Hip-hop as a naturally inclusive space for leisure activities

This article was written for Uncover magazine - Meaningful Leisure Experiences. 

Authors: Banoyi Zuma is 'Samen Dansen' project lead. Margo Rooijackers is lecturer and researcher at Breda University of Applied Sciences. Liliya Terzieva is professor of Designing Value Networks at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. Inge Vos is 'Samen Sporten' programme manager at Stichting het Gehandicapte Kind, which includes the ‘Samen Dansen’ project.

Approach
The project builds on the inherently inclusive nature of hip-hop culture and its community. By welcoming children with and without special needs in the same dance classes, the inclusive dancing project functions as a creative tension engine by embracing the challenges and turning them into opportunities for innovation. During this six-week course, the dance instructors blend structured choreography with freestyle elements to accommodate the difference in physical and cognitive abilities of the participants and as such, incorporate new movements to the hip-hop dance vocabulary.

The visualisations, combined with the experiences of relevant stakeholders, effectively illustrate how the hip-hop community embodies the principles of diversity, access, and inclusion by welcoming individuals from all walks of life, including those with disabilities. It fosters an accessible and empowering space for self-expression and leisure. This open and inclusive approach perfectly aligns with the mission statement of Stichting het Gehandicapte Kind, which asserts that “a special need does not limit a child, but being left out does.”

Conclusion
Art can disrupt dominant narratives and provide alternative viewpoints, with hip-hop culture serving as a safe space for inclusive leisure activities. For children with special needs, the hip-hop dance classes offer a way to develop motor skills, coordination, and body awareness in a supportive, non-judgmental setting and an opportunity to connect to children without special needs. For children without special needs, the classes foster empathy and awareness by exposing them to peers with different abilities, promoting collaboration and reducing stigma, while mastering new dance skills. To ensure this exchange of valuable insights from their encounters, it is important to maintain a good balance between the number of children with and without special needs in the dance classes to foster interaction and embrace the reciprocal nature of learning. 

These dance classes prove to be just as important for parents, especially parents of children with special needs. For them, the dance classes provide a space for growth where their child is unconditionally accepted. For dance instructors the challenges of teaching dance to a mixed group of children calls upon their self-reliance and self-confidence, strengthening their development as educators and ambassadors of inclusive dance.

More information
See for more information on the case study pages 122-144 of the proceedings of the NADR symposium of the Dutch Design Week (21 October 2024) via: https://nadr.nl/publications/the-societal-impact-of-applied-design-research.

Quotes from the article

“Dancing is my life. I can show what I can do, who I am.”

“Do not try, just do it. No matter your special need, you can dance your style.”

“It’s great. When I dance, I feel free.”

“The hip-hop and breaking culture is a culture that does not look at what you cannot do, but at what is possible."

“I have learned to look at the individual child even more closely.”

“It is nice to see that they take into account what you are unable to do and then find solutions for it.”

“It is nice to feel who you are - and to feel free.”

“The dance instructors do not assume that the children cannot do it, but simply see how far they can get. Children with disabilities are too often approached as if they cannot do anything.”

“My child is happy, and that is not a given. She's growing, she's dancing, she's enjoying herself, that's great to see.” 

"You have helped my daughter come out of her shell.”

“I have finally found a place for my son where everyone is human.”