Africa in America:
The exploration of African influences on American dance forms, focusing on cultural retention and innovation.

Biography:
The detailed accounts of the lives and careers of significant figures in dance, highlighting contributions and legacies.

Black Contemporary Dance:
Contemporary dance is a Western-based concert dance form that draws from ballet, modern dance, folk traditions, religious movement practices, social dance, and other movement vocabularies. Emerging between the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it developed as artists began challenging the strict structures of classical ballet and exploring more expressive, personal, and experimental approaches to movement. Black contemporary dance builds on this foundation while centering Black stories, Black bodies, and the lived experiences of Black communities. It may incorporate elements of Hip-hop, Street Dance, modern dance, African diasporic movement, and spiritual or gospel-inspired traditions. Through its use of rhythm, gesture, narrative, and embodied memory, Black contemporary dance often becomes a space for cultural expression, resistance, celebration, and reflection.

Disco/Clubs and Culture:
The examination of the historical and cultural impact of disco and club scenes on dance, identity, and social movements.

DJ:
DJing is one of the four elements of Hip-hop, and often considered the foundation of Hip-hop culture. This subject area is for materials that discuss the origins, culture, and practices of DJs, and their pivotal role in creating Hip-hop culture.

Graffiti:
Graffiti is one of the four elements of Hip-hop. Graffiti (or The Writer) It is often referred to as the visual element or language of Hip-hop culture, often used to convey social and political messages. This subject area captures materials that focus on graffiti, including its origins, methods, style, and politics.

Hip-hop/Street Dance:

• • B-Boy, B-Girl, Breaker Culture:
    The study of the practices, traditions, and cultural significance of B-Boying/B-Girling (breaking) within hip-hop.
  • Hip-hop Dance and Culture:
    Materials that show/examine the culture of hip-hop dance and street dance communities. This can be anything from an article doing a cultural analysis of hip hop dance, a history of a specific street dance community, or a video recap of a street dance event
  • Hip-hop Dance and Theory:
    Materials that analyze hip-hop dance as an expressive and artistic form, analyzing its movement style, social meanings, and development with a more theoretical perspective
  • Hip-hop/Street Dance Theater:
    Materials analyzing the relationship between Hip-hop and Street Dance forms and Theater, and materials that feature Street Dance Theater.

Indigeneity & Street Dance:
The examination of the disruption of colonialism by both the Black and Indigenous communities of Turtle Island (North America) through their respective and interconnected histories of oppression as well as their embrace and evolution of Hip-hop and Street dance. This subject area serves as an overview into the continued theme of dance as a means of radical social reinvention and reclamation.

Jazz Dance:

• • Jazz Dance and Culture:
    Jazz dance reflects the cultural heritage and social experiences of Black American communities, expressing identity, resilience, and creativity through movement grounded in historical and cultural contexts. This subject area examines the roots of black American culture in Jazz dance.
  • Jazz/Hip-hop and Theory:
    An exploration of the connections between jazz and hip-hop dance forms, informed by perspectives from dance history, performance studies, and social context.
  • Jazz Dance and Music:
    Jazz dance is shaped by and closely interacts with jazz music’s rhythms, translating musical patterns, accents, and moods into physical movement. This subject area groups explores that connection between jazz musical rhythms and physical movement.
  • Jazz Dance and Theory:
    An investigation of the core theories and techniques that define jazz dance, including rhythm, body isolations, and movement dynamics, while tracing its evolution from social dance origins to concert stages.

MC and Rap:
The MC, or Master of Ceremonies is the voice of Hip-hop (and one of the four elements) who raps lyrics over beats made by DJs. This subject area is for materials that explore the history and present of MCs or rappers and MCing/rapping and it’s role in hip-hop culture.

Movement:

• • Dance Movement Theory:
    Dance movement theory focuses on analyzing how the body moves, looking at concepts like space, time, energy, and body awareness, offering a way to understand and interpret movement across various dance styles.
  • Practicum/Movement Theory:
    The hands-on practice of motion and movement in dance, emphasizing both physical execution and critical reflection on how movement conveys meaning and technique. This will often apply to something like a video tutorial for a dance style, where they show you hands on how the movements work.

Pioneers Speak:
A collection of materials featuring the voices of pioneers in dance, offering insights into their contributions, personal stories about dance, or just their general insights into dance or the broader world.

Pop-Culture & Theory:
The study of how popular culture reflects and shapes society, drawing from media, dance, and social theory to examine trends, norms, and artistic expression.

Queer Dance & Culture:
The study of dance forms and performances within LGBTQ+ communities.

Race, Ethnicity and Culture in Dance:

• • Race, Ethnicity, Culture / Dance and Theory:
    A theoretical examination of how race, ethnicity and/or cultural identity shape dance styles, practices, and performances, through the study of social dynamics and cultural contexts.
  • Race, Ethnicity, Culture / Theory and Improvisation:
    The exploration of how racial, cultural and ethnic identities are expressed and redefined through unscripted, expressive, and improvisational movements in dance.
  • Race, Ethnicity, Culture / Latiné:
    Materials that focus on the unique contributions to dance from Latiné dancers and communities

Women of Hip-hop:
Celebrating, acknowledging, and uplifting the narratives, contributions, and voices of women in Hip-hop dance and culture, while also recognizing their lineage within the larger Street Dance community. We aim to highlight the creativity, leadership, resilience, and cultural impact of women whose artistry has shaped the movement, influenced generations, and expanded the visibility of Street Dance as a powerful form of expression, storytelling, and community building.