Canadian Heritage committee  I also think that the—

Canadian Heritage committee  Can I just talk on that note as well? Sorry. Dance in schools, that's one of the areas I would like to get funding for because there are inner-city schools where a lot of the kids don't have the opportunity to get dance. When I go in, I see some potential and I would like to fun

Canadian Heritage committee  Sure. The way that I see that working for us is to have hip hop known as an art form that is as strong as ballet and the rest. It would give a lot of the kids in the inner city, in the middle class, the opportunity to pursue that. For example, a lot of the Canadian urban dancers

Canadian Heritage committee  Allow new art forms to be taken the same as predominant ones or as other ones that have been here for centuries, and make that a part of the heritage. This is new heritage for us. Hip hop is now an art form that can be amalgamated into the new Canadian heritage. That's what I'm s

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, it's encouraging, but again, the payouts and the opportunities are not the same. If you're a ballet dancer you train for years. You can go to the National Ballet of Canada and start doing things here in Canada. If you're a hip hop dancer you can only go to the States. There

Canadian Heritage committee  No, I have not. That's based on the knowledge of how to go about getting the funding and doing it properly so you are getting the most out of the funding.

Canadian Heritage committee  No, I don't.

Canadian Heritage committee  Nothing.

Canadian Heritage committee  Building a school, the difficulty is.... I started the school just teaching hip hop. I didn't add any other elements or any other dance styles when I started. The challenges were that, again, a lot of people didn't know how to receive hip hop, even in a competitive setting. You h

Canadian Heritage committee  Speaking as a hip hop dancer, it is really hard. Hip hop dancers are not looked upon as having the same styles that others do, or as having strong dance styles. Because there's no written syllabus for hip hop, sometimes the foundation that's already been set there is not seen. Fo

Canadian Heritage committee  I'm just trying to rush, sorry.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you. I'll start off. An American modern dancer and choreographer, Martha Graham, once said, “Great dancers are not great because of their technique; they're great because of their passion.” Members of Parliament, artists, and fellow colleagues, I bring you greetings from

Canadian Heritage committee  I'm still alive; I'm very much alive.

Canadian Heritage committee  I knew I would have to clear the air first, because everybody says, “Gregory Hines?” In my field of hip hop dance I'm considered a great dancer because of my passion, which was lit by my colleague and mentor Luther Brown, who also started on his path to hip hop dance with no fun