Q Do I have to be dance qualified dance teacher to be a member ?

A The SDI is a body of professional dancers whose aim is to further the street style and give opportunities to dancers who dance or teach the street dance style and also to those who organise competition events run under SDI rules. Any qualified dance teacher who has an interest in street dance may join the SDI and any dancer who has achieved a performing arts or dance diploma after three years at an accredited dance college.

Q Are there any street dance teachers videos available ?

A Yes, Streetwise Video have produced 4 videos - 1997/8 .. Street 1,1998/9 .. Street 2, 2000/2001 .. Street 2000, and 2002/3 .. Streets Ahead (which is also available on DVD). All 4 videos are available from Dance Books at www.dancebooks.co.uk or 44 (0)1420 86138

Q Where is Sharon Hollis now?

A Sharon a founder member of the SDI was at Urdang Acadamy for 3 years where she gained her diploma. Winner of the BENSON & HEDGES DISCO DANCE CHAMPIONSHIPS in 1995, Sharon was also a finalist in the World Freestyle Champs in Hungary. Not only was Sharon a top championship freestyle dancer but a great dancer in many styles. A superb Street dancer, Sharon has lectured for the NATD, IDTA, & ADFP and she was also choreographer for The Daily Star Wildcats and has numerous TV performances to her credit. Her outstanding ability as a latin dancer in addition to ballet, tap, jazz, modern, freestyle, street and adagio gave her an all round ability which is hard to find with any dancer. It was undoubtedly this combined ability that lead to Sharon being selected for the original cast as Maria in Saturday Night Fever at The London Palladium which she never got to play owing to a dislocated shoulder a few days before the opening.
Sharon has now taken her talents to the USA where she has lived for the past 2 years. Mostly teaching latin, Sharon is currently working with a partner to perform in competitions and shows and is also setting up her own school in Jacksonville, Florida.

Q Fay asks . . . I think Streetdance should be on the spot, but I see dancers running and skipping round the floor to adjudicators is that right ?

A You are absolutely 100% correct when you state that Street should be danced on the spot and it still is by the leading Southern area street dance schools. In the South of England schools often have choreographers and teachers who perform regularly on Top of the Pops and other TV pop programmes, or on pop videos and tours with pop artists. Some teachers have been at major London performing Arts college such as Urdang or London Studios for a performing arts course and these teachers are at the forefront of the street style and all insist street is danced on the spot .... And they are the people who should know !!!

Q Lisa asks . . . My school only wears street costumes for Street but at disco comps some schools wear fancy disco type street costumes, is that right ?

A No simply the answer to street costumes is ..."If you would go out and wear your outfit on the street to go shopping ... then that’s Street Gear". In fact the SDI rules state ......
RULE 4. COSTUME RESTRICTIONS
a) Competitors are free to wear any outfit they wish but items must have been purchased as a ready to wear item. NO purpose made or hand made costumes are allowed.
b) NO additional trimmings, sequins and diamantes are allowed.
c) All dancers must wear suitable footwear to be securely fastened.

Q Sarah asks . . . Why if there are no street rules at ADFP do we have to have SDI rules ?

A Very good question !!! As any style of dance continues to grow popular through competitions rules have to made otherwise there is a free for all. I can remember back to the early days of freestyle and there were only a few rules .. Now there are 60 or more ! To put it bluntly if you take a look at the SDI rules there are only 4 and each is plain and simple and mostly common sense. As street continues to grow these rules will have more significance and hopefully will remain a small number.

Q Olivia asks . . . In my school we only take Freestyle dance medal tests which are called disco, why can't we have special street medal tests and medals ?

A Simple answer is yes there are some societies that do special street dance medal tests and medals. The National Association (NATD) were instrumental in providing a new Street dance medal test for those teachers who taught street. Maybe you should speak to your teacher for it is quite possible there maybe street exams you can take.

Q John asks . . . How did streetdance competitions start ?

A Without sounding too bigheaded I think it was through the foresight of Jane Hollis and myself (Derek Povey) who first saw the opportunity of developing the street style for competitions. Back in the mid nineties Jane & I had successful freestyle competition schools but also had successful professional street and commercial jazz dance groups including the Daily Star Wildcats. It was in 1996 Jane & I organised a supporting event at the London Arena prior to a Leopards basketball match and with Scott from Five, Otis & Susann Dando as judges we organised the first ever Street Dance comp. Later that year Jane decided that although children were dancing slowdance that many preferred to dance street and for the first time at a Freestyle competition dancers were given the opportunity to dance either slowdance or street.
Jimmy Welch and myself following on from Jane, then also introduced street as an alternative to slow at competitions and some 12 months or so later this was becoming the norm at many competitions. Following on from Jane’s introduction of Street competitions I decided in the early part of 1997 to organise the first ever Street Dance events only competition day and since then the SDI was formed and rules have been set for these Street Dance events only competition days.

Q Alicia asks . . . Why do some dancers call Street dance, Hip Hop ?

A Another good question !!! In the early 1990’s Hip Hop became popular with boys following on from breaking and locking of the late 80’s. Several dance competition events were organised for Hip Hop and still are today. The word streetdance and style of streetdance was brought in during 1996 to cover the many up to date forms of dance to current music trends. Streetdance has always been the dance of the day … and popular dances of an era were often off the street and as such were the streetdance style of that time. The various styles of hiphop, breaking, locking, street jazz, commercial jazz and popular video pops dance was brought together under the one heading of streetdance, thus dancers dancing any mixture of the current popular styles could dance in competitions called streetdance. Since 1996 the word streetdance has come to the fore and now many events which were organised initially as Hip Hop are now being called Streetdance.