After 20 years in hip-hop, Dave Scott is everywhere you look
Dave Scott has a problem most artists can only dream about while they are waiting for their big break.
For this L. A. dancer, choreographer, teacher, television host, talent developer and movie choreographer, the biggest problem isn’t finding enough work, it’s finding enough time to just relax and sit with his two dogs, a 125-pound rottweiler and a 5-pound toy Yorkie.
Scott in a man of contradictions known for his hip-hop dancing and work as a choreographer and winning the 10th Annual Choreography Award for Best Choreography in a Feature Film for “You Got Served.” In addition to work on movies and commercials, Scott has worked with hot artists such as Tyrese, Marques Houston and Brian McKnight and has worked with several of the dance reality shows both behind the scenes and as a host.
But Scott also earned a business degree, listens to classical music to wind down, mentors young dancers and has a tap dance project in the works with Debbie Allen. He’s 6 foot 4 inches and went to college to play basketball.
You may have seen some of Scott’s recent work Aug. 4 when ACDC went up against the M&M Cru of Mylie Cyrus and Mandy Jiroux in a dance-off during the 10th annual Teen Choice Awards. After 20 years in hip-hop, Scott is everywhere you look.
Scott had just returned from New York hosting the intro show for “America’s Best Dance Crew” when he sat down for this interview.
Q: When did you develop an interest in hip-hop?
A: It really started for me (20 years ago) when I was 15 growing up in Compton. Everybody was doing B-boy moves. It started off on my street. We took a bike ramp down, put cardboard down and started doing back stands and all of that kind of stuff.
Q: Did your parents and family support your interest in the hip-hop music and dance?
A: At that age yes. They thought it was fun and cute. But when I am in college and decide to leave to college to finish a tour, nobody wanted me to. It was like, “What?”
Q: Do you have any ideas opinions about a couple of ways hip-hop has changed?
A: Yes I do. I think hip-hop has evolved dramatically. It is a combination of a lot of different styles now. It’s like a bit melting pot, like gumbo. But it’s just that a lot of people feel like they can get up off their couch and just do hip-hop. But in actuality, if you don’t know the basics, where it came from, then you’re stuck. You gotta know the core before you can groove it out.
Q: Have you seen significant positive or negative changes in hip-hop in the past ten years?
A: It’s been a balance of the positive and the negative. It’s a positive that dance is huge and you have all these different shows that showcase dance. And, it’s good that people are getting up out of their seats and want to get out there and dance. But, at the same time, there are a lot of people who think just think it comes that easy and go and try to teach different things but really are not teachers and haven’t learned everything needed before they get out there and try to teach.
Q: From your early days, who were your most important mentors or teachers?
A: Growing up I wish I could have had a teacher. I wish I could have had the mentors I have today. My mentors were Popin’ Pete, and Mr. Wiggles, Boogaloo Sam, real revolutionary cats who started hip-hop. If I had the opportunity for them to come to my neighborhood, and I could actually take a class from them, it would have been amazing.
Q: What is your fondest childhood memory of growing up in L.A.?
A: My fondest memory is actually getting ready and being able to go to a club. I was part of a crew, and we all went to the Palladium. I was in a crew called The Pajama Boys. We wore pajamas like Dr. Huxtable wore on “The Cosby Show” to the club. When we started, I wasn’t old enough to get into the club. I was 20. But, on certain nights at the Palladium, everybody got in because it was all about the dance. We figured it out.
Q: Do you have a favorite music artist? No, no— but my inspiration to learn how to dance, because I am self-taught— I learned how to dance by watching TV, watching videos and stuff like that. My favorite was Michael Jackson. It was ridiculous. I watched all of his videos and redid the choreography and added on stuff.
Q: What specific movies or videos influenced you most?
A: Back in the day, the movie “Breakin’” and videos “Billie Jean” and “Beat it.”
Q: Did you wear the glove or take on other aspects of Jackson persona?
A: Oh yea! I went though the whole thing. I actually found the “Beat it” jacket with all the zippers. I pushed my sleeves up, even got the right shoes.
Q: What was your first piece of amateur choreography?
A: It was just for the club and hanging out.
Q: What about that made you know that choreography was for you?
A: It was how I felt every time I got up in the morning. I just wanted to go dance. I just wanted to make up a routine. I just wanted to rehearse. And that let me know. It was a hobby for me at first, but then when I saw that something actually could come out of it, I didn’t even need to second guess.
Q: You started as a dancer, and then how did you move into choreography.
A: I was always creative — because I taught myself how to dance. So I always had the desire to create something and choreograph. So when I started dancing, I got a tour. Then I just started adding pieces of choreography to the tour. But, really, I have always been, from the time I started to dance, more of a creator a choreographer.
Q: Do you get more satisfaction out of choreography?
A: Oh yea. It is a triple reward because when I do my choreography, I always put myself in the audience and act like, “What can wow me?” And so I do the choreography, and then the reward is that you see what you created come to life. The second reward is, a lot of people choreograph, but they really don’t dance. Third, I dance hard, like pretty much harder than the people I hire. To be a part of it, it’s a good feeling.
Q: Do you think that somehow you learned to do choreography, or was choreography just in you from the beginning?
A: I think you feel choreography, and then you develop your body to move to what’s in your mind. When you are a choreographer, you direct things in your mind.
Q: Do you have specific internal goals in your head about how you want to affect an audience?
A: Oh, all the time. I always put myself into the audience like I am a spectator. Every time I am doing something, I ask myself, “What is going to wow me? What’s going to give that ‘Oh my God,’ you know?”
Q: How do you want the audience to grow or maybe even to change because of your work?
A: I would like for them to feel everything, all the emotions, all of the characteristics, everything that I bring to the table on stage. I would like the audience to feel the aggression and the energy because my style is tangent. It is aggressive; it’s melodic and very energetic. I want the crowd to walk away feeling that they want some more, but they got to prepare for it.
Q: Ten years down the line, when you look back at your career, what do you most hope to see?
A: Actually, it’s crazy. Because actually I would hope to see what is happening now in dance. It is so big and so amazing, and everyone is appreciating it like on another level. I would just hope to see the progress that is going on now continue.
Q: What has the advent of the reality dance shows done for you personally and for dance in general?
A: I think these shows are a good thing, a lot of exposure for dance, a lot of exposure for dancers, and they’re entertaining. It is just that from these shows what I don’t like is people who think they can just get up off their couch and be a hip hop dancer, which is cool, but you have to really get into the whole lifestyle.
Q: How do you begin when you set out to do choreography for specific dancers, such as your recent MTV work with Supreme Soul, an eliminated team from “America’s Best Dance Crew?” Do you always teach from dance counts?
A: I teach with counts sometime, but I like to teach with sound effects just so they can get the musicality. I like for them to dance not on top of the beat. I like them to dance in the beat, like get in it. When I do counts, it is a different feel.
Q: What do you look for in performers physically, mentally?
A: I tell all dancers I hire not just on talent, but I hire dancers for spirit, their vibe. You know when you are going to be around someone for a while, it has to be a good vibe. I tell dancers they have to have the three Hs. They have to stay hungry. They have to stay humble and honest.
Q: Changing topics a little, I read that you went to college to play basketball. Do you think there are any similarities between playing a basketball game and dancing?
A: Oh heck yes. Both require athleticism. Like with basketball you have to use every muscle in your body. You have to be agile and do your thing. That’s the same thing with dance, especially with my style. My dancing actually helped out my game on the court.
Q: At 6’4” what are specific agility advantages or disadvantages because of your height?
A: It doesn’t affect my dancing in a bad way. I dance like I am short. I move really really quick with my feet, to the point, I have heard people I hire, smaller people, complain, “Wow I can’t get down there that fast.” Then, me being tall, my line looks a lot more graphic.
Q: Do have to work to maintain your physic and physical stamina other than through dancing.
A: I go to the gym. I had a trainer, but I am on my own now.
Q: What never changes in your daily regime?
A: My sit-ups, never. I try to get 200 a day. I do 100 early before I leave the house. And then I do 100 when I get back in before I go to sleep. I have always had to stay in training.
Q: You have had a really varied career. How did your work with Debbie Allen begin?
A: She started the Debbie Allen Dance Academy, and she was looking for teachers. She was looking at my credentials, and she sought me out. I went and met with her, and it was history from then. I taught at the academy the first year. Then she wanted to do a hip-hop intensive at her studio, and I was there. It has been going ever since.
Q: Tell me a little about the project with Debbie Allen, “Buffalo Flats.”
A: There was a little hold up after the writers’strike, but we are doing some rewrites now.
Q: So how is “Buffalo Flats” different?
A: It is tap. I am learning tap for Buffalo Flats, though I am not good. I love tap. I am intrigued about tap. What people don’t know, hip-hop and tap are the only true American known dance forms.
Q: What is the most stressful or demanding part of your life right now?
A: I would say not having enough time to do everything. Like I am booked out there, booked out here. It's a trip, not having time to do everything, but also having some time to do nothing, just sit here with my dogs.
Q: What are you spending most of your time on now?
A: I am just doing a lot of development with new artists. I am just trying to get people in place to come out big. As soon as that happens, I will be calling around to let people know.
Check out Dave Scott’s Web site and more great photographs at http://www.theofficialdavescott.com/
Terri Diffenderfer is a senior communications lecturer teaching news and feature writing and editing at the University of Nebraska at Kearney in Kearney, Nebr.