From the street to the spotlight
Self-taught dancer Steve Bolton runs one of Canada’s largest hip hop dance complexes
“Mom says I was moving to music before I could walk.”
Steve Bolton
You may not recognize Steve Bolton’s name, but there’s a good chance, if you love dance, that you’ve seen the results of his urban-dance labours.
Bolton’s 8 Count Dance Complex in Dollard des Ormeaux has produced some of the most exciting urban dancers in Canada.
Four of his dancers made it to the Top 20 on So You Think You Can Dance Canada. Three of them made it to the Top 10.
His Blueprint Cru was the first non-american crew to be invited to compete on Randy Jackson’s America’s Best Dance Crew (Season 5), on MTV. They placed second. The crew went on to win the World of Dance Best International Crew Award in 2011. Last month, Reebok launched a Blueprint Cru shoe called The Pump.
(Members of Blueprint Cru will be judging the Canadian Hip Hop Championships at the Sheraton Laval on Sunday.)
You can catch Bolton’s all-girl dance crew Irratik on Season 7 of ABDC, currently airing in Canada on Much Music, Sundays at 8 p.m. This week, they tackle a Madonna song. It’s the first time in ABDC history that two crews from the same studio have made it onto the show.
Irratik is four-time Canadian Hip Hop champion and a two-time silver-medal winner at the World Hip Hop Championships. It tied for gold at the worlds in 2009.
Bolton’s all-boy crew The Brat Pack made it to the semifinals of Canada’s Got Talent before being eliminated t wo weeks ago, and Bolton just got named the Canadian representative for the World of Dance – the largest international urban-dance competition in the United States.
Bolton, 35, is a native Montrealer with no formal dance training.
“I guess I was born at the right time,” Bolton said during a lengthy chat at 8 Count two weeks ago. He’d flown in from Los Angeles, where he was working with Irratik, and was booked to return to L.A. the same day.
“Mom says I was moving to music before I could walk,” he said. “i was dancing fame on stage when I was 4 years old. When I was 5 years old I got people at a wedding screaming when I did Michael Jackson’s moonwalk. I’d watched his performance on Motown’s 25th Anniversary Special again and again until I got it.”
Bolton’s first paid gig came out of the blue. He was discovered while freestyling on top of a large speaker in a night club when he was 17 years old.
“A guy asked me if I wanted to dance for a music artist and that led to my first professional gig with a singer named Jacynthe,” he said. “Before that, my friends and I danced on the street and in our basements.”
Bolton had nothing against formal training back then, he just didn’t give it much thought. Unfortunately, his first encounter with a ballet class went horribly wrong.
After high school, Bolton registered as a theatre student at John Abbott College. Taking ballet class was mandatory.
The day of his first ballet class, the teacher discovered him practicing some of his moves in the studio. He loved the open space and the mirrors. The teacher asked him what he was doing.
“I told her I was dancing,” Bolton said. “She told me that unless I had formal training and technique, I was not a dancer. I didn’t take that well. I walked out and never went back.”
He eventually completed his creative arts studies at the college.
The sting of the ballet teacher’s words didn’t discourage Bolton, they fuelled his determination to dance bigger and better.
He began to teach hip hop dance and loved it. He began to choreograph for Jacynthe, and loved it. He went to the United States to watch and learn and dance. His three-week stay stretched to six months after he was spotted dancing in a battle (the name given to a competitive urban-dance happening) and began dancing in music videos.
Bolton has now taught, danced and judged all over the world, but Montreal is his home and 8 Count is his baby. About that name. Street dance is all about free flow and spontaneity. Music is not counted. It is felt. But after immersing himself in the dance studio and choreography scene, Bolton became very strict about counting to the music. His streetdance friends ribbed him all the time about calling out for eight counts of this move and eight counts of that step.
So when he finally opened his first, very modest studio “the size of our present-day lobby” 10 years ago, he named it 8 count. that first year, he had 170 students. Then he produced and choreographed a slick, year-end show. The next year he had 488 students.
He now has one of the largest hip hop dance complexes in Canada with five studios and more than 900 students.
Bolton has grown to appreciate the skill of a well-rounded, versatile dancer.
He now insists that his dancers train in all the different genres, be it ballet, tap, ballroom or contemporary.
“Dance in its purest form is moving to music,” Bolton said. “Professional dance, on the other hand, is the result of a lot of really hard work. Don’t shut out anything. Formal training is very important. Who knows what would have happened if I had been encouraged by that ballet teacher.”
Bolton trains his dance crews to attain the highest levels of professionalism and will not tolerate slackers. His motto is “Raise the bar” – also the name of the huge, annual hip hop workshop he organizes through 8 Count.
“Family and school work always take priority, but after that it’s all about the dance,” Bolton said.
He considers stellar urbandance choreographer and fellow Canadian Luther Brown his mentor and counts Australian choreographer Wade Robson and the American duo Tabitha and Napoleon D’umo (who are also known as “Nappytabs”) among his idols.
These days, his Blueprint Cru dancers are taking on extra responsibilities. cruve teranlorena Liebman now choreographs for both Irratik and The Brat Pack and Thien-linh “TL” Truong manages Cru’s busy schedule.
This frees Bolton up to take on the role of artistic director – the big-picture guy.
“I see Lorena taking (the choreography) further,” Bolton said. “And I’m thrilled. She’s making sure the legacy continues.”
Bolton doesn’t have much down time, but when he does he can be found at a game console. He describes himself as “hardcore gamer.”
When Ubisoft called in 2009, wondering if Bolton would be interested in choreographing Michael Jackson: The Experience video game, he thought he’d died and gone to heaven.
Not only did he know gaming, Jackson is his absolute favourite artist.
“Meeting Michael was on my bucket list, but it didn’t happen,” Bolton said. “So to have the opportunity to be part of his world, in even the tiniest fashion, was a thrill. I got the call while I was sitting on a terrace in L.A. and I yelled really loud. I didn’t care who heard me. If I had to quit tomorrow, I’m good.”
That said, he still has dreams. He has choreographed for both SYTYCDC and SYTYCD Poland, but there remains one more big egg to crack.
“I wouldn’t mind being asked to choreograph for (Season 9) of So You Think You Can Dance (U.S.) this summer,” Bolton said. “But I want my mentor Luther to be asked first.”
America’s Best Dance Crew airs on Muchmusic, Sunday at 8 p.m. For information about 8 Count, the Canadian Hip Hop Championships or Blueprint Cru appearances, visit 8count.ca.