Flava Factory wants you to be part of their community.

The Flava Factory street dance studio has been in existence since 2011. They've come a long way since the early days in the South Keys/Greenboro area of Ottawa. The owner of Flava Factory, Sami Elkout, has since moved his dance studio two more times. He had a short stint in the Glebe area and then finally settled with the current location on 1076 Wellington Street.

Over the course of 9 years Sami's had days of success and struggles. It's hard to promote a street dance studio to a city with very little interest or understanding of street dance culture. Yet he didn't lose hope and believed in his studio because of his love of the dance culture. It just goes to show that if you love something there will likely be people that love it just as much as you.

Not only has he been an entrepreneur of street dance in Ottawa but you could say that he is a pioneer with the direction that he took the dance in Ottawa. This city was a tough sell for street dances. In 2011, not a lot of people even knew what a bboy or bgirl was. It took a lot of time and patience but Sami was sure he could not only teach them the dance, he would give them newfound interest in its culture as well.

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. This might be a different case when when entrepreneurs are involved. Soon bigger dance studios started to notice Sami's grind to success. New competition arose and yet Sami actually encouraged his competitors. He never saw them as enemies. It seemed like they were all friends trying to share the same love for the dance culture. If other studios are starting to teach street dance that means Sami was doing something right.

He continued to encourage his teachers and students to enhance their dance knowledge. The Flava Factory has helped out with road trips to events and brought in well established street dancers to teach dance students in Ottawa.

In the last few years Sami was starting to made strides with his studio by opening the Flava Factory concept. It would not only be a dance studio but a healthy, positive and artistic environment. He's encouraged artists to use his space for visual arts, poetry, workshops and events. Sami's Flava Factory has been a pillar to the Ottawa arts community for many years.

The studio's momentum was finally shifting the way that Sami wanted and then the COVID-19 pandemic hit global proportions. As an entrepreneur that depends on the community to stay successful, social distancing is the last thing that Sami would want for the Flava Factory. How can 9 years of blood, sweat and tears simply go down the drain.

Over the course of 9 years the Flava Factory has shaped the lives of thousands of students. They've seen generations of dancers throughout the years. Some of them have been in the Ottawa dance community all their lives, while a few have even gone on to excel in dance in other cities. The studio has watched cute children grow into mature adults. The bond that ties the students to the teachers at the Flava Factory is not confined to teaching. The staff have mentored and blossomed genuine friendships with a lot of their students.

Flava Factory has also had a huge influence to Ottawa artists, fellow entrepreneurs, surrounding communities and various events. Flava Factory students and teachers have helped out at some of the biggest festivals in Ottawa. They've also put Ottawa on the map in the larger Canadian dance community.

I highly encourage all of you to help the Flava Factory in their time of need. They have merchandise that they sell online through this link. If you want to see some of the great stuff that they've been doing over the years, they have a Flava Factory YouTube channel. I'm sure they would probably appreciate any new subscribers to their channel.

Any tips or monetary gain I gain from this post is 100% going towards the Flava Factory. Any amount will help out as they really can't do much without people in their studio. I know the Flava Factory is the sole income source for Sami so I'd hate to think about how stressed he is today. Seeing as he's done so much for so many people. This is the least we can do for him and his studio.