dOWN

Josh Cameron BIO

For the majority of his artistic practice Josh “Jammin’” Cameron has primarily focused on researching and developing his proficiency and immersion in Street, Club and Cultural Dance with emphasis on Breaking, Hip Hop, and House as well as Hustle, Dancehall, Vogue, Locking, Popping, Litefeet and Waacking. He has a deep and long standing practice of immersing himself in the complex and diverse facets of cultural gatherings including but not limited to battles, clubbing, Ballroom events, and traditional knowledge transfer from the expertise of Pioneers and Innovators worldwide. Josh’s unique approach to dance stems from his synthesis of these Street Dance foundations along with extensive training in Martial Arts as well as a wide variety of Contemporary and experimental movement modalities. These crossovers have culminated in his involvement in disseminating work that utilizes the strengths of multiple methodologies of Street and Contemporary Dance to create work for stage and film.

Josh has been teaching dance since September 2012. He is passionate about delivering dance programming to the community that bridges gaps between artforms and educative schematics, methodologies and languages by teaching collaborative multidisciplinary classes intersecting multiple dance genres with music theory education, voice and speech, and creative writing. Josh has aligned his long-standing teaching practice with the grassroots, non-profit organization, Barangay Project Society where he is acting Vice President. The organization highly prioritizes BIPOC communities of all ages in Western Canada with nurturing connections for safe and accessible art programs for youth and emerging artists to pursue careers in the arts.

“En route. Same destination. Different schedules.”
In our day to day, week to week, and larger segmentations of time throughout our lives we are
consistently traversing, commuting, moving, crossing, journeying through many modes of
locomotion. Even at perceived states of stillness, such as during sleep, the mind continues to wander
through the fantastical worldbuildings of our subconscious mind by way of our dreams.
Dance is a sort of worldbuilding that centers the journey of traversing music and other rhythmic
soundscapes. Different music will inspire and initiate different movement journeys and embodied
experiences in different listeners.
Now consider the musical journeys of dance mixed with the experience and intricacies of spatial
journeys and different modes of locomotion. Take for example the variety of small dances of
passengers queuing for the bus. The unspoken routines and seemingly choreographic filing of those
passengers embarking and eventually disembarking said bus at the terminus. The disbursement of
their paths as they reemerge from the vessel once again pedestrian. Consider the bus ride itself; its
unique processes and interactions such as the inertia of the acceleration and deceleration. A
standing passenger with their luggage on the way to the airport vs a sleeping passenger with only
their person.
How could all of these specific, pedestrian movements be translated to stage and performed
rhythmically as an ensemble; a mosaic of musically driven movement?
________________________________________________________________________
Other examples of spatial journeys with intertwined but individual unfoldings:
● The same group of friends getting ready to go to an event. Separately in their own spaces
and then converging closer to the event
● Smaller journeys in confined spaces such as an art gallery exhibit or museum
● Walking speeds on an escalator
● Rollercoaster/ Amusement park rides
● The assembly of devices on a conveyor belt at a manufacturing plant
● House of mirrors/ Haunted House
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MUSIC
When researching music, consider songs that evolve through their duration introducing multiple
layers that rise and fall throughout the track which invoke not only movement and dance but
locomotion and travel as well. What music would propel your journey? What music would you play
on a road trip? What music inspires you to walk with conviction? What music inspires you to stroll?
Where are you going? How will the music get you there by the end of the song?