Ghandnoosh Hip Hop Dance Summary

In this article, Ghandnoosh articulated different interpretations of hip hop dance culture by people of non-African American heritage. He utilized interviews with non-African American female students and instructors of hip hop dance in addition to participant observation in dance classes which revealed a diversity of interpretations.

Due to the significant role of blacks in the development and continuation of hip hop culture, hip hop is frequently described as a black culture with only occasional reference to class, age and gender qualifications for music (Rose 1994). While this might be so, historical accounts indicate that hip hop art forms did not begin entirely among African-Americans. In this regard, artists of Puerto-Rican and Afro-Caribbean decent helped in the development of hip hop at its inception indicative of the cross cultural connection.

In the study by Ghandnoosh which consisted of dancers, many of them discussed the hip hop’s street origins but distanced themselves from the

Some dancers associated hip hop with blacks which was not limited to the origin of the art form. Some differences between blacks and whites were based on contrasting biological characteristics and lived experiences which attached a strong racial association with the art form. A look at dancers representative of novice dancers, advanced dancers and instructors showed a pattern in which enhanced expertise reduced racialized views of contemporary hip hop dance. Ghandnoosh’s interaction with dancers and instructors was able to indicate how the participation of white individuals in hip hop dance is cultural progress rather than cultural theft. Dissimilar from the novice dancers, many advance dancers did not bring up the issue of race beyond discussing hip hop’s