Interview with Teacher, Mai Lê HÔ: Recognizing the Unique Culture and Community within Hip Hop and Street Dance

Abstract

ABSTRACT To understand Hip Hop, one must understand where and how it was created. The Dance With Teachers podcast’s interviewee, Mai Lê HÔ, is a lead dancer in the Rennie Harris Puremovement Dance Company, and works closely with Hip Hop dancers and artists in New York City through the program, It’s Showtime NYC! As a French-Vietnamese woman, she has evaluated her place in the social justice realm, striving to bridge the gap between the dance and the culture it comes from in every class she teaches. She has found that street and club dances, created primarily by Black and Latino people, teaches the world to celebrate community and culture, while pushing dancers and teachers to be the best they can be creatively and as people of a dance community.