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Accepted Paper:
Taking the street mainstream: the power of performance to alter social inequalities
Sharmaine Jackson
(Stetson University )
Paper short abstract:
Based upon ethnographic research in the US and Australia, this paper explores how urban youth use krump dancing as a strategy to overcome trauma born out of cultural and structural limitations.
Paper long abstract:
Based upon ethnographic research in the US and Australia, this paper explores how urban youth use krump dancing as a strategy to overcome trauma born out of cultural and structural limitations. Krump dancing is an urban street dance that started around 2000 in Los Angeles, California as an alternative to gang violence. The dance incorporates community traditions of morality and collective experiences. Since its inception, krump is practiced around the globe with local dimensions to its character.
In this paper, I examine how krump dancers move between "street" and "decent" embodiments to reshape, define and challenge each milieu. In doing so, this paper considers how krump dancers go beyond individual coping mechanisms to changing social structures. Through community centers and parks, public schools, and dance studios, krumpers institutionalize elements of krump, thereby making space and altering the life chances of youth. In this paper, I compare two krump crews: one from Los Angeles, CA and another from Melbourne, VIC.