hip

Hip Hop International, which turns 25 this year, brought some of the world’s best dance crews and choreographers to mainstream attention. Groups including Jabbawockeez and Quest Crew, and choreographers such as Parris Goebel (Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Justin Bieber) and Sienna Lalau (BTS, Blackpink, Ciara) all got their start through the group’s annual dance competition, which connected dance cultures in a pre-YouTube era through global shared artistry when breaking was a mostly underground activity.

This year’s weeklong contest concludes Saturday in Phoenix, when a new world champion will be crowned. Involving 3,000 dancers from 55 countries, the competition has grown to be among the largest in the world due to the efforts of founders Howard and Karen Schwartz, whose globetrotting history led to HHI’s current prominence in the dance world.

In the late 1980s, the Schwartzes were known as “the mother and father of aerobics.” The duo were pioneers of the aerobics craze that gripped the nation and helped create the National Aerobic Championship. ESPN followed the Schwartzes’ competitions, as did the Soviet Union, which was in the midst of the massive social, economic and cultural upheaval that culminated with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

B-Boy Vico from France was the winner of Hip Hop International’s World Battles in 2023.

(Steven Lam)

Soon after, the Soviet Union asked the Schwartzes to bring their aerobic champions to teach fitness and aerobics there, Karen said. So they did.

“We grew that,” Howard said, adding that the aerobics championship became “almost as big as what HHI is now. We were all over the world with it.”

The pair later transitioned out of aerobics but still had the desire to create communal experiences. While traveling, the Schwartzes went to Paris and saw kids breaking on the street. The seed of an idea was planted. It blossomed later on a trip to Tokyo, as they emerged from a subway.

“We were walking and we saw a group of dancers that were practicing in the streets, but utilizing a storefront window reflection where it became a mirror,” said Karen, who was struck by the creativity of the art form.

When the Schwartzes first began to establish HHI, they reached out to people who would lend credibility, including Don Campbell, creator of the street dance style Locking; Ken Swift, a longtime b-boy and member of the Rock Steady Crew; and Toni Basil, a member of the 1970s dance crew the Lockers (with Campbell) and singer of the ’80s hit “Mickey.”

Basil has since received HHI’s Icon Award and is often a judge during championship weeks and worldwide competitions. She is a stalwart ambassador of dance worldwide. The Lockers were the first group of dancers to travel outside of the “Soul Train” sphere to be seen on television as a singular act. They appeared on “The Tonight Show” and “The Carol Burnett Show,” and were among the first crews to legitimize the art form by making a living from it.

“I don’t know how Karen and Howard organize it,” Basil said of the HHI competitions, noting that so many “kids get to come to America. It’s a big deal. It’s their life. It’s incredible. And to be dancing morning, noon and night, that’s a serotonin-raising life. I mean, everybody’s high on dance.”

Basil touts the international expansion of hip-hop dance and says that “there’s no more important crew battles in the world than HHI. Period.” She also said that HHI’s penchant for group choreography in the U.S. has translated worldwide. Dancers like Goebel and Lalau have graduated from the HHI community to stand on global stages as choreographers and artistic directors with music’s biggest artists.

Goebel operates out of Auckland, New Zealand, in a dance studio she created called the Palace. Her large dance crew, the Royal Family, helped establish the mold of choreographer-dancer-musician after unprecedented success at the HHI competition.

“Definitely the Royal Family competing at HHI and winning three gold medals in a row gave us international recognition for the dance crew and in turn made the Palace well known as I had many crews coming of out my studio,” Goebel wrote in an email.

Lalau‘s classes during the competition week at the HHI championships are coveted events, and she has led numerous classes and groups for the Lab, a Los Angeles-based hip-hop dance crew and studio.

“As my career evolved, I realized HHI is about so much more than competition,” Lalau wrote in an email. “It’s a place where culture, community, and creativity come together. That mindset has stayed with me throughout my career. Whether I’m creating for an artist, building a cast, or teaching a class, I always come back to the idea that the strongest work comes from collaboration.”

In 2008 the Schwartzes’ success led to them serve as producers for the Emmy Award-winning “America’s Best Dance Crew,” an MTV dance competition series that ran for eight seasons. Success stories from the show include crews such as the Jabbawockeez, which has been a fixture in Las Vegas since its first-season win, Quest Crew, Snoop Dogg and Far East Movement.

“ABDC” shone a spotlight on background performers and treated its participants with respect. JC Chasez, a member of N*Sync who also served as a judge on the show and was a talent competition participant himself, wrote in an email that he was excited to be in the mix.

“I know a lot of shows are about the judges, but I thought ‘ABDC’ did a really good job at making sure the audience at home knew that the stars of the show were the dancers,” Chasez wrote.

Chasez, now a producer on the Broadway musical “Titanique,” also noted that “ABDC” alumni are everywhere.

“I’ve really been enjoying seeing crew members succeed … on different projects,” he said. “I was in New York for the Tonys, and some of the people in ‘Jellicle Ball,’ … had competed on ‘Dance Crew.’”

Now that it’s hit the 25-year mark, supporters believe HHI will continue to evolve along with hip-hop dance itself. Always looking forward while reaching back to keep the past alive.

Reinvention is necessary, Chasez said, because hip-hop music today no longer sounds like it did in the ’80s.

“And so as the sonics change and as the rhythms evolve, I think that’s where interpretations will continue to evolve as well because they are visualizing the rhythms that you’re hearing and telling a story in a unique way.”

Lalau said she expects the next 25 years will bring even more authentic creativity, but that she hopes “that we still prioritize the human side of dance [over tech advancements]. Hip-hop has always been rooted in community, connection and self-expression.”

“We really are so proud of a number of the things that we have been able to accomplish, because it’s made a difference,” Karen Schwartz said of herself and her husband, adding that it’s hard to stop and think about those things because they’re so busy thinking about the future.

“That’s the problem, actually,” Howard said. “We’re constantly, ‘What can we do next? What can make the experience better for everyone?’

“Our ultimate goal is of course to bring ‘ABDC’ back,” he said, “and we haven’t stopped trying.”

Until then, a new world champion will be crowned Saturday night, continuing a tradition that has become much more than a trend.

Thinking back on the last two years of his life full of album releases, filming schedules and tour dates, Finn Wolfhard requires squint-inducing concentration to keep it all straight.

“Jesus, a lot has happened,” he says, looking surprised. That’s an understatement.

In that time, the 23-year-old not only finished filming the Netflix hit show “Stranger Things,” which catapulted him to global stardom, and promoted the final season upon its premiere. He also released his feature film directorial debut (“Hell of a Summer,” co-directed with Billy Bryk, which hit theaters in April 2025). Then, he starred in another movie (A24’s creature feature “The Legend of Ochi”), directed a posthumous George Harrison stop-motion music video, wrote, recorded and put out his first solo album (“Happy Birthday”), and embarked on a 22-date tour before recording a new album.

On a video call from his family home in Vancouver, Canada, where he lives with his parents and older brother, he’s chatting about the release of that record, the eclectic, guitar-driven “Fire From the Hip,” which dropped Friday.

“I think it’s a nice day?” he offers when I ask what’s happening in Vancouver. “I don’t know. I’ve been in my basement studio all day, so I don’t … I think it’s nice.”

He’s been down in the basement doing press calls like this, he explains, undoubtedly a familiar routine after so many years in the limelight. He wears a baseball cap and an oversize brown sweater, tugging on the sleeves while he ponders.

Even if Wolfhard is exhausted by the press marathon, he doesn’t show it. He’s excited for the chance to be known on his own terms. He never fails to express gratitude for the projects that afforded him recognition and opportunity, but he’s ready to “take control of the narrative.”

“I spent my whole childhood standing on marks that other people told me to stand on and saying lines that other people told me to say,” he says. “Why wouldn’t I want to make my own stuff?”

Being in control also means being the face of the operation. Before “Happy Birthday” and “Fire From the Hip,” Wolfhard released a total of two records and an EP, plus a whole bunch of singles, with his previous bands, Calpurnia and the Aubreys. Being in a band was a natural fit for Wolfhard, who thrives in an ensemble where he can “hide behind the band name.”

Touring last year was his first time seeing his own name on the marquee.

“It’s just straight up me, and if I suck, I suck,” he laughs. “It’s not like I can be like, ‘Oh, man, we’re having disagreements in the band.’ It’s like, no, that’s you. So there was a little more pressure early on.”

Finn Wolfhard released “Fire From the Hip” on Friday.

(Victoria Stevens)

Stepping into the spotlight required Wolfhard, who admits he shies away from conflict, to own both the pressure and the power of being the one audiences came to hear.

When he got sick and had to cancel a show in Portland, Ore., he remembers feeling crushingly sad “letting down” his fans and bandmates — who, of course, assured him it was outside of his control and urged him not to be so hard on himself.

Wolfhard introduced many of the songs that ended up becoming “Fire From the Hip” to his bandmates while they were still on tour, and he says playing them live “cultivated the spirit” of the eventual recordings. Despite his collaborative ethos, there was a moment during the process where he had to learn how to put his foot down in real time.

“I remember suggesting something and people being like, ‘Ah, I don’t know if I want to do that.’ And I was like, ‘No, you don’t get to do that to me. It’s my record,’” he remembers. “It was very innocent — I don’t think there was much ego on either side. But I think I maybe set up too collaborative of an experience that day.”

“I think I sometimes make it feel like a democracy, which it is in a lot of ways,” he adds. “But also, in the end, it is up to me.”

That thought is echoed in the album’s cover art, an image of two miniature Finn Wolfhards facing off, donning colonial garb and brandishing weapons. It’s meant to represent dueling impulses inside of him, he explains.

Wolfhard, a true-blue music nerd, has been described online as an archetypical example of the “child of a Gen X cool dad,” in the same vein as Olivia Rodrigo. (His dad, a former screenwriter turned lawyer and Indigenous rights researcher, does sound cool, but it was his mom who first introduced him to the Beatles. His parents apparently met over a Stone Roses record.)

That sensibility is evident in his musical influences — “I wanted everything [on drums] to sound like the first two Wilco records,” he says — and in his approach to recording. “Happy Birthday” was recorded almost entirely on four-track cassette tapes, while “Fire From the Hip” uses 24-track reel-to-reel.

The album runs the gamut from its cheeky, surf-rock opener “I’ll Let You Finish” (yes, that is a reference to Kanye West’s infamous speech at the 2009 VMAs) to more ’90s alt-inspired tunes to a surprising dose of straightforward country-folk.

Lyrically, Wolfhard divides his songs into two categories: the “very personal” and the story songs written around books he was reading (“Knockemstiff” by Donald Ray Pollock) or quotes that made him laugh. The personal themes he explores are exactly what you would expect from an early-20s rocker raised in the public eye — namely, relationship expectations and existential fears about the future.

On the nostalgic piano ballad “Good Morning,” he imagines what it might be like to settle down somewhere “with a dog and a wife.”

“I haven’t lived that part of my life yet,” he says now. “So I can really easily get lost in thinking about what that looks like.”

When it comes to sharing his music, especially the more vulnerable tracks, Wolfhard knows his “Stranger Things” fame is the elephant in the room. Anything he sings can and might be used against him in the court of public opinion.

“I could either kind of say nothing and be totally private, because it is scary knowing that everything I say, at least one person will take it a certain way that I wouldn’t want them to. But I just don’t have the control,” he says.

“So if I don’t have the control, then there’s nothing really that I can do, other than try to be as truthful and passionate and well-meaning as I possibly can, you know?”

The double-edged sword of fandom hasn’t stopped Wolfhard or his musically-inclined “Stranger Things” co-stars from pursuing this path. Fellow Hawkins alums Joe Keery (who releases music under the moniker Djo) and Maya Hawke are indie darlings in their own right, and Wolfhard has previously referred to Keery as a mentor. None of them face the unique challenge of relatability in quite the same way, however.

“I’m aware that my specific problems are maybe not as relatable because of how specific of a life I have,” he said. “The only thing I can hope for is that some other person out there listens to it and relates to the same things that I do.”

Sometimes an air of wistfulness accompanies these admissions. When asked about how he feels about Los Angeles, he tells me that it’s complicated: “I think if I wasn’t a young actor, it would be a very different situation.” His favorite parts of the city are its repertory cinemas and lush neighborhoods like Mount Washington, where his godfather resides, because they look the most like Vancouver.

That said, he’s not through with Hollywood. He’ll be back in L.A. for an Oct. 13 show at the Fonda Theatre, and acting and directing are still on the agenda. He would like his next film project — other than the Matt Johnson and Bong Joon Ho projects he’s already committed to, of course — to be something more “personal.”

For now, though, the focus is music. Wolfhard launches a new tour this month, and he’s most looking forward to “doing dumb s—” with his friends.

He tells a quick story to illustrate: When he and the band last toured in Glasgow, Scotland, he was trying to leave the venue without being noticed. (“I have a hard time dealing with fan interaction,” he says.)

“We kind of made it into this joke thing, knowing it wouldn’t work, where me and Rand, my guitarist, were like, ‘let’s switch clothes.’ Rand pretended to be me and I pretended to be Rand,” he says. Miraculously, it worked up until the “very last second” before they stepped on the bus.

“I couldn’t help myself,” he says: He instinctively made eye contact with someone in the crowd. “They did a double take, like, ‘Wait, what?’”

It sounds like a scene straight out of “A Hard Day’s Night” — or maybe inspiration for his next film.

“I’m pretty in my head about things and want them to be a certain way,” he says. “The thing that I have to remind myself all the time is that, like, dude, you’re with your friends, you’re playing music — it’s the best.”

While Toone was absent, others have taken their opportunity in an England shirt.

Aston Villa midfielder Lucia Kendall impressed in England’s 1-0 victory over Spain, while Manchester City’s Laura Blindkilde Brown started against Iceland.

United team-mate Jess Park has also played in the number 10 position, while Chelsea’s Lauren James is an option if she is not used as a winger.

While Toone says she has enjoyed watching her team-mates thrive, she is eager to prove herself to manager Sarina Wiegman again this week.

“You are never guaranteed to be selected, no matter what your journey has been like in an England shirt,” said Toone.

“Every time the squad comes out, you’re still worried you might not make it. Missing the last few camps, I knew I had to make myself available for this selection.

“I came to the last camp to see Alessia [Russo] and the girls and I reminded Sarina that I’m a number 10 and I’ll be ready for the next camp.”

Despite her eagerness to impress Wiegman, Toone says she has to remember “not to put too much pressure” on herself and to enjoy her return to action.

“I do play my best football when there is no pressure. That is what I’ve tried to do. I know I’ve been out for a long time,” she added.

“I made sure I used the time wisely and I feel like I’m in a really good place.”

Arsenal striker Alessia Russo, Toone’s best friend, says it is nice to have her “comfort blanket” back in the England squad for this month’s matches.

“I obviously did miss her when she wasn’t here. Everyone kept asking me if I was OK. I was like: ‘I’m fine!’

“She’s worked so hard to get back. Injuries are rubbish but she’s really matured over the last year or two and within her body. I’m really happy to have her back.”

Anaheim Ducks forward Troy Terry needs hip surgery that could endanger his availability at the start of next season.

Terry has a chronic hip impingement, the Ducks revealed Thursday in their postseason injury report. Anaheim’s first postseason since 2018 ended last week in the second round with a six-game loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.

The Ducks haven’t finalized a date for Terry’s hip surgery or a definite time frame for his recovery.

Terry has been Anaheim’s most consistent offensive player for the past half-decade, scoring at least 19 goals and 50 points each year. He scored 57 points last season before adding three goals and eight assists in 12 playoff games — the first postseason contests of his career.

The team also confirmed that goal-scoring forward Cutter Gauthier played with two fractured vertebrae in his back during the postseason. Gauthier was hurt in late March, but only missed five games before returning and eventually scoring 12 points in the postseason.

Captain Radko Gudas sprained his ankle in the Ducks’ playoff opener and didn’t return to the lineup, but he would have been available if Anaheim had advanced to another round. So would forward Ryan Poehling, who has been cleared after incurring a concussion from an illegal hit by Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb, who was suspended for a game.

Defenseman Pavel Mintyukov sprained a ligament in his knee, but he will be ready for training camp.

On a Thursday night in West Hollywood, a sleek, multi-level townhome is filled with stylish guests holding fragrance vials the way partygoers cling to cocktails. They raise scents to their noses as they mingle and float through the space.

In one nook, two well-known faces in the fragrance community, Tishni Weerasinghe (@thatbrownperfumegirl) and Chase Chapman (@thescentchase), host stations with their favorite home scents — pre-bedtime spritzes to everyday comforts for working from home — as a small group leans in, asking questions and noting which scents resonate. Inhaling the blend of white musk, floral notes and amber of Rouat Al Musk by Lattafa, a $16 fragrance from Weerasinghe’s collection, attendees oooh and nod in enthusiastic approval.

In another corner, guests try fragrance pairings, scents expertly paired with drinks, letting the aroma and flavors mingle through their senses. Outside on the rooftop, the crowd spills into smaller conversations over refreshments and city views.

Sarah Bowen, co-founder of the Smellers Club, sniffs a fragrance.

This is the Smellers Club. To an outsider, it might seem like a gathering centered around a niche fixation, but within this world, fragrance is much more expansive. Here, it’s a bridge between people, a tool for self-expression, a way to understand your own taste and increasingly, a reason to connect. The night’s gathering is taking place in the home of Daniel Scott and Ronn Richardson, the duo behind the fine home fragrance line Space.

Some guests are simply scent-curious, while others have deep roots in the world of fragrance. One attendee, Jess Blaise, the co-founder of Haitian Spotlight LA, credits her Haitian heritage and the fragrance rituals modeled by her mother for her connection to scent. She recently purchased a bottle of Carnal Flower by Frederic Malle for her personal collection, a luxe tuberose known for its white floral profile and appeal among niche collectors. Of her culture, she explains, “Part of your presentation — of dressing up — is your scent.”

The gathering was hosted in the home of Daniel Scott, left, and Ronn Richardson, co-founders of the home fragrance brand Space. Space offers a range of luxury home fragrances and candles.

Across Los Angeles, fragrance clubs are transforming what was once a solo ritual into something communal. From rooftop gatherings in West Hollywood to casual park meetups further east, these hangouts tap into a growing desire for laid-back, low-stimulation ways to spend time together, offering an alternative to the usual rotation of restaurants, bars and crowded nights out.

Reverie of Scent turns a small nook of Elysian Park into a mini fragrance lounge on Saturday mornings once a month. Founded in November 2025 by Marian Botrous, with support from her husband, Errol, and her sister, Marlene, the club started with just four members at the first meetup. By their sixth gathering this past April, attendance had quintupled, with a mix of regulars and newcomers at every session.

“It’s a huge world,” Botrous says of perfume. “Exploring it together makes it more interesting.”

Fragrance lovers hang out on the rooftop at Smellers Club’s West Hollywood gathering.

At her picnic-like gatherings, attendees show up with blankets, snacks and scents to swap or discuss. With 2-milliliter samples running up to $12, “collecting new scents gets expensive fast,” Bostrous says. “Our meetups make it accessible and fun.”

There’s a mix of casual socializing and structured discussion — conversations have explored the motivations behind wearing fragrance, from seduction to personal comfort, as well as the cultural impact of certain perfumes, like Chanel No. 5 and its connection to Marilyn Monroe and old-school luxury glamour. At one meetup, a member brought in a fragrance called Scentless Apprentice, inspired by the novel “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer” by Patrick Süskind (which Kurt Cobain loved so much that he wrote the Nirvana song “Scentless Apprentice”).

Artist Megan Lindeman, who founded Silverlake Scent Club in August 2025, is also bringing people together to explore scent as a shared social experience. Lindeman says she was inspired by Los Angeles’ broader scent culture and a curiosity about what it would feel like to center smell in a communal setting. The group meets monthly in her Silver Lake backyard, where attendees explore fragrance as both material and memory.

Black Girl Perfume Club was founded in 2023 by Taylyn Washington-Harmon, launching online before expanding into in-person meetups. Across Substack, Instagram and IRL gatherings, it brings together fragrance lovers and newcomers eager to deepen their understanding in an interactive way. “I started the club back when fragrance’s popularity was still pretty niche, and now seeing it move into the mainstream is really exciting,” says Washington-Harmon. As interest grows, she hopes more people will also explore the range of artistry produced by Black-owned fragrance lines.

Back at the house in West Hollywood, people continue to vibe at the event led by Sarah Bowens and Jon Kidd, Los Angeles natives and the duo behind the Smellers Club, launched in January. They’re siblings-in-law who grew up together in the church and are quick to note that their respective partners, Zana and Zion, are unofficial team members and rock-star supporters.

Jess Blaise tests out a scent by Selnu.

Between the both of them, Kidd brings the “fraghead” energy — a name for fragrance devotees who bring a passion and certain fluency of fragrance culture. Bowens, who comes from an events background, heads curation and considers herself more in the beginning stages of her fragrance journey.

When they first started hosting these events, Bowens wasn’t sure how captivating they’d be. “I was like, can people really sit here for hours and talk about fragrance?” she says. She got her answer quickly, watching guests chat, laugh and dive into lively conversations for hours.

Kidd points to wine and book clubs as “event muses” for the Smellers Club. “At a certain point, it stops being about the books or the wine — and for us, even the fragrances,” he says. “It becomes about the people.”

Chase Chapman sets up scents from his personal collection of fragrances for guests to discover at the Smellers Club gathering.

As people navigate adulthood and personal growth cycles, challenging habits and shedding old identities, there are a few underlying questions: Who am I, really? What do I actually like? And what feels good and in alignment with being at ease? Fragrance communities can be a surprisingly grounding place to explore these existential meditations. Bowens, for example, was recently drawn to strawberry-forward Fruits of Love by Dossier, which surprised her since she considered herself someone who didn’t like fruity scents. Such realizations are familiar in the community: You can miss out on something satisfying simply because it doesn’t match your predefined tastes.

Farah Elawamry, a fragrance-focused content creator known as Farah’s Thoughts, has examined fragrance marketing and its ties to rigid gender norms, explaining that “the iris note is always given to women’s fragrances and orris is always given to the masculine fragrance genre, and they’re literally the same note — one is the root, one is the flower.” Once you start diving into the history and psychology of fragrances, she says “you begin to question what you actually like versus what marketing people are telling you to enjoy.”

Compared with the typical nightlife scene in Los Angeles, attendee Shaunt Kludjian says gatherings like these feel more intentional. “This turned out to be better than the clubs in L.A.” he says. “Everyone’s just vibing and connecting over scent.” Kludjian is founder of the Los Angeles candle company Whiff and came to the event to network. Frustrated by traditional candle formats, he launched a line of portable candles packaged in small, tuna-like tins designed to make “home follow you wherever you go.”

As Kidd looks around and watches strangers become friends over a sniff of musk or jasmine, he reflects on part of the magic of the Smellers Club and other fragrance communities.

“Fragrance is a portal to your memory,” he says. “So by coming to something curated that’s a wonderful night, you’re ingraining a memory.”

What started as a question of what smells good has become something else — small moments of recognition between many people who, just hours earlier, had been total strangers. Maybe that’s the point. The bottles will get put away. Everyone will return to their separate corners of the city. But the feeling of being seen, of finding your people — even briefly — sticks with you long after the scents dissipate.