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The Hip-Hop Dance Conservatory Foundation

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Areas of expertise & Fields of activity:	Economic and Social: Culture Development Education Human Rights Social Development Women Women/gender Equality Youth Gender Issues and Advancement of Women: Advocacy and outreach Capacity building Education and training of women Human rights of women Indigenous women Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women Men and boys Policy advice Women and HIV/AIDS Women and health Women and poverty Women and the economy Women and the environment Women and the media Women and the media Women in power and decision-making Social Development: Conflict Cooperative Employment Indigenous issues Poverty Social policy Youth Sustainable Development: Biotechnology
Geographic scope:	International
Country of activity:	United States of America
Mission statement:	Operating at first mainly within the pedagogical sphere, our educational institution for professional Hip-Hop Dance has served the New York City dance community from its beginnings in BLAQ Diamonds Edutainment to the national dance community with BLADE Dance Entertainment and The BLADE Academy, to now international arts community as H+ \| The Hip-Hop Dance Conservatory (H+). With the release of our 20 year prospectus in 2013, H+ has expanded now to a cultural institution for dancers by dancers aimed at cultivating an environment of sustainability and longevity within our craft. As a fluid and growing artform evolves, dancers need forward thinking, empathetic, creative architects of their new professional landscape. H+ serves those needs via our 6 foundational pillars: Pedagogy, Repertory, Advocacy, Medical Research, Infrastructure, and Design. As an uncompetitive environment, one can focus on what's most important; the dance, the culture, the people and the future. Armed with an arsenal of wide knowledge, H+ dancers are polymaths who are active participants in the preservation, evolution and proliferation of hip-hop dance. As a think tank of highly skilled dancers driven by a passion for dance and an intellectual vivre, we have expanded our focus to entail the various components in society that are necessary for a professional dancer to have career prowess and longevity. Sustainability in the dance profession means having longevity in your craft via resources, support, good health and a consistent environment to return to for practice, incubation, exploration and cultivation. Over 25 years of experiential data, extensive research, and assessment of dance in the New York City metropolis, we have come to recognize our challenge is not one that is exclusive to Hip-Hop Dancers, but really in the general field of arts, theater, and dance. There is a vast shortage of funding for arts from all sectors of our society that has not supported our growing need to express intelligently and effectively our brand merit nor our human message. Thus we have launched our 20 year prospectus, setting a foundation for basic organizational and physical operations that serve the holistic wellness of the dancer from housing, to food, to education, to access to community and resources, to space for artist development, to space for artist presentation, to financial planning, to security. Our initiatives include a 40-story arts pavilion where we can house not just Hip-Hop Dancers but artists of all disciplines, both in living residency and art residency, and provide access to medical care sans insurance via our free health clinic which will funnel new practices and tools via our biomedical research facility, VITRIOLUM®. Along with this will be access to more affordable and healthful foods through our farmers market, DanceMart®. These initiatives and more are what we see as the future for dance and arts in the cultural capital of our world, a better and brighter future where artists do not have to "struggle" to survive but can work diligently and strategically on their craft and brand whilst profiting healthfully and abundantly to continuously feed the culture and community of their arts. After our initial launch of these plans in New York City, we will be replicating the PYRAMID model globally, influencing the position, the direction, the humanity, the relevance, and the sustainability of art through policy making and advocacy work.
Year established:	1991
Year of registration:	2005
Organizational structure:	H+ \| The Hip-Hop Dance Conservatory is founded upon 6 foundational pillars: Pedagogy, Repertory, Advocacy, Medical Research, Infrastructure, and Design, signified by the acronym, PYRAMID®. These pillars are designed under the premise that every artist is a human first. This artist cannot thrive at their greatest potential if their basic human needs are not being met consistently. In turn, each pillar was carefully chosen to address the needs of our culture and community in Hip-Hop, which are in many ways reflective of the needs of the overarching arts infrastructure in the United States: PEDAGOGY Our Pedagogy pillar represents a codified teaching methodology of Hip-Hop Dance, The BLADE Dance Technique® (S. Thomas, 1995), founded upon the principles of dance heuristics utilized in our pedagogical programming, which includes: H+ \| The Hip-Hop Dance Conservatory (Our Adult Apprenticeship Program) H+ \| The BLADE Dance Preparatory School of NY (Our Youth Division) H+ \| SOUL SCIENCE® (Intensives, Workshops, Seminars) REPERTORY Our repertory pillar is inclusive of our archive (over 120 works) within a 20 year span that is sustained by our repertory company. TOTEM® exists to do what art is meant to do: provoke, challenge, rile, so that you exit the aesthetic experience differently than how you entered; that you will walk off with something that has you questioning, has you curious, has you perplexed. H+ \| TOTEM®, Theatre Of ThE Mind® (The Official Repertory Company and Production Company of H+) ADVOCACY All humans are valuable and have the right to live and be advocated for in this world. Each project aims to serve as a platform for healthy dialogue surrounding subjects that are often considered "off the grid" in our societal barometer of “appropriate discourse” thereby pushing the boundaries of human development and understanding. Our advocacy campaigns include: DaSex® (Initiative for dancers for safer sex and healthy dialogue.) Dreamer. Lover. Fighter. Dancer.® (Initiative celebrating dancers as mulit-layered human beings.) You Belong Here.® (Initiative inviting all to join in the community of Hip-Hop.) Dance Like You.® (Initiative inviting open expression in movement.) Think Smart. Love Free.® (Initiative addressing issues of gender, sex, sexuality, sexual freedom, and sexual agency as men and women.) Body By BLADE® (Initiative addressing the societal and cultural expectations of the female body image.) I Am Not A Dancer.® (Initiative addressing the stereotypes of professional dancers.) MEDICAL RESEARCH Our Medical Research pillar represents dancers’ access to health, longevity, and prowess through knowledge, study, and research, surrounding the different physical loads unique to each dance form. Our medical research centers include: H+ \| Dance Center for Injury Prevention and Treatment® VITRIOLUM® (The BioMedical Research Facility) INFRASTRUCTURE Our Infrastructure pillar represents the greater overarching system necessary to allow dance to truly thrive and sustain in this society. Setting a foundation for basic organizational and physical operations that serve the holistic wellness of the dancer. Our infrastructural initiatives include: H+ \| Dance Mart® (An Affordable Food Market for Dancers) H+ \| PARK® Program (Performance And Recreation for Kids Program®) H+ \| Performing Arts Center® {The Safi A. Thomas Arts Pavilion} LemnisKate Consolidated® (Architectural Design Firm) DESIGN Our Design pillar is representative of the aesthetic work done to authentically archive, signify relevancy, and make public, the pioneers, community members, landmarks, historical events, and work surrounding our foundational community of Hip-Hop Dance and the greater arts community. Our design companies include: AK47 Division® (High-End Design & Media) Tatterdeuxmalion® (The Costuming Division of TOTEM®)
Number and type of members:	H+ \| Members for NGO Status H+ \| The Hip-Hop Dance Conservatory consists of 3 echelons, each with specific tiers (ranks) totaling 18 members: 1) Artistic Echelon, whom are the business leaders and pedagogues (totaling 6) 2) Performance Echelon, whom are the Principals, Soloists, and Corps Dancers that make up the body of the repertory company (totaling 6) 3) Tabula Rasa Echelon, whom are the Apprentices in the first year of their program (totaling 6) After an H+ \| Apprentice completes their first year, they declare the H+ \| Pathway of either Performer, Choreographer, or Artistic Echelon. Each member must fulfill a set of standards and responsibilities to test and move up to their next tier. All members are considered part of the H+ \| Think Tank and are expected to contribute at some capacity to the overall mission of the company and its prospectus, no matter the tier they occupy. Also, the H+ \| Research and Development Team work very closely with the H+ \| Artistic Echelon in the 20 year prospectus initiatives (2013 - 2033). (totaling 7) In addition, H+ \| Adjunct Professors are highly esteemed members of the dance community and greater culture of Hip-Hop and the arts who have supported our efforts to develop our Hip-Hop Dance pedagogy through lectures, symposiums, workshops, and master classes. (totaling 20) The total number of members in H+ \| The Hip-Hop Dance Conservatory is about 45 members.
Affiliation with NGO networks:	None
Funding structure:	Fundraising campaigns Fees for education and training services Product sales and business services Donations and grants from domestic sources

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