Good People. Wrong Incentive. That’s A Culture Problem.

My eleven-year-old is still trying to learn the Dougie. Over a decade since it entered the cultural bloodstream, and it is still moving through generations like a living thing. I grew up on the Running Man, the Kid-n-Play kick step, the Wop. These were not just moves. They were rituals, practiced on living-room floors, performed at local parties. And yet, in most cases, I had no idea who originated them. I knew the artists who introduced them to the zeitgeist. Still, the actual creators, the people whose bodies birthed the movement, had essentially vanished from the record. That gap, between cultural impact and cultural credit, is precisely what Connor Lim is trying to close. So, we brought him onto the latest episode of the FROM THE CULTURE podcast to better understand how.

Lim is the co-founder and CEO of the International Dance League, the world's first global professional dance league. Six city-based teams, a regular season, a championship, and, as of this past summer, a global media rights deal with ESPN. IDL grew out of STEEZY, an online dance education platform he built after a childhood in Queens, completely consumed by the craft. For most people, dance is considered an art form, but Lim sees it as that and much more: a sport. Consider the battle traditions of breaking, krumping, and voguing, and Lim's perspective no longer feels like much of a stretch. In fact, breakdancing made its Olympic debut at the Paris 2024 Games as an official event, a testament to dance's competitive nature. It's this thesis that fuels Lim's ambition for the IDL to make dance as big of a sport as basketball, football, or baseball. However, unlike athletes, dancers have never sat inside a structure that captures the value they generate.