HIP-HOP/STREET DANCE

What is Hip-hop?
“Hip-hop is a cultural phenomenon that rose to prominence in the 1980s and 1990s. Rap music
is a musical style that incorporates rhythmic and/or rhyming speech and has become the most
durable and significant art form of the movement.” (Hip-Hop Defined, 2020)

Hip-hop is also a dance style that emerged from hip-hop culture and is usually performed to
hip-hop music. Breakdancing was the first dance connected with hip-hop.

Although hip-hop is sometimes used interchangeably with rap music, it actually refers to a four-
part culture:

1. Deejaying, also known as “Turntabling”

2. Rapping, or “Mcing” or “Rhyming.”
3. Graffiti painting, or “Graf” or “Writing.”
4. B-boying is a term that encompasses hip-hop dance, style, and attitude, as well as the type
of machismo body language described by philosopher Cornel West as “postural semantics.”
(Hip-Hop Defined, 2020)

ORIGINS AND THE OLD SCHOOL

 Hip-hop originated in a predominantly African American economically depressed South

Bronx section of New York City in the late 1970s.
 Graffiti and breakdancing, the aspects of the culture that first caught public attention, had the
least lasting effects.
 “The empire state building was towering over a wall of graffiti in New York City.”
 “The shared milieu in which these art forms formed bonded the beginnings of dancing,
rapping, and deejaying components together.
 DJ Kool Herc (Clive Campbell), an 18-year-old immigrant who introduced the massive sound
systems of his home Jamaica to inner-city events, was the first major hip-hop deejay.” (Hip
hop, n.d.)

HIP-HOP IN THE 21ST CENTURY

 The music industry faced a dilemma as the century progressed, owing to the rise of digital
downloading.
 Hip-hop was hit as hard as, if not more than, other genres, with sales plummeting throughout
the decade.
 At the same time, it cemented its position as the main influence on global youth culture.
 Even the massive popular “boy bands” such as Back Street Boys and NSYNC drew heavily
on hip-hop sounds and styles.” (Tate, n.d.)
Locking

 Don Campbell invented Campbellocking and it dates back to the late 1960s. It’s a funk and
street dance style that was first performed to traditional funk music like James Brown.
 The name comes from the concept of locking, which entails stopping a quick movement and
“locking” in a specific position, holding it for a short period of time, and then continuing at the
same speed as before. It relies on hip-hop manual movements that are rapid and unique, as
well as more relaxed hips and legs.” (Dexter, 2020)

Popping

 Imagine a surge of energy coursing through your body, causing it to move in a wave-like
motion.
 This style is difficult to master on a technical level since it necessitates a mastery of
isolations, a complete understanding of the body, and a strong sense of rhythm due to the
heavy usage of counter-tempo.
 The style necessitates continual muscle contractions to the rhythm in order to achieve a
jerky/snapping effect, resulting in a bouncy style.” (Dexter, 2020)

Electric Boogie

 “Is a type of popping (ticking), however the main difference is that popping produces a soft
wave, but electric boogie produces more jerky waves with micro wave motions, which are
more difficult to execute at a high pace than traditional popping.
 The robot, as well as mime’s smoother and more controlled movements, are distinctive.”
(Dexter, 2020)
Breakdance/B-boying

 “Breaking or b-boying, often known as breakdancing, is a type of dance that emerged in the
1970s in the South Bronx as part of hip-hop culture among black and Latino American teens.
 It’s choreographed to hip-hop and other types of music, which are frequently remixed to
extend the musical breaks.” (Dexter, 2020)

The foundation of breaking is made up of four essential aspects

 “Toprock- a term referring to the upright dancing and shuffles.

 Downrock- which refers to footwork dancing performed on the floor.
 Freeze- the poses that breakers throw into their dance sets to add punctuation to certain
beats and end their routines
 Power Moves- These are the most impressive acrobatic moves normally made up of circular
motions where the dancer will spin on the floor or in the air.” (Hip hop, n.d.)

“Uprock

 It’s a competitive street dance that uses soul and funk music rhythms.
 Foot shuffles, spins, turns, freestyle motions known as jerks, and hand gestures known as
burns are all part of the dance.

Funk

 Funk dance began in the late 1960s on the west coast of the United States as a reaction to
the merger of soul and disco, as well as Rnb and hip-hop music.

Streetdance

 Streetdance is a highly physical form of dance that integrates routines from all around the
world.
 A multicultural influence and lively tunes are combined in with various dancing genres.
 The hip-hop genre’s streetdance is a combination of genres.

Tutting/Tetris

 Is a dance form that is inspired by ancient Egyptian art and features angular stances.
 Although the style is constantly changing, there are some constants that characterize it.
Battle

 A battle is a freestyle dancing competition in which dancers compete against each other on
the dance floor without making physical contact.
 They create a circle and take turns trying to outdo each other by employing a superior style,
more complicated combos, or more difficult maneuvers.

Liquid Dance

 A type of expressive dance that includes pantomime at times.

 Invokes the word liquid to describe the fluid-like motion of the dancer’s body and limbs.
 Primarily the dancer’s arms and hands, which are the focus, though more advanced dancers
work in a full range of body movements.

Boogaloo

 A fluid technique that incorporates all of the body’s parts and incorporates angles and
smooth movements to make everything flow together.
 It is often uses rolling the hips, knees, and head and is often used as a transition.

Ragga

 The style used is a combination between hip-hop moves, afro moves with Latin influences
with sensuality

House Dance

 Footwork, jacking, and lofting are the three main styles. It was invented by black and Latino
Americans, just like hip-hop dancing, and is often spontaneous.
 It incorporates movements from many other sources such as capoeira, tap, jazz, bebop, and
salsa.
 Footwork, jacking, and lofting are the most common styles. Other related genres such as
vogue, wacking, and hustle have evolved from house dancing.

Lyrical
  Lyrical hip-hop is a fluid and more interpretative version of new style hip-hop, most often
danced to downtempo rap music or Rnb music.
 Lyrical is “hip-hop with emotions.”
 It focuses more on choreography and performance and less on freestyles and battles.
 Because dancers used the lyrics of a song or instrumental music to motivate them to execute
certain motions or exhibit expression, the term “lyrical” was coined.

Stepping

 Stepping, also known as step-dancing, is a percussive dance in which the entire body is
utilized as an instrument to create complex rhythms and sounds using a combination of
footsteps, spoken words, and handclaps.

Free Running

 Free running is a sort of urban acrobatics in which performers, known as free runners, do
acrobatic maneuvers around the structures of cities and rural landscapes.
 It combines parkour’s efficient movements with artistic vaults and other acrobatics like
tricking and street stunts to create an athletic and aesthetically pleasing movement style.

Punking

 This style came in the 1970s from the west coast directly to Los Angeles, where it was
developed in clubs and underground scenes.
 Dancers began to represent on television, and it became well-known thanks to soul train

Waacking

 Waacking 1947 is about this time broke out “Disco Madness.” Music began to take a different
direction. Dancers started to wear completely different clothes. The style began to veer more
toward jazz. There were a lot of lines, stances (mainly inspired by 1930s movie stars), and
other technical design movements of hands in the dance that you wouldn’t find in punking.
 Some argue that punking was the original name for the underground form, while waacking or
“whacking” was added later as the dance grew more famous.

Voguing

 Photos of models in various postures, such as posturing hands, feet, and body motions in
linear, angular, and precise, stationary positions, influenced the design.
 Currently, there are three different styles, or we can say “schools” in Voguing.
1. Old way (pre-1980)
2. New way (1990)
3. Vogue Fem (Started about 1985) (Hip hop, n.d.).