Institutionalization of Russian Street Dance: Contradiction or Necessity

Abstract

This paper reveals the evolution of Russian street dance as a performative practice towards art and focuses on one of the evolutionary processes of institutional development. In this paper I follow the concept of the French researcher Roberta Shapiro — Artification (Shapiro, 2012). The concept is based on the idea that art is not a given, but rather a construct and a result of social processes that exist in time and space.

At first glance, it seems that street dance and institution fields are incompatible. An institution implies an order and a framework of rules. Meanwhile, street dance is the absence of rules. However, if we take a closer look, we see similarities between street dance and institutionally recognized academic dances. This paper addresses this point. Moreover, after thirty years of development, a clear organizational structure has been established within the Russian street dance community, by which we can consider street dance as a holistic art form.

In the paper, I discover the street dancers' request for institutional recognition and raise the question: what stands behind this request? Does it contradict the countercultural origin of dance? How do street dance and the government interact today? What resources does the professional community have for the development? Who are the producers of street dance projects? What organizations develop street dance, and what vectors do they follow?

By examining the barriers to institutionalization, potential solutions, and ways of further development can be identified. One of them is to remove barriers by eliminating the contradiction itself. Does street dance actually need a recognition of the art-field? What if street dancers turn their attention inside the community, focus on their audience, and rely only on themselves?