Growing up in South Euclid and earning his bachelor’s degree from Baldwin Wallace University, dancer and professor Samuel McIntosh relishes in the opportunity to give back to the Cleveland community. “I used consulting with arts organizations and teaching to create jobs for dancers. Two or three years ago, I developed a blueprint to do the same thing on a larger scale and in 2020, determined the 10K Movement was the best way to accomplish that,” he noted.
The 10K Movement is a street dance platform deigned to give students, young artists, and the community at large an in-depth educational experience encouraging one another to persevere in creative self-expression. It aims to preserve, present, and cultivate authentic hip hop and street dance culture in the Greater Cleveland area and around the globe.
Historical Context
“Our biggest battle in the local community is getting people to understand we are here. New York and Los Angeles created so many of the genres. They have great battles and packed crowds,” explained McIntosh, who teaches dance at both his alma mater and Kent State University. “Other cities which are more similar to ours like Chicago and Detroit have communities connected to the local arts because elders passed it on. We had a lot of b-boys in Cleveland in the 1990s, but not in a way to pass the torch. A lot of people didn’t think it would last. Someone should have put some stock in its legacy.”
“There are many misconceptions around street dance. The class aspect has been skewed over the years and even the battle element is relatively new for Cleveland,” he continued. “Street dance is a super intimate dance form and battles started historically to avoid violence. A painter has the chance to go into a studio and work alone, but dancers perform in front of others. Many dancers are extremely introverted so it is a challenging element, particularly in an improvisational setting.”
McIntosh is encouraged by seeing more people and groups trying to create an infrastructure around street dance. “A lot of people in the 1980s were just doing it for fun and not laying a foundation. That has led to issues within the scene,” he stated. “One group may be saying they started popping, but others have taken it and run with it. We have seen the music industry take over and suck dry the integral aspects of hip hop, making it about getting money rather than building a foundation that values all creators.”
He points out that there are worldwide events that promote hip hop dance and its principles. In 2002, Paris, France began hosting Juste Debout, which brings together more than 4,000 dancers annually chosen in multiple disciplines from those who compete on an international tour. “It is essentially the Olympics of street dance. They get more than 50,000 fans and the dancers walk out like boxers do in the U.S.,” he described. “In China, they have street dance majors in their arts universtities. The value they place on the street dance culture in general is at a high level. People have yet to see that value here.”
The 10K Name
McIntosh chose to use the 10K name for his organization based on a nickname given to him by one of his mentors several years ago. “A resident at the Cleveland Clinic was in a popping crew and I saw them dance in Coventry. He offered to do a session with me anytime I wanted,” McIntosh recalled of the man who was born in London, moved to Australia, and would become a major influence in his dancing career. “I was super hungry to learn and to dance with someone who knew popping.”
The two trained together from 2013 to 2015 before the man returned to Australia. “I was already dancing when I met him, but what I thought was popping was definitely not popping,” McIntosh laughed. “He showed me the way and we were at it constantly. I was getting better and better, and the basics were clicking. I really skyrocketed with access to his teaching. Since he was studying to be a neurosurgeon, we trained at the crazy hours he finished his shifts, usually super late or super early.
In his book Outlier, Malcolm Gladwell wrote that 10,000 hours of practice was required to make someone an expert in any given field. “My mentor was putting all these hours into becoming a neurosurgeon for his immediate family, so dancing was both an escape and therapy for him. He wanted to give me the name 10K because of the drive he saw in me,” McIntosh remarked. “I was knocking at his door at 2 a.m. just to learn more.”
Events and Growing Hip Hop Dance
“We are building momentum and have been putting instructors in studios. There are so many people in Northeast Ohio looking for good hip hop dance and an understanding of its history,” he noted. “We have been doing workshops and educational programs as well as engaging different areas like Canton and Akron. We know our dancers will always come, but we want different audiences to see it.”
One of the major ways to showcase hip hop dance is through battles in which two (or more) dancers face off against each other, often in a tournament format. “Battles are exciting. Even the greatest dancer could have a bad night. The toughest battles are open style, where any music could be played and any style can be used interchangeably,” McIntosh described. “The judges are always integral, but especially in an open battle. Each judge has to have an understanding of every element. The dancers have to show off who they are and their technique, while at the same time, the judges have to understand what the dancers are doing and how they are listening to the music.”
10K’s premier annual event is the “Lords of the Land Hip Hop and Street Dance Festival,” which was held in late July in Cleveland’s Public Square. The weekend-long festival provides access and education around dance forms and the five values of hip hop: peace, love, unity, having fun, and knowledge. The event featured open, krump, and popping styles with contestants from all over the nation. In addition to local krumper MGPAK, Lords of the Land also brought in Rockafella from New York City and Slim Boogie from Los Angeles as judges.
In August, many members of 10K Movement were part of a special event, KOLÂDE-XCOPE, hosted by DanceCleveland at Cain Park with hip hop dancer and breaker Raphael Xavier. There was an open style battle midweek followed by sidewalk performances on Saturday, Aug. 21st, which was also the one-year anniversary of the founding of 10K Movement. McIntosh advanced to the final of the battle where he faced Dauve Hairston, a krump specialist with a wide array of ability in various styles.
“Everyone has a different style of battling. Some styles are aggressive, some are a-holes. The question is can you battle and outdance anyone regardless of style?” McIntosh explained. “I knew I had to focus against Dauve. I prepared for stuff I thought he would do that didn’t come out the way I planned. He is an aggressor and stoic can be successful against that style. Then he went stoic, and it threw me off. Battling is like chess. You try to prepare for so many things. There are also mental games on the floor and beforehand. I may not speak to you beforehand as a result.”
McIntosh also hosts the “Kent State 8” battle as part of his class there and this November, will be teaching a youth master class on beginner popping and boogaloo at Cleveland Dance Fest 2021.
Connecting to the Community
“People I trust and the colleagues I have worked with hold the same values and dedication to street dance that I do. We want people to understand the authentic culture and its history. The team at 10K is crucial in creating a standard in the art form,” he commented. “We want 10K to be an artist a la carte essentially with instructors who have a foundational understanding of our curriculum and what we believe in. There is a way we expect to conduct ourselves and a professionalism in hip hop that we portray. We are just looking for the chance to step up in that light.”
McIntosh sees a disconnect between hip hop dance and the arts community in Cleveland. In 2005, the Cleveland Cavaliers Scream Team, a hip hop and breaking team, was formed. The 2021 Lords of the Land event featured some older B-Boys so hip hop dancing has been around in the area for some time. “No one has taken the time to connect the arts community to what we are doing. DanceCleveland gave us the opportunity at Cain Park. They present national and international work to Cleveland and they understand what street dance is. Those are the places we start,” he indicated. “We are going in the right direction. Not everyone needs to be at street dance events, but a lot of people should be.”
10K Movement held a concept battle at the Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art. “We had the crowd choose a concept for each round (play ball, tutts and lines, etc.), which could have made things very difficult for the dancers. Instead, their creativity in this setting blew up. The more we connect with organizations and venues like that, the more we can connect and grow our audience,” he elucidated. “One time we performed in University Circle. Someone came up to me afterwards and told me that what we are doing is as important as the (world-renowned Cleveland) orchestra. That is the type of engagement we are looking for.”
He believes the media plays a huge role in the portrayal of hip hop and dancing. “The media created the term break dancing, but there is no such thing. They didn’t care enough to ask those in the hip hop community what it is actually called, which is breaking,” he made known. “It is so important to get the language right as a starting point to what we are doing. Our goal is to put ourselves in environments where we can share street dance’s authentic culture and history, to highlight the creativity and free expression of the dancers. I am fortunate to have those opportunities with 10K Movement, and at Kent and Baldwin Wallace.”