(andPOP) - Almost 20 years after the baggy pants, the neck-bling that would make Flava Flav look modest, the entourages and the memorable moves, MC Hammer is back on the pop culture radar. This time, he’s showing the world how to dance, one instructional video at a time. While most of his early '90s celebrity peers have been consigned to reality shows and late night punch lines, Hammer’s been blogging, preaching and – most importantly – paying attention to what’s hot in the online world. Right now, what’s hot is dance.
MC Hammer and business partner Geoffrey Arone co-founded DanceJam.com, a social network aim to satisfy the dance-crazed masses. Think MySpace for dancers. The site allows users to interact with other dance aficionados or upload and share videos of themselves busting a move. Users can engage in the usual social networking tools, watch tutorials by professional choreographers and be entertained by complete amateurs.
“Dance itself is a social movement,” Hammer tells andPOP. “We want to help facilitate and introduce local dances to a national audience.”
Local dances like Chicago's footworkin', an underground break-dancing phenomenon that infuses tap, African tribal stylistics, and a kinetic like frenzy, are making waves on the dance scene despite being relegated to basement parties and backyard barbeques. Certain dances have attained mainstream hype and credibility almost solely because of their online success. If you don’t know how to crank that like Soulja Boy or how to do the Aunt Jackie, then you’re significantly behind millions of YouTubers that have replaced the Macarena, the Hustle and the Electric Slide with these urban dances. Soulja Boy’s now infamous six-step instructional video has evolved from a catchy dance that accompanied a ridiculously simple, lyrically shallow song to a suburban epidemic. It’s invaded high school hallways and NFL endzones, taken over dance clubs, and got Jimmy Kimmel acting a fool during the American Music Awards.
“Dance is being defined from the streets right now,” Hammer says. “From a pop perspective, user generated dances are what is driving dance throughout the country.”
This emergence of self-taught innovative dances is what MC Hammer hopes DanceJam can capitalize on and bring to the forefront of mainstream dance culture. But hip hop influenced dances won’t be the only genre DanceJam users will be exposed to. Hammer expects to usher in an old-school revival with instructional videos that will throwback to the dances of decades past. From shucking and jiving to twisting and shaking to moon walking, the site is looking at the genre's past to ignite its future.
Future Fred Astaires or Michael Jacksons could very well emerge from the social network as many choreographers will use the site as a way to cast videos and future projects. Dancers can market themselves on the site as well as take part in DanceJam competitions.
“Dance is inherently competitive. It happens organically at every wedding in the country when that old uncle gets up, grabs his belt and starts working it out,” Hammer laughs. “That is at the core of dance. So at DanceJam, the minute one kid from one high school puts out a video and declares himself the best, there’s going to be 10 others who are going to say ‘no I’m the best’.”
DanceJam will have a database featuring every high school and college in America allowing each school to represent itself with videos. Cheerleading competitions will also have their home on DanceJam, Hammer says. The site hopes to attract serious, hardcore dancers and also the amateurs who just love to shake what their mama gave them.
So if you’ve got two left feet and can’t two-step to save your life on a dance floor, DanceJam has got you covered. With features like an icon in the shape of a turtle that automatically puts the video in slow motion, users can take in the steps at their own pace. Hammer himself will lead an instructional video that will teach users to do the West Coast Cha, a West Coast spin on the traditional cha cha. Ballerinas and b-boys can learn to pop and lock or pirouette with the best in the business.
Dancejam’s hope is not to replace other social networks like Facebook and MySpace but to use their dance-specific features to entice people to treat Facebook and MySpace as "where they live" and DanceJam as "where they hang out," Hammer says.
The site is currently in invite-only beta mode but once it is up and running, MC Hammer is confident the site will change the scope of dance culture.
“While the other social networks are really good at what they do, we hope DanceJam will be the go-to place that can push dance to another level. The dance community has been starving for this.”
