This project facilitates the documentation of urban dance history by the urban dance community. The Preservatory Project interviews all types of individuals from urban dance culture, including dancers, DJs, MCs, club owners, music producers, music lovers and others. The project gathers first-hand accounts of experiences and events in the urban dance community as well as exchanges this information
across generational, cultural and geographical gaps. The Preservatory Project empowers all community members to share their thoughts and experiences, recognizing and celebrating our differences and similarities. We are interested in the substance behind these interviews. The quality of video, location, etc. is not necessarily the best, but it is not what we are aiming for. No matter the setting or camera quality, what is important is capturing the story and documenting urban history and culture. WHY YOU SHOULD PARTICIPATE
It’s your story, our community. This project facilitates the documentation of urban dance history by the urban dance community, itself. Urban dance culture is created in marginalized communities around the world. Starting in the late 60s to early 70s, many people from diverse cultural backgrounds contributed to the development of urban dance culture. Unfortunately, many of their faces, names and experiences will never be known by future generations. Disease, drug addiction and other natural causes have claimed the lives of some urban dance originators/pioneers, while others simply lacked an audience or forum to tell their experiences. The Preservatory Project is that audience and forum through which people can tell their narratives or even nominate someone to share their narrative. People claim that stories throughout history have been warped, changed, or simply untold due to the agendas of the individuals writing the history books and/or their disconnect with individuals they are writing about. The Preservatory Project invites all members of urban dance culture to tell their own stories about their experiences in the urban dance scene of Maryland, the greater Washington, DC area, and globally. Popular or not, victor or not, O.G. or New School, what have you contributed to this culture? Where did it used to go off? Who was influential to YOU in your artistic path? Here is a place to honor your teachers, mentors, and role models, tell YOUR story, and let the future urban dance community know HOW IT REALLY WAS. Don’t let someone tell your story for you. To submit an interview or nominate someone for an interview, contact us at [email protected].
