The godfather of soul, James Brown, once said, “Any problem in the world can be solved by dancing.”
While this may be an overstatement, members of the Watts Tutorial Program are hoping that dance will inspire children in the community toward higher education and greater cultural appreciation.
The Watts Cultural Dance Festival will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Bruin Plaza. The festival will feature dance crews Culture Shock Los Angeles, L.A. Street Dance Collective and Samahang Modern, as well as Scratch DJ Academy and Ballet Folklorico.
Although UCLA’s Watts Tutorial Program has been mentoring children in the Watts community for 25 years, their first large urban cultural festival emerged from an unlikely source ““ the dance stylings of then-16-year-old rapper Soulja Boy.
“This year we held a talent show with different dance crews and every single kid knew the Soulja Boy dance,” said special events director and third-year political science student Terry Kim.
“We realized that we could use an event of urban culture and dance appreciation to empower kids through art. Salsa and hip hop are very prevalent in the Watts community, and this event will allow kids to explore these cultures in a positive light.”
The festival is open to both UCLA students and Watts community members, with at least 100 children from the community expected to attend.
Workshops in hip hop, salsa and beat-making will be led by student and professional performers. The goal of the workshops is to educate participants in not just performance techniques, but also historical aspects of urban art forms.
“The arts are a gateway to education. I was in a dance company in high school, and I know that if it was not for dance and for the arts in general, I would not be in college,” said Elizabeth Franco, a fourth-year world arts and cultures student who will be teaching a salsa workshop at the festival.
“I want kids to know that through dance and through the arts, you can also educate others. It is definitely a way to pursue a career and to help you with any career you choose.”
The focus of the festival will be on the performance aspect of urban culture from noon onward.
Participants will be encouraged to take the stage with dance crews to perform their newly acquired dance moves and compete against mentors in a dance-off.
Mentors hope the festival will boost the self-confidence of participants while introducing them to a collegiate atmosphere through exposure to the UCLA campus.
“We want to give the kids a chance to interact with people they look up to as mentors and to show them a college campus,” said Scott Bauer, the internal communications director of the Watts Tutorial Program and a fourth-year psychobiology student.
“For many of them, this will be their first time visiting a college, and we want them to see what they can accomplish if they work hard in tutoring.”
No matter the background of participants, the Watts Dance Festival is sure to inspire through the fusion of art and education ““ whether one is a tutee learning to drop a beat, or a student witnessing the power of community outreach and mentorship.
“These kids live in areas where they are constantly surrounded by gang violence, drug activity and high school drop-outs. Living in communities like this, they start to believe that these are the futures they will eventually adopt,” Kim said.
“We are attempting to show them that there are so many opportunities for them to rise above the prescriptions of their communities.”