Article, video and photos by Rolando Cruz

H+, also called the Hip-Hop Dance Conservatory Foundation, started as a break-dancing school in Harlem in 1990 and evolved into an educational movement, teaching communities both domestic and abroad. Now, H+ not only teaches hip-hop dance but heads a theater production company and does fund-raising for struggling dancers.

“The concept evolved a lot,” said Safi Thomas, the founder and artistic director. “I was a teenager at the time, and I think there was this idealistic teenager in me that felt that there should be a specific type of school that was for the dance that I loved doing…I also wanted to build something that helped the people in my community at the time.”

Thomas went to the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts to see how other dance companies functioned. “I needed examples of what people had done what I was trying to do for hip-hop,” he said. “Ballet had their schools, modern dancers had their schools, I wanted something that was for hip-hop and gave more respect to our art.”

The foundation also addresses community needs, addressing “educational services, advocacy against teen violence, drug abuse, domestic violence, teen pregnancy, all these different aspects that were surrounding the people in our area and then trying to figure out how to educate other people on those topics,” said Thomas.

To help the dance community, H+ created a program called DanceMart, a dancer-run grocery supplement program. “It’s a place where dancers come and get free groceries, free cooking lessons, free food,” said the educational director, Yvonne H. Chow.

The program is funded by private donations and partnerships, including with Chipotle, The Meatball Shop, Westside Market NYC, Shake Shack, Fairview and Carmine’s.

H+ also plans to purchase a residency space for dancers with low incomes. “And later we’ll build an arch pavilion that will have a residency space that’s low-cost. Not only just for living but also for doing their work as well,” said Chow.

Along with hip-hop dance, students learn about the culture’s history and other subjects, all in academic fashion. They are given reading materials, they create study groups, and quizzed. They link the importance of the subject with what they are doing, hip-hop history so they understand the foundational properties of what they’re doing, anatomy and physiology because of its relation to dance as well as to injury prevention.

Students and teachers also take part in a hip-hop influenced theater production. Thomas installs and choreographs break dancing into William Shakespeare plays, creating a cross-generational hybrid production. The production itself is part of the curriculum.

The organization now has some reach well beyond New York. “We now have more access and support from the global community and leaders,” said Chow. The conservatory has recently toured in Guatemala, with their theater production company “Theatre of the Mind.”

 

–A grass-roots hip-hop dance conservatory in New York City turns into a foundation and NGO.

H+, also called the Hip-Hop Dance Conservatory Foundation, started as a break-dancing school in Harlem in 1989 and evolved into an educational movement, teaching communities both domestic and abroad. Now H+ not only teaches hip-hop dance but heads a theater production company and does fund-raising for struggling dancers.

“The concept evolved a lot,” said Safi Thomas, the founder and artistic director. “I was a teenager at the time, and I think there was this idealistic teenager in me that felt that there should be a specific type of school that was for the dance that I loved doing…I also wanted to build something that helped the people in my community at the time.”

Thomas went to the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts to see how other dance companies functioned. “I needed examples of what people had done what I was trying to do for hip-hop,” he said. “Ballet had their schools, modern dancers had their schools, I wanted something that was for hip-hop and gave more respect to our art.”

The foundation also addresses community needs, addressing “educational services, advocacy against teen violence, drug abuse, domestic violence, teen pregnancy, all these different aspects that were surrounding the people in our area and then trying to figure out how to educate other people on those topics,” said Thomas.

To help the dance community, H+ created a program called “DanceMart,” a dancer-run grocery supplement program. “It’s a place where dancers come and get free groceries, free cooking lessons, free food,” said the founder, Yvonne H. Chow.

The program is funded by private donations and partnerships, including with Chipotle, The Meatball Shop, Westside Market NYC, Shake Shack, Fairview and Carmine’s.

H+ also has plans in purchasing a residency space to help dancers with low incomes find residency as well as spaces to practice. “And later we’ll build an arch pavilion that will have a residency space that’s low cost. Not only just for living but also for doing their work as well,” said Chow.

Along with hip-hop dance, the students learn about the culture’s history and other subjects, all in academic fashion. They are given reading materials, they create study groups, and quizzed. They link the importance of the subject with what they are doing, hip-hop history so they understand the foundational properties of what they’re doing, anatomy and physiology because of its relation to dance as well as injury prevention.

Not only has the concept evolved, so did the movement. H+ is now a foundation and an NGO (non-governmental organization), earning them a seat at the economic and social counsel in the United Nations. “We now have more access and support from the global community and leaders,” said Yvonne Chow, Educational Director of H+. The conservatory has recently toured in Guatemala, with their theater production company “Theatre of the Mind.”

Along with teaching dance, students and teachers take part in a hip-hop influenced theater production. Thomas installs and choreographs break dancing into William Shakespeare plays, creating a cross-generational hybrid production. The production itself is part of the curriculum. After warm-ups and dance lessons, they all rehearse for their next production, all while guided by Thomas. “At the very end of the class a repertory rehearsal. Where as we, as a repertory company ‘Theater of the Mind,’ work on our latest piece, which for this upcoming February will be Othello,” said Chow.

The Hip-Hop Dance Conservatory Foundation has grown from its inception and is respected in the dance community, widely known for its hip-hop elements, theater productions and community involvement. New York City is the birth place of the hip-hop culture and H+ has made it their mission to preserve its rich history through the art of dance. You can learn more about H+ through its website at www.hdcny.org.