DANCE | IMD LEGION

PROJECT GRAVITY GETS THE LOWDOWN ON IMD LEGION

ALL PHOTOS | CREDIT: Jodie Mason, IMD Photographer @imdlegion

Street Dance really took off in the 2010s with the arrival of super popular acts like Diversity and Flawless. Established in 2010, Londonbased IMD Legion was an integral part of the movement, attracting youngsters from all over the country to put their time and effort into dance rather than other avenues they may have been tempted down. IMD has gone on to become one of the UK’s leading dance crews, citing this as their purpose:

“To rise, learn, grow and be bold with every passing moment, setting high standards, a drive for success ,be a major impact, constantly persistent, setting levels or matching them whilst always keeping the audience entertained and on the edge of their seat. We aim to be grand and consistent with every quality of work produced on and off the stage, fighting for success as much as we need to breath , giving our all today for the next generations with and around us tomorrow.”

To find out a little more, Project Gravity’s Claire Middleton spoke to Omar A Awuah, the founder of IMD Legion. In this two-part feature, part one looks at the concept behind the crew, the challenges Omar has faced and why he thinks Street Dance’s popularity has passed its peak.

OMAR, PLEASE TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT IMD LEGION.

Sure, we started in 2010 with the initial concept of getting young boys off the street. I took a bunch of lads and put the crew together and from there we went on then to do our first competition which we won straight away! After that we just expanded. It was quite revolutionary at the time, because it wasn’t that common to have young lads wanting to dance. Then, with acts like Diversity and George Samson, there was a big spike in boys wanting to take up dance. Before then, it was all about football, but at this point in time things changed and dance was becoming a popular choice for lads.

IMD has gone on to enjoy some real success. We’ve been on several national tv shows like Britain’s Got Talent, Got to Dance and X Factor, and have featured on music videos for artists such as Charlie Sloth, Naughty Boy, Mc Fioti and more. The crew has been lucky enough to perform in front of thousands of people at iconic venues such as the Hammersmith Apollo, Excell London, o2 Arena and Wembley Arena.

WHAT’S BEEN YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGE SO FAR?

Every year has its challenges, but lockdown has definitely been a big one. Working out how to manoeuvre around the restrictions has been tough. But if we remove lockdown from the picture, it was probably in 2015 when we were on Britain’s Got Talent. At the time I had three acts that I was working with - one was an IMD member I was choreographing for called Bonetics, then there was IMD itself, then I was creative director for a group called Entity. Juggling them was challenging. Additionally I had another young act who was on a TV show called Next Step on CBBC, and I was helping him out with coaching etc. So that year was manic, trying to manage four acts back-to-back. I was wearing a lot of different hats at that time - I was choreographer, music producer, sorting out mixes etc, I was also working alongside Brian Friedman and working hard to keep him happy, so it was a lot of work!

HOW BIG IS THE UK’S STREET DANCE SCENE AT THE MOMENT?

In my opinion, it’s dwindled a little recently, although I’m sure some people would argue with me on that. But I think that it was natural. The hype that was created by acts such as Flawless and Diversity was great for the UK, because before that dance was just something you did for fun, whereas in various other countries it’s always been taken a little more seriously. But these acts burst onto the scene and got everyone into dance, which was great but that kind of hype can’t last forever.

Check out IMD here https://www.imdofficial. com/#imd