HISTORY OF HIPHOP DANCE

What is hiphop Dance?

Hip-hop dance is a unique and exciting style
of street dance that is most commonly performed
to hip-hop music. Hip-hop dance is a vibrant form
of dance that combines a variety of freestyle
movements to create a cultural piece of art.
Through its three main styles of popping, locking,
and breaking, hip-hop dance has evolved into
one of the most popular and influential styles of
dance.
The history of hip-hop dances encompasses
the people and events since the late 1960s that
have contributed to the development of early hip-
hop dance styles, such as uprock, breaking,
locking, roboting, boogaloo, and popping.
 HISTORY OF HIPHOP DANCE
African Americans created uprock and breaking in New York City. African Americans in
California created locking, roboting, boogaloo, and popping—collectively referred to as the funk
styles. All of these dance styles are different stylistically. They share common ground in their
street origins and in their improvisational nature of hip hop.

Hip-hop dance became widely known after the first professional street-based dance crews
formed in the 1970s in the United States. The most influential groups were Rock Steady Crew,
The Lockers, and The Electric Boogaloos who are responsible for the spread of breaking,
locking, and popping respectively.
 HIPHOP STYLES
B-boying (Breakdancing) - Thought to be one of the very original styles of Hip Hop, B-boying is
characterized by acrobatic Vigour Movements, upright movements, and footwork. Dancers also punctuate
their routines with a movement known as the Freeze. Break dancing is mostly improvised, with no
“standard” routines or movements.

Locking and Popping - While technically two styles, Locking and Popping usually go hand in hand.
Locking requires fast actions, sharp pauses, and extravagant gestures. Popping, on the other hand, is a
bouncy style that demands extreme use of counter-tempo. For a long time, popping and locking have
inspired hip hop, dubstep, and other modern dance techniques. However, the moves of these two dancing
styles differ. While both dance genres tend to overlap, popping and locking is a blended style with a
separate beat. This one-of-a-kind manoeuvre combines two movements: the pop and the lock.

Boogaloo (funk dance) - The boogaloo is a fun style of dance that got its start in the 70s. It is known
for infusing an array of different street dance styles. Boogaloo as directed by Hip Hop dance studios near
me, uses the complete body sliding smoothly like butter, often with the rolling of the hips, head, and knees.
 HIPHOP STYLES
Liquid Dance - Liquid Dance is a fluid and delicate dance with a centre on the arms and palms. It may
include some forms of pantomime and exceptional dancers will use a range of body moves. Liquid dancing
is an illusion-based kind of gestural, interpretive dance that is one of the most expressive and flexible
dance genres available today. In other words, it is a dance form that uses smooth gestures and body
motions to create the illusion that the dancer’s body is as movable as liquid, hence the name of the dance.
The arms and hands are mostly in emphasis, though expert dancers move the entire body. Study the liquid
dance is not easy and takes a lot of practice and learning. It takes practice to learn how to move your body
in such a way that it creates the illusion of a flowing or moving liquid.

Roboting - The robot (or mannequin) is an illusionary street dance style – often confused with popping –
that attempts to imitate a dancing robot or mannequin. Robot dancing is often considered a subsection of
popping because poppers often include the robot in their routines, sometimes adding pops to the beat
while maintaining the illusion of a robot, but the robot also exists as its own dance and is sometimes
considered a performance rather than a dance when the performer is imitating a robot without any music.
 Where it all began?
Hip-hop dance began during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, originally inspired by the
movements of African dancing, and flourished as a new style of dance performed on the street for
the people. Hip-hop incorporates aspects of modern dance, tap, and swing, integrating music and
complex movements to form artistry.
The early history and roots of hip-hop dance are most often associated with its beginning on the
East Coast, specifically New York City. But the West Coast also formed its own style of the East
Coast hip-hop dance around the same time.

East Coast hip-hop began with the unique rhythmic combinations created by Kool DJ Herc, a
Jamaican DJ who moved to Brooklyn at the age of 12 and quickly became one of the most
popular DJ’s of New York City. DJ Herc ingeniously thought to extend dance sections of songs to
create better opportunities to showcase the breaking movements of dancers.

West Coast hip-hop took the dance style from the East Coast and made it its own, transforming
some of the frozen moves and making them more robotic. The West Coast was also where two of
modern hip-hop’s most iconic styles, popping and locking, were born.
 Evolution Of Hip Hop Dance
East Coast and West Coast hip-hop dance styles were originally meant to be two distinct forms
of dance. However, as hip-hop grew in popularity, the two styles began to merge together into a
unique street dance culture. Over time, hip-hop expanded from the street scene, and its
choreography became a sought-after style in dance studios, clubs, and other venues.

During the 80’s and 90’s, hip-hop dance competitions became increasingly popular with the
emergence of “battles,” one-on-one freestyle competition on the dance floors of clubs
surrounded by a circle of fans. Improvised battles soon led to advertised battles and a higher
level of competition.

Hip-hop dance has transformed the world of dance and has taken the dance culture by storm.
Many of its distinctive moves are often integrated into the choreography of more traditional
styles of dance and it has even worked its way into major theatrical and cinematic productions.

Hip-hop dance provides a vibrant means for exercise, art, and movement, creating a platform
for individual expression and undeniable talent.
 Elements of Hip Hop
When the style of hip hop was first created, it had six foundational elements: DJing (aural),
MCing (oral), Beatboxing (vocal), Breakdancing (physical), Graffiti (visual), and Fashion.
Today’s true hip hop legends continue to create using some or all these foundations. Even
though artistic elements are bound to change with time, these six elements remain at the core
of hip hop.

DJing or Disk Jockeying - the artistic handling of beats and music. DJing started in the
1970s with its trademark innovative breaks and isolation of the percussive sounds. DJing is the
art of creating or adding new music to an already written and recorded song. DJs have changed
the classical and other forms of music to a greater extent.The music DJs compose gives b-boys
and b-girls some beats to break on and MCs a chance to show their rapping skills and rhymes.

MCing - MCing is a form of poetic and verbal “acrobatics.” It was inspired by ancient African
culture and oral tradition and was also known as “rapping.” Rapping differed from other popular
singing forms because of its rapid-fire wordplay, freestyle rhymes, and lyrics that told stories
about urban life as rappers of the time knew it.
 Elements of Hip Hop
Beatboxing - Beatboxing was also a part of MCing, given that it had a vocal element.
However, instead of a music track, different sounds were made using the mouth to create a
beat and tune that served as the base upon which raps were spoken.

Breakdancing - It all started with groups like Shaka Zulu Kings, Zulu Queens, and the Rock
Steady Crew. These dancers gave rise to breakdancing, otherwise known as B-Boying or B-
Girling. Also described as “poetry in motion,” breakdance combines acrobatics, gymnastics,
Capoeira, martial arts, and other cultural dances.

Graffiti - is an artform, a means of cultural expression. Like the other forms of hip hop, it also
expresses resistance.

Fashion - An element that has changed a lot over the years is the fashion aspect of hip hop.
One’s image used to be extremely important in the early hip hop sceneFashion was a way to
show that you belonged in the scene and that you understood or experienced the culture, urban
heritage, and current issues. Nowadays, hip hop is no longer defined by appearance. Many of
today’s hip hop artists have created their own look to show their individuality and uniqueness.