All the world’s streets lead to Las Vegas

Don’t underestimate the significance of the “world” in the name of the World Hip Hop Dance Championships, which return to the Orleans Arena Sunday.

Take, for instance, that morning last week when Howard Schwartz, co-creator of the event, recalls how he was on the phone late into the previous night trying to arrange visas for international competitors who were running into bureaucratic roadblocks.

But if all goes well, all glitches will have been worked out by this weekend, when those international dancers will join competitors from more than three dozen countries in showing off their moves to a panel of judges in hopes of being recognized as the best dance crews on the planet.

The world championships begin at 7 p.m. Sunday, and last year’s winner, the Rockwell Family, representing Canada, will be back to defend its title. In addition to viewing competing crews’ routines, audience members will be able to watch performances from dancers such as Lil Mama and the Jabbawockeez.

This year marks the event’s 13th anniversary and its seventh appearance in Las Vegas. Schwartz says that Las Vegas offers both “great venues” and great appeal not only for fans, but also for dancers who “just enjoy being here.”

This year’s championships are scheduled to include more than 3,500 dancers from 48 countries, making this the largest world championships ever, Schwartz says.

Sunday’s world championships actually cap off a weeklong program that includes dance battles, workshops and various dance competitions. Also scheduled to take place earlier this week were the U.S. Hip Hop Dance Championships, in which dance crews from across the country fought for the right to represent the United States at Sunday’s world championships.

Each participating country’s gold, silver and bronze medalist crews may compete in Sunday’s world championships. “So it’s very much like an Olympic event,” Schwartz says, “The dancers call this the (hip-hop dance) Olympics. It’s presented in that way and it’s exciting in that way.”

Also exciting is that audiences will be able to see not only an array of technical variations in street dance styles, but also enjoy a comprehensive overview of how street dance has evolved, and continues to evolve, in cultures around the world.

“I always say that every country has its streets,” Schwartz says, and dance crews competing in the world championships are encouraged to incorporate into their routines music, choreography and stylistic touches that represent their own cultures.

“We always say, ‘Add culture from your own country, add it to the routine and that makes it your own. Give it character and give it your signature moves,’ ” Schwartz says.

That, by the way, is what makes hip-hop such an exciting form of dance: Dancers from around the world see what others are doing and then add to and expand upon that.

“We talk to so many dance crews from other parts of the world, and we say, ‘Where do you get this?’ ” Schwartz says. “Everybody says, ‘We watched it on YouTube.’ That’s first and foremost, how they pick up the steps. But, then, the idea is to create your own.”

Each country may send as many as 12 dance crews to compete in youth, varsity and adult divisions. Then, Schwartz says, the world competition added a “megacrew” division three years ago.

“A crew is normally five to eight dancers,” he says. “With a megacrew, we’re talking 15 minimum and 40 maximum. So it’s really intricate, but at the same time an incredibly entertaining performance.”

For some dancers, just making it to Las Vegas for the championships will be a victory. That international dance crews wish to compete is “extremely meaningful to us, because most people don’t realize how very, very difficult it is for some nations to even get to America,” Schwartz says.

“I was up last night until 3 in the morning calling embassies in Nigeria and India and some other places in the world trying to assist (in) getting visas for some dancers who won their national championships and were looking forward to coming, and having a difficult time getting out of (their) country.”

Just about all of Europe will be represented again this year, Schwartz says, while Lebanon and Fiji are sending crews for the first time. “In spite of all that is going on in the world, to be able to say we have two dance crews coming from Ukraine is a remarkable story. Israel, same thing,” he says. “We have dance crews now in the midst of getting visas.”

That speaks to the nearly universal appeal of street dance, Schwartz says. “It’s very expressive, it’s very creative and the music touches people.”

Summerlin-based The Prodigy Dance Crew, founded by Kay More in 2009, planned to compete again this year, first in the nationals and then, members hoped, to represent the United States at Sunday’s world championships.

The Prodigy was winner of the junior division at the 2011 U.S. championships, won the silver medal in the junior division in 2012 and was a U.S. finalist last year.

More, an instructor at Studio One’s Summerlin Dance Academy, says The Prodigy this year is taking two crews, a junior crew and a varsity crew, to the championships.

More says hip-hop dance just could be “the fastest-growing dance genre in Las Vegas.” That, she suspects, stems at least in part from shows here that feature such hip-hop groups as the Jabbawockeez that have helped to expose mainstream audiences to street dance. The same is true, she notes, for Cirque du Soleil and other shows here that often feature hip-hop dance styles.

More expects the bar for this year’s world championships to be set high. “Definitely, the level is going up,” she says.

And while hip-hop is an American-born style of dance, More notes that many crews that come here from other countries benefit from corporate and even governmental financial sponsorship. U.S. crews generally don’t, she says, so “I think there are a couple of missing links.”

Who does she expect to be strong contenders at this year’s event? Keep an eye on New Zealand, she says. “They’ve been going hard the last couple of years.”

Contact reporter John Przybys at jprzybys@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0280.