September 2009
42 posts
The purpose of this project was to examine ReFresH: a hip hop dance crew, largely comprised of Asians and Asian-Americans, based at Northwestern University. As the study progressed, ReFresH members revealed their organizational aims and views of hip hop to be uncannily relevant to many of the issues that are raised when multiculturalism is implemented in a music education setting. Implications for...
As music educators, we must realize that when our...
Reception, consumption, and audience remain understudied topics in music studies (Wong, 2001), and these are forms of music-ing that educators must consider. Dance theorist Randy Martin’s conception of the audience opens up the notion that when people listen to music, they are making an act of choice and perception; this is a critical moment of representation and they are, in a way, listening to...
The study of Asian-American music consumption offers unique and much-needed insights on Asian American culture.
Despite having over 150 years of history in the United States, Asian-Americans continue to be overlooked in the “official record” of American history and culture, and are often limited to representation through sound bites and stereotypical images. As Oliver Wang puts it, “Asians have...
“Music has been a site where Asian American communities could be imagined...”
– (Wang, 2001, p.443)
As hip-hop exploded in the 1990s,
“many rap groups, of all ethnic backgrounds, were under the sway of politically oriented hip hop… This was music meant to educate, incite, organize, and illuminate, music ‘for the people,’ for the promotion of ethnic pride and power. Asian Americans were no less attracted to this clarion call than anyone else (Wang, 2001, p.457).”
Jin, in his first BET battle
Jin, in his second BET battle
...
“…if rap is the genre of young African-American urban men, what is it doing in...”
– (Wong, 1994, p. 152, emphasis added)
In fact, hip hop encourages its appropriation.
“Some guy way back in the 70’s invented the six step and now everybody does...”
– Chris
Hip hop dance scholar Halifu Osumare (2002, p.31) writes, “today’s global reach of hip hop culture [has expanded] to ever widening cultural spheres at a speed like never before.” This international expansion has created both a conscious and unconscious dialogue within societies far removed from its roots, and Osumare refers to this as
The Intercultural Body:
“where...
Osumare’s Intercultural Body has a direct parallel in education research with Frederick Erickson’s
Third Space: a secure place where students and teachers explore, develop, and embrace a hybrid culture they create together (Erickson, 2005).
By encouraging appropriation and hybridization, which feeds back into the hip hop culture at large,
Hip Hop, in and of itself, is a third space.
“That’s why hip hop in itself is sort of like a hodge podge of different...”
– Miles
What are some of these different things?
The presence and co-existence of all these different dance styles in one room (never mind in the culture at large), shows hip hop has another parallel in education literature, with the concept of
pluralism: the inclusion and representation of multiple cultures in the conduct and curriculum of a classroom.
At ReFresH practices I observed: Breaking
Waving & Isolations
The first 10 seconds is an example of arm waves; the rest of the clip utilizes a lot of isolations
Locking!
(I really liked locking) Choreo
and lots more dance styles, as well as some that were somewhere between all of those things:
“There’s almost limitless, like, different styles that you can put. I mean,...”
– Miles
As Miles describes, what is already a remarkably diverse culture expands into further permutations when global styles are appropriated and reinterpreted at the cultural and personal level.
Hip Hop’s third space nature results in a pluralism of dance styles that is constantly growing.
What does this pluralism serve?
Rather than be overwhelmed by the vast array of styles and moves to learn, ReFresh members dove into hip hop’s pluralistic pool of dance styles to hone their individual styles, and to better articulate themselves through dance:
“Every style of dance is a little bit different from the other and every style of...”
– Miles
With many dance styles to cull from, Hip Hop’s pluralism maximizes the options in which individuals can express themselves.
But, it's not easy to get there.
Newbie ReFresH member Ken described experimenting with multiple styles in search of his own:
” I don’t really know yet ‘cause I haven’t really developed any of my own top-rocking moves. I know that I like, like I learned a little bit of popping, like, arm waving and Lance’s teaching me some locking, and I feel like, I like incorporating that into my top-rock, even though I’m not sure if that’s like, if that would be like, kinda frowned upon…...
As we can see from Ken’s quote, one must be knowledgeable not only in technique, but also in the performance practice of hip hop, in order to develop one’s style.
How does one learn these things? And how does one get there?
“Respect the Culture:
I was in a seminar last quarter and I wrote a big paper...”
– Ken
All ReFresH interviewees showed conscious efforts to become better versed in hip hop culture, and even veteran members said their knowledge was only preliminary. Interviewees demonstrated respect for the vast scope of hip hop culture, and the responsibility they felt when asked to represent it to an outsider.
“Have an Open Mind
Locking for me, the first time I saw it was like, what the...”
– Miles
Within the borders of hip hop dance, practitioners often encounter styles that are new, unfamiliar, and at times alienating. However, in order to achieve their goals of self-expression and personal style, many dancers recognize they must equip themselves with an array of styles that are available. In the case of Miles, we see that by forcing himself to better understand a foreign style, his...
“Dedication
I’m going to seek out hip hop and do it as much as I...”
– Marcus
The work that ReFresH members put forth turns rehearsals like these:
into performances like these:
While the desire to achieve self-expression and personal style is integral, it is not the sole motivating factor for such displays of dedication.
What inspires such open-mindedness and respect? What elicits this level of commitment?
Community
It is understood that during open sessions, members observe other members practice. If someone is practicing a style or move that piques your interest, you can tap that person on the shoulder and ask, “Hey. Can you teach me how to do that?”
from 0:00 to 0:24, in the center, notice one ReFresH member giving another a breaking tutorial; from 0:24 to 0:50, at the left, a ReFresH...
“If I were to talk about the one biggest thing, I definitely think it’s the...”
– Chris
It is this safe haven, this trust, this third space environment that enables a symbiotic relationship between pluralism and individual self-expression to flourish. With multiple dance styles present, there are more options for an individual to choose from as he or she develops a style. Individuals then contribute any newly formed moves or dance styles back to the group, thereby expanding the...
“Hip hop’s not something you do by yourself.”
– Vanessa
So, what does all of this mean to an aspiring music educator?
What models can we take from ReFresH, and from Hip Hop?
Implications for Practice
Make your classroom a third space. Provide a greater range of musics and cultures, and welcome the cultures that students bring, to help develop and expand individual vocabularies of musical expression. Also provide opportunities for collaboration, so that students learn not only to trust you, but to trust their peers.
In order for teachers and students to widen their scope of meaningful musical...
All teachers will encounter one of the unavoidable issues of pluralism; the struggle to honor what may feel like an innumerable number of discourses, while striving to give each depth and breadth. For now, my solution to music educators and their students comes from a philosophy that is embodied by ReFresH members:
“If you see something that you like, you go up and you grab it.”
– Miles
And inspire your students to do the same.
Works Cited Abril, C.R. (2006). Music that represents culture: Selecting music with integrity. Music Educators Journal. 93(1), 38-45. Erickson, F. (2005). Culture in society and in educational practices. In J. Banks and C.A.M. Banks (eds.), Multicultural Education: Issues and Perspectives, (5th ed., pp.31-60). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Greene, M. (1995). Releasing the imagination: Essays on...
To learn more about ReFresH, visit their blog To watch past ReFresH performances, visit them on YouTube If you’ve seen something you’d like, and you’d like to grab it, click here to access this paper in its entirety