Leader
Samuel McIntosh
Location
11001 Euclid Ave, Cleveland, OH 44106 Cleveland, OH 44106
Presented by 10K Movement, the third annual Lords of The Land (LoTL) is a weekend-long international summer festival bringing authentic Hip Hop culture to Cleveland, Ohio and the surrounding region. The main day will be hosted at Severance Hall on Saturday, July 29th and will feature three Hip Hop & Street Dance battle tournaments in three distinct Street dance genres.
LoTL 3 highlights the excellence, athleticism and artistry of the dancers in these American folk genres, providing local dancers an international platform to showcase their skills, hard work & individual flavor. Dancers compete for $3000 of cash prizes on the line for the coveted LoTL championship title.
The festivities are open to the general public, and include:
LoTL 3 provides firsthand access to these dance forms for the local youth, aspiring young professionals, and the larger community. This culminating summer event is part of 10K Movement’s larger work addressing the need for a more equitable infrastructure for dancers & artists.
The Steps
The core 10K team fell in love with Hip Hop [music/culture] for different reasons—its wordplay, story-telling capacity, and social justice imperatives to name a few. When we began to learn different forms of Street dance, which are all improvisational by nature, dance quickly became more than just a hobby. It became a personal practice, a creative playground, a vocation, and a viable discipline requiring hours upon hours (10,000 to be exact) to hone.
Generally defined by its four main elements of MCing, DJing, Breaking (dance), and Graffiti, as well as its five values of Peace, Love, Unity, Having Fun & Knowledge—Hip Hop is the most impactful folk culture on the planet. LoTL provides a firsthand example for how Hip Hop creates an environment of organic exchange, conversation, and connection between people of all backgrounds through the music and culture.
LoTL exists firstly for the dancers, but all are welcome and encouraged to attend in order to experience Hop culture's five values in action. We want new audiences to walk away from the weekend with a fresh outlook on Hip Hop, tor their personal dance, and a renewed sense of connection with one another. LoTL 3 will continue to create awareness of these American folk genres in our community, open doors for partnerships & collaboration, and paid jobs for dancers & artists in the Greater Cleveland community.
The broader needs that LoTL address are as follows:
We likewise want our home city to be considered seriously as a major hub for the Street dance community, and recognized as such in the broader arts world. Having contributed to these cultural inventions all throughout their creation, and evolution, Cleveland & Northeast Ohio hosts an entire community and sub communities who practice, cultivate, and evolve these Black and Latino American art forms.