International B-Boy, Justin Mashouf

Justin Mashouf is making a difference in the world, with one art form at a time. As an amazing b-boy*, Justin has traveled the world in teaching young Muslims about this underrepresented form of dance. Aside from that, he also made his directorial debut with the film, Warring Factions, which was an official selection in four major film festivals. We got a chance to speak to Justin.

How did you become a b-boy*? What specifically was it about b-boying that attracted you to it?

I started b-boying in 1998. I was always an avid listener and consumer of hip hop music and as I got further into it I wanted to be a part of that movement and that energy. I had been a dancer previously and I was a Michael Jackson maniac. I would watch his music videos, his moonwalk, and just learn from watching, so when I was exposed to hip hop in the form of b-boying I was just intrigued and it was something I just had to do.

You directed the film Warring Factions. Can you tell us a little about it and why you decided to make a film about this?

Warring Factions basically was my attempt at talking about my biracial and bi-national identity. It was also a way to bridge the gap between Iran and the US in the way that I knew best which was through b-boying, hip hop culture and the culture of body movement. I first visited Iran in 2006. At that time there was a scare, the idea of Iran developing nuclear technology. That, in general, was my motivation because it was insane to me that people were thinking of a possibility of another war in the Middle East, which was just absurd. So I took it upon myself to shed some light on that issue.

Is b-boying similar in Iran and the States?

Well b-boying came to Iran in the 80s similar to how it came to other parts of the world, through the film Flash Dance, and also through the film Beatstreet. With the movies and the music reaching Iran through the VHS tapes, people would share and flip around. Even my cousin, who’s in his late 30s, early 40s remembers breaking in high school, initially all during Iran-Iraq war, which was unfortunate that b-boying came to Iran in such an awful time in Iran’s history. American culture was definitely very restricted because of the political legacy between Iran and the US especially during the early days of the revolution. But now b-boying culture is really consumed and spread because of the Internet and cell phone videos.

Unfortunately b-boying cannot penetrate Iran as much as other countries. For something like this to make a significant impact, cultural exchange is very important, so you have dancers coming from oversees, competitions where people go to other countries, whether it’s Europe, US, or other parts of the Middle East. There are two points here: What I’ve noticed is its very difficult for Iranians to get visas to travel outside of Iran, that’s the first problem, and the second problem is that a lot of passports of young Iranians are held because they are eligible for military service, and the government doesn’t really want to lose them if they leave the country.

You have an Iranian American background, and have the unique experience of living both in Iran and America. Having interacted with both American Muslim youth and Iranian Muslim youth, how important is it for dialogue to occur? Do you think we’ll find more similarities than differences?

I think the world-view of Muslim American youth is really unique and it’s something that because we’re a very mixed bag in the US, the Muslim American experience here is very different. I myself was exposed to so many different cultures that my world-view changed, my tolerance for other people and other types of traditions grew, and unfortunately in other countries they’re not exposed to other cultures in a way that is constructive to building a balanced Islamic world-view. So I think that exchange of ideas, cultures is crucial to thinking outside of the box, especially independent of cultural norms, and also independent of government.

You recently were teaching b-boying workshops in Islamabad, Pakistan. What was that like? Is there a strong movement for b-boys there?

I was recently in Islamabad, and I taught at an art center called Kuch Khaas. It was a really interesting place where they had workshops, poetry, music, and it was a fusion of not just traditional Pakistani music and culture but also Western and Eastern influences. When I went I was excited to see that there were a lot of people that were interested in b-boying, unfortunately Islamabad is not the cultural capital of Pakistan from what I heard, and the bigger b-boying scene is in Lahore. Lahore is definitely a different place and there’s a lot more culture there obviously, Karachi is a lot more saturated so I’m sure there’s a lot more b-boys there, but many of the people that I was teaching had breaked before but it didn’t really stick to them. It was something they had taken for a month or so, maybe something they did 2-3 years ago, but if they weren’t in a place they could develop that sort of skill they would drop it. So people were excited for sure, I really loved teaching there.

What other projects can we look forward to?

Right now I’m working on a project about Muslims in the US prison system. I’m in contact with multiple people serving time inside of state and federal penitentiaries, and I’m also documenting a lot of communities of ex-offenders who are of course outside of prison. Most of my subjects are converts. I had a subject in Iowa, Nevada and a few in California. I’ll be going to Chicago on Thursday to document IMAN’s project “Restore,” and one is called “Project Green Re-entry” which is basically giving ex-offenders skills in energy efficient home restoration, and it’s a Muslim transitional housing, so I’m going there to study them and how they’re making the healing process happen. I thought this was an important subject because we always hear that Islam is the fastest growing religion in America, and through my research I’ve found that this is because Islam is widely adopted in the US prison system. I wanted to explore this idea of how and why this reforms.

What does your family think about your success so far?

I’m proud of my success, my family is proud of me, and I just use that to motivate myself and push it further. I think it’s important to have a strong community that supports your work, but ultimately I think its important to reach outside of our own neighborhoods, if you will, into the larger extreme, to share our thoughts to share our stories because right now its more important than ever the need to find ourselves and stop letting others define us.

*B-boy means to be a break-boy, or a male dancer who break dances.

Follow Justin on twitter.