Streetdance on the stage: A craze or high art?

As a new streetdance show opens at the Barbican in London, the BBC'S Will Gompertz examines if this form of contemporary dance has now become high art.

'Successfully forming a bridge between the street and the elite'?

I have only limited experience of seeing live street dance and to be honest most of that has pulled elements of street dance into more 'conventional' contemporary dance - 2faced Dance Company, Dance United, State of Emergency - all companies I enjoyed hugely.

I think the current and growing success of street dance is a positive development. As the artistic director of Sadler's Wells says, it has virtuosity, form and sometimes a narrative, which means it is fully compatible with other forms of dance. Street dance has the kind of community-based appeal that seems so essential in an arts environment where the agenda is so focused on widening participation, and it appeals to a younger audience, which is a huge opportunity to bring a new generation into theatres, hopefully sparking a love of and interest in performance that will stay with some of them for their entire lives.

Participation in dance has been shown to have huge benefits in improving the behaviour and attitude of young people, especially young men. The success of street dance acts on TV talent shows has strongly suggested that the appeal is wider than just the 'young'. The vocabulary of street is perhaps more comprensible or accessible (or simply more technically flashy) than more established forms of dance, where arguably a general TV audience might simply switch off or tune out, thinking classical or contemporary dance is not 'for them'.

Whether street dance is 'high art' or not is another question. Technically it requires huge skill. Many young contemporary dancers seem to have moved from street into conventional dance or physical theatre in time, broadening (or deepening) their training and ability to express physically in other art forms.

But street dance generally has a limited range of expression, an over-reliance on 'urban' themes  - gangs, brotherhood, conflict, competition, aggression - and musically can be hard to listen to if you're not a fan of urban, rap or hip-hop - although it often has huge excitement and a genuine wow factor. With it's reliance on creating shapes and structure and playing with symmetry, street dance also generally plays straight to the fourth wall - the front - in a way that most contemporary dance does not, although narrative ballet still directs the action towards an audience in this way. 

If street dance can continue to develop and break free from those limitations - if indeed that is even a fair assessment - and there's every indication that it can, then it will likely consolidate its position within the mainstream - or does that defeat the object?