HIP-HOP DANCE STLYES

HIP-HOP DANCE

Hip-hop dance is also referred to as street dance styles primarily performed to hip-hop music. It includes a wide range of styles mainly breaking, popping and locking which were among the first type of hip-hop dance created in the 1970s and made popular by some dance crews in the United States. The dance industry responded with a commercial, studio-based version of hip-hop sometimes called new style and a hip-hop influenced style of jazz dance called jazz-funk. Classically trained dancers developed these studio styles in order to create choreography from the hip-hop dances that were performed on the street. Because of this development, hip-hop dance is practiced in both dance studios and outdoor spaces.

Aside breaking, popping and locking, there are various other types of hip-hop dance style in the world some are; Jerkin’, Crip walking, Moon walking, Doggying, B-boying, Reject, pin drop, Dipping, Crumping, Turfing, snap dance etc.

 Break Dancing

Breaking which is also called b-boying was created in South Bronx, New York City by the Black Americans. It is the first hip-hop dance style. At the time of its creation, it was the only hip-hop dance style because it was classified as one of the five pillars of hip-hop culture along with rapping, turntablism, graffiti writing, and knowledge. Though Black Americans created breaking, Puerto Ricans maintained its growth and development when it was considered a fad in the late 1970s. This type of dance uses mainly the shoulders and the hands and also you need to stiff your body in order to get the dance well.

Popping and Locking Style  

Popping and locking looks similar, that is why they go together, they are frequently confused by the casual observer. In popping, dancers push the boundaries of what they can do with their body whereas in locking, dancers hold their positions longer.

 Popping was created in Fresno, California in the 1970s and popularized by Samuel Solomon and his crew the Electric Boogaloos. It is based on the technique of quickly contracting and relaxing muscles to cause a jerk in a dancer's body, referred to as a pop. Each pop 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 related illusionary dance styles such as strobing, liquid, animation, twisto-flex, and waving. Dancers often integrate these styles with standard popping to create a more varied performance. In all of these subgenres it appears to the spectator that the body is popping. The difference between each subgenre 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 staccato and jerky.

While locking, which was originally called Campbell locking, was created in Los Angeles, California by Don "Campbellock" Campbell in 1969 and popularized by his crew The Lockers. In addition to Campbell, the original members of The Lockers were Fred "Mr. Penguin" Berry, Leo "Fluky Luke" Williamson, Adolpho "Shabba Doo" Quiñones, Bill "Slim the Robot" Williams, Greg "CampbellockJr" Pope, and Toni Basil, who also served as the group's manager.At the 2009 World Hip Hop Dance Championships, Basil became the first female recipient of the Living Legend Award in honor of her role in giving locking commercial exposure.

 Turf dancing

Turf dance is a form of American street dance that originated in Oakland, California. The term is credited to dancer JerielBey, who created it as an acronym for Taking Usp Room on the Floor.because the terms "having fun with it" or "hitting it" (as it was originally known) didn't seem marketable. Turf Dancing originated as a way to describe dances that different 'turfs' from Oakland performed to represent where they were from (the same as 'blocks' or 'sets'). The dance form had its earliest influences in the Oakland Boogaloo movement of the mid-1960s, later developing into a distinctive dance style. This style of dancing is not really popular all over the world.

Krumping

Krumping is a street dance popularized in the United States that is characterized by free, expressive, exaggerated, and highly energetic movement involving the arms, head, legs, chest, and feet. The youths who started Krumping saw the dance as a way for them to escape gang lifeand "to release anger, aggression and frustration positively, in a non-violent way. "There are four primary moves in Krump: jabs, arm swings, chest pops, and stomps. Krumping is rarely choreographed; it is almost entirely freestyle (improvisational) and is danced most frequently in battles or sessions rather than on a stage. Krumping is different stylistically from other hip-hop dance styles such as b-boyingand turfing. 

Krumping is very aggressive and is danced upright to upbeat and fast-paced music, whereas b-boying is more acrobatic and is danced on the floor to break beats. The Oakland dance style turfing is a fusion of popping and mimeing that incorporates storytelling and illusion. Krumping is less precise than these and more freestyle. Thematically, all these dance styles share common ground including their street origins, their freestyle nature, and the use of battling. These commonalities bring them together under the umbrella of hip-hop dance.

Jerkin’

Jerkin' or Jerk is a street dance from Los Angeles. Since 2009, jerkin' has gained fans along the West Coast and, as of 2009, was gaining popularity on the East Coast.The dance itself consists of moving your legs in and out called the "jerk", and doing other moves such as the "reject", "dip", and "pindrop".

The rap group New Boyz wrote and recorded a hit in Los Angeles entitled "You're a Jerk”, while Audio Push wrote and recorded "Teach Me How To Jerk". As the jerk culture continues to flourish, several new groups specializing in the Jerk style are being courted and signed by major labels. Arista has signed the group The Rej3ctz, and the label is looking seriously at many other jerk groups that are flourishing on the Internet.

 Snap Dance

This is a dance-centric subgenre of hip hop music, that originated in the South in the late-1990s, in Bankhead, West Atlanta, the United States. Early snap artists include D4L, Dem Franchize Boys, and K-Rab.

Tracks commonly consist of an 808 bass drum, hi-hat, bass, snapping, a main groove and a vocal track. Hit snap songs include "Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It" by Dem Franchize Boys, "Money in the Bank" by Lil Scrappy, "Laffy Taffy" by D4L, "It's Goin' Down" by Yung Joc and "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" by Soulja Boy Tell 'Em. Crunk has been called the "predecessor of snap". Hip hop DX magazine described snap music as a "laid back version of its forbearer, crunk music".

It is suggested that snap dance has appeared around 2000 in a crime-infested neighbourhood of Bankhead, Atlanta, Georgia. Bankhead was a place where the difference between poor and rich was striking, and, as it has been described, "a lighter sound" of snap was born "in the midst of all the aggression". Very soon after creation, snap music took on the another type of music of Atlanta - crunk. In 2003, Dem Franchize Boys, who had already produced some snap hits for local clubs by the time, got signed to Universal Music Group. It has been said, that due to weak promotion and the decision of Universal music to put out the debut album of Dem Franchize Boys and Nelly's - "Sweat and Suit" the same day were reasons why their first album wasn't a success. The same year, 2005, they got an attention of Jermaine Dupri, who remixed their single "I Think They Like Me" and signed them to So So Def. The remix of "I Think They Like Me" topped Hot Rap/R&B songs chart and spotted №15 on Billboard Hot 100 charts. Jermaine Dupri was later described as the key figure of bringing snap music into mainstream.