urban in dance. It is great to see this move through the dance community.

[noikfkzn]

Respect, u give people educated. Many people think in a wrong way coz they dont know about this culture. Respect the OGs, learn the history..that how we done it from the beginning

[michalXOXOnimer]

Thank you so much for including informational videos! A lot of times I find my self around dancers that just don’t expend their understanding in what they are doing and therefor teaching and sharing it. And here I am in one click can share right and good information to dancers around me :)

[VinhzCastle]

This was such a great way to present it with the visuals, culture, and history! My question is: how do you spread enough awareness to educate dance moms who want to enroll their 7 year old kids in “open style” but only know to look for “hip hop” classes? Of course, most of them may not even know the correct dance terms so they might not go into studios that do not offer “hip hop”. What would be a good approach to this?

[nickmorales]

This has to be the best video from y'all. While it's important to learn technique, discover expression and all of that goodness, knowledge and respect for the culture and roots is sometimes neglected and even lost.

Growing up, EVERY bboy/bgirl knew their history (if you didn't, you weren't a bboy/bgirl) and it honestly adds SO MUCH to who they are especially as individuals. When it comes to the choreo scene, y'all have history and culture and it continues to thrive! So keep doing things like this that allows for this culture to grow. Remind everyone who comes along that this came from something genuine. Each one teach one. Much love to y'all for real.

[jettgalindo]

Loved knowing more about the history behind how the SoCal dance communities started. Kudos to everyone for taking the responsible steps forward for dance ♥️