Hip-hop Dance - by Anne Shier (a.k.a. "Annie")

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip-hop_dance

Hip-hop dance refers to dance styles primarily danced to hip-hop music or that have evolved as part of hip-hop culture. This includes a wide range of styles notably breaking, locking, and popping which were created in the 1970s by African Americans.  What separates hip-hop dance from other forms of dance is that it is often freestyle (improvisational) in nature and hip-hop dancers frequently engage in battles—formal or informal freestyle dance competitions. Informal freestyle sessions and battles are usually performed in a cipher, "a circular dance space that forms naturally once the dancing begins."  These three elements—freestyling, battles, and ciphers—are key components of hip-hop dance.

More than 30 years old, hip-hop dance became widely known after the first professional breaking, locking, and popping crews formed in the 1970s. The most influential groups are the Rock Steady Crew, The Lockers, and the Electric Boogaloos who are responsible for the spread of breaking, locking, and popping respectively. Parallel with the evolution of hip-hop music, hip-hop dancing evolved from breaking and the funk styles into different forms: moves such as the "running man" and the "cabbage patch" hit the mainstream and became fad dances. The dance industry in particular responded with a studio based version of hip-hop—sometimes called new style— and jazz funk. These styles were developed by technically trained dancers who wanted to create choreography for hip-hop music from the hip-hop dances they saw being performed on the street. Because of this development, hip-hop dance is now practiced at both studios and outside spaces.

Internationally, hip-hop dance has had a particularly strong influence in France and South Korea. France is the birthplace of Tecktonik, a style of house dance from Paris that borrows heavily from popping and breaking. France is also the home of Juste Debout, an international hip-hop dance competition, and Battle of the Year, the largest team-based breaking competition in the world. South Korea is home to the international breaking competition R16 which is sponsored by the government and broadcast every year live on Korean television. The country consistently produces such skillful b-boys that the South Korean government has designated the Gamblerz and Rivers b-boy crews official ambassadors of Korean culture.
To some, hip-hop dance may only be a form of entertainment or a hobby. To others it has become a lifestyle: a way to be active in physical fitness or competitive dance and a way to make a living by dancing professionally.

Main Styles of Hip-hop Dance:

This list gives a general overview of the main hip-hop dance styles: breaking, locking, and popping. These styles are the oldest and most established of all the hip-hop dances. They have achieved worldwide notability, are durably archived on film, and are the most commonly exercised in international competitive hip-hop dancing.

Breaking/B-boying:

Breaking was created in the Bronx, New York during the early 1970s.  It was Afrika Bambaataa who classified breaking as one of the five pillars of hip-hop culture along with MCing, DJing, graffiti writing, and knowledge.  While African Americans are responsible for creating breaking it was the Latinos (specifically Puerto Ricans) that kept the momentum of breaking alive when it was considered "played out" in the late '70s.  Breaking includes four foundational dances: toprock, footwork oriented steps performed while standing up; downrock, footwork performed on the floor using the hands to support your weight; freezes, stylish poses done on your hands; and power moves, difficult and impressive acrobatic moves.  Transitions between toprock and downrock are called "drops."  In breaking, a variation to the traditional cipher is the Apache Line. A cipher is a circular shaped dance space formed by spectators that breakers use to perform in.  Ciphers work well for one-on-one b-boy (break-boy) battles; however, Apache Lines are more appropriate when the battle is between two crews—groups of street dancers. In contrast to the circular shape of a cipher, competing crews can face each other in this line formation, challenge each other, and execute their burns (a move intended to embarrass the opponent, i.e. crotch grabbing, during a battle). In 1981, the Lincoln Center in New York City hosted a breaking battle between the Rock Steady Crew and the Dynamic Rockers.  "This event, which was covered by the New York Times, the Village Voice, the Daily News, National Geographic, and local news stations helped b-boying gain the world’s attention."

Locking:

Locking, originally called Campbellocking, was created in Los Angeles by Don Campbell and introduced to the country by his crew The Lockers.  Other than Don Campbell, the original members of The Lockers were Fred "Mr. Penguin" Berry (Rerun on the 1970s TV sitcom What's Happening!!), Leo "Fluky Luke" Williamson, Adolpho "Shabba Doo" Quinones, Bill "Slim the Robot" Williams, Greg "Campbellock Jr" Pope, and Toni Basil who also served as the group's manager.  In honor of her instrumental role in giving locking commercial exposure, Basil was honored at the 2009 World Hip Hop Dance Championships as the first female recipient of the Living Legend Award.  Locking looks similar to popping and frequently gets confused with popping to a casual observer. In locking, a dancer holds their positions longer. The lock is the primary move used in locking. It is "similar to a freeze or a sudden pause."  A locker's dancing is characterized by consistently locking in place and after a quick freeze moving again.  It is incorrect to call locking "pop-locking".  Locking and popping are two distinct funk styles with their own histories, their own set of dance moves, and their own competition categories. Locking is more playful and character driven whereas popping is more illusory.  Locking has specific dance moves that identify it from popping and other funk styles. These moves include "the lock, points, skeeter [rabbits], scooby doos, stop 'n go, which-away, and the fancies."  A dancer can do one or the other but not both locking and popping at the same time.  It was only after seeing The Lockers perform on TV that a young Sam Solomon was inspired to create popping and electric boogaloo.

Popping:

Popping was created by Sam Solomon in Fresno, California and performed by his crew the Electric Boogaloos.  It is based on the technique of quickly contracting and relaxing muscles to cause a jerk in the dancer's body, referred to as a pop or a hit. Each hit should be synchronized to the rhythm and beats of the music. Popping is also used as an umbrella term to refer to a wide range of other closely related illusionary dance styles such as strobing, liquid, animation, and waving that are often integrated with standard popping to create a more varied performance. In all of these sub-genres it appears to the spectator that the body is popping hence the name. The difference between each sub-genre is how exaggerated the popping is. In liquid the body movements look like water. The popping is so smooth that the movements do not look like popping at all; they look fluid.  The opposite of this is strobing (also called ticking) in which the movements are static, sudden, and jerky.

Popping—as an umbrella term—also includes gliding, floating, and sliding, which are lower body dances done with the legs and feet. When done correctly a dancer looks like they are gliding across the floor as if on ice.  Opposite from gliding is tutting which is an upper body dance that uses the arms, hands, and wrists to form right angles and make geometric box-like shapes. Sometimes the arms are not used at all and tutting is only done with the wrists, hands, and fingers. In both variations, the movements are intricate and always use 90° angles. When done correctly tutting looks like the characters on the art of ancient Egypt hence the name—a reference to King Tut.

While popping as an umbrella term is popularly used by hip-hop dancers and in competitive hip-hop dancing, Popin' Pete of the Electric Boogaloos disagrees with the use of the word "popping" in this way. He states "There are people who wave and there are people who tut. They’re not popping. I say this to give the people who created other styles their just dues and their props." Many of these related styles (animation, liquid, tutting, etc.) cannot be traced to a specific person or group. The Electric Boogaloos themselves acknowledge this (see quote box). Other styles may have influences earlier than hip-hop. Earl "Snake Hips" Tucker was a professional dancer in the 1920s who appeared in the film Symphony in Black and performed at the Cotton Club in Harlem. Because hip-hop did not exist in the '20s his style was considered jazz but his "slithering, writhing" movement foreshadowed modern waving and sliding.

copyright 2014, Anne Shier.  All rights reserved.