Quick Q&A: David Scott.

David Scott is one of today's hottest hip hop choreographers. He broke box office records with his break dancing battle movie, You Got Served (2004), and stepped up ticket sales with Stomp the Yard, which was released on DVD in May. Always pushing boundaries, this L.A. dancemaker encourages dancers to get back into the freestyling circle. Rachel Leigh Dolan interviewed him by phone in February.

You've had no training, so where did you learn to dance?

I'm a self-taught hip hop dancer. I learned from watching TV and music videos. A big inspiration for me is Michael Jackson. Growing up I was also into watching musicals, the Nicholas brothers and silent film actors like Charlie Chaplin. I am inspired by stuff that's real animated. I love to clown around. I see different things, like Fred Astaire and the way he moves. You can go from being smooth to being comical.

Often dancers are asked to freestyle in auditions. How do you prepare yourself to freestyle?

Freestyling is the root of hip hop. It started in the circle, so you have to be able to take it back to the circle. People tend to spaz out when it comes to freestyling, because they don't know what to do. It helps to listen to the music. If you take your time and feel the music, it will come to you better. But before you get to the freestyle part, learn how to trick the beat with your body. Have a lot of body control. Get comfortable with music and with your body.

Were dance battles, like those in You Got Served, part of your dance education?

We used to have dance crews. The only element that I added into that was B-boys. Usually B-boys have their own crew. I mixed it up and put them in the dance crew, as the over-the-top fellas. I grew up with battles. I was in a crew called Pajama Boys. We wore pajamas to the club. It was all about the identity of your crew. That's what I wanted to bring back out-that fun element, that camaraderie in the hip hop dance world.

Stomp the Yard featured a growing trend in dance-stepping. What is the hardest thing about performing that kind of rhythmic dance?

Working on Stomp the Yard was a life-changing experience. It was a lot of responsibility and everything that was put into the film shows. The hardest thing was to learn stepping, but once you got it in your system, for some reason it just stuck. When you start learning, your body becomes this tool. Each part is a different sound, a different drum-you have tenor, snare, bass.

How would you describe your hip hop style?

My style of hip hop is like gumbo. It's a big soup pot of a lot of different things. From working with different artists and projects to stepping-I'm just specializing in the art of movement. Yeah, I'm a hip hop choreographer, but you can't pigeonhole me. When I first started, I didn't know what a jazz move was. I was doing it in hip hop, but I wasn't calling it a pas de bourree.

Has your own life story inspired your work/choreography?

A lot of people have this big sob story. I have that story, too, but I pushed and pushed and pushed to get where I am. I've always been a writer and idea person. That was before dance. People's eyes and ears are open to what I have to say now and that's the beautiful part.