Hip-hop dance is a range of street dance styles primarily performed to hip-hop music or that have evolved as part of hip-hop culture. It is influenced by a wide range of styles that were created in the 1970s and made popular by dance crews in the United States. The television show Soul Train and the 1980s films Breakin', Beat Street, and Wild Style showcased these crews and dance styles in their early stages, thereby giving hip-hop dance mainstream exposure.
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.
The commercialization of hip-hop dance continued into the 1990s and 2000s with the production of several television shows and movies such as The Grind, Planet B-Boy, Rize, StreetDance 3D, America's Best Dance Crew, Saigon Electric, the Step Up film series, and The LXD, a web series. Though the dance is established in entertainment, including mild representation in theater, it maintains a strong presence in urban neighborhoods, which has led to the creation of street dance derivatives like Memphis jookin, turfing, jerkin', and krump. What distinguishes hip-hop from other forms of dance is that it is often "freestyle" (improvisational) in nature and hip-hop dance crews often engage in freestyle dance competitions—colloquially referred to as "battles".
Films, television shows, and the Internet have contributed to introducing hip-hop dance outside the United States. Since being exposed, educational opportunities and corporate dance competitions such as World of Dance and Hip Hop International have helped maintain its presence worldwide. Hip-hop dance can be a form of entertainment or a hobby. It can also be a way to stay active in competitive dance and a way to make a living by dancing professionally.
History
Hip-hop dance is a fusion dance genre with influences from older street dance styles created in the 1970s. These include uprock, breaking, and the funk styles. Breaking was created in The Bronx, New York, in the early 1970s.Schloss 2009, p. 153. In its earliest form, it began as elaborations on James Brown's "Good Foot" dance, which debuted in 1972. Breaking at this period was not primarily floor-oriented as seen today; it started out as toprock, which dancers perform while standing up. An influence on toprock was uprock,Chang 2006, p. 20. "Toprockin's structure and form fuse dance forms and influences from uprocking, tap, lindy hop, James Brown's "good foot," salsa, Afro-Cuban, and various African and Native American dances." which was created in Brooklyn, New York.Schloss 2009, p. 14.Chang 2005, p. 138. Uprock looks similar to toprock, but it is more aggressive and looks like a fight. Uprock is also performed with partners, but in toprock—and in breaking in general—each person takes turns dancing.Chang 2006, p. 21. "The structure was different from b-boying/b-girling since dancers in b-boy/b-girl battles took turns dancing, while uprocking was done with partners." In 1973, DJ Kool Herc popularized the break beat.Chang 2006, p. 19. "DJ Kool Herc, originally from Jamaica, is credited with extending these breaks by using two turntables, a mixer and two of the same records. As DJs could re-cue these beats from one turntable to the other, finally, the dancers were able to enjoy more than just a few seconds of a break! Kool Herc also coined the terms 'b-boy' and 'b-girl', which stood for 'break boys' and 'break girls.' At one of Kool Herc's jams, he might have addressed the dancers just before playing the break beats by saying, 'B-Boys are you ready?! B-Girls are you ready?!' The tension started to mount and the air was thick with anticipation. The b-boys and b-girls knew this was their time to 'go off!'." A break beat is a rhythmic, musical interlude of a song that has been looped over and over again to extend that instrumental solo, because "breaks" were seen as the part of the song best to dance to. In the 1970s, DJs started using two copies of the same record to mix them, extending the break. This was known as Beat juggling. This interluding, which had previously been used in Funk and Soul songs, inspired this musical evolution. Kool Herc did this to provide a means for dancers who attended his parties to demonstrate their skills. B-boy and b-girl stands for "break-boy" and "break-girl"; b-boys and b-girls dance to the break of a record. Further influenced by martial artsChang 2006, p. 20. "Early influences on b-boying and b-girling also included martial arts films from the 1970s." and gymnastics, breaking went from being a purely upright dance style—toprock only—to becoming more floor-oriented.
At the same time that breaking was developing in New York, other styles were being created in California. The funk styles refer to several street dance styles created in California in the 1970s such as roboting, bopping, hitting, locking, bustin', popping, boogaloo, strutting, sac-ing, and dime-stopping. Out of all of these dances, Boogaloo is one of the oldest. It started out as a 1960s fad dance and was the subject of several songs released during that time such as "Do the Boogaloo" and "My Baby Likes to Boogaloo". From being a fad, it developed into a street dance style called Boogaloo in Oakland, California, as well as a separate music genre called Latin boogaloo. The most popular and widely practiced of the funk styles are locking and popping. The television show Soul Train played a large role in giving these styles commercial exposure. Both The Lockers and The Electric Boogaloos—dance crews responsible for the spread of locking and popping—performed on this show.
It is historically inaccurate to say that the funk styles were always considered hip-hop. In an interview with Racked, Moncell Durden, assistant dance professor at the University of Southern California, is quoted as saying "Hip-hop dance involves two dances: breaking and social dances. That's it. Nothing else is hip-hop." The funk styles were adopted into hip-hop in large part due to the media. The media identified these styles as "breakdance", which caused confusion about their origin.Rivera 2003, p. 72. "With the barrage of media attention it received, even terminology started changing. 'Breakdancing' became the catch-all term to describe what originally had been referred to as 'burning', 'going off', 'breaking', 'b-boying', and 'b-girling.' Dance styles that originated in the West Coast such as popping and locking were also grouped under the term 'breakdance.'"Chang 2006, pp. 18–19. "Although dance forms associate with hip-hop did develop in New York City, half of them (that is, popping and locking) were created on the West Coast as part of a different cultural movement. Much of the media coverage in the 1980s grouped these dance forms together with New York's native dance forms (b-boying/b-girling and uprocking) labeling them all "breakdancing". As a result, the West Coast "funk" culture and movement were overlooked..." They were created on the west coast independent from breaking and were originally danced to funk music, rather than hip-hop music.
As breaking, locking, and popping gained popularity in the 1980s, hip-hop social dancing (party dancing) started to develop. Novelty and fad dances such as the Roger Rabbit, the Cabbage Patch, and the Worm appeared in the 1980s followed by the Humpty dance and the Running Man in the 1990s.Pagett 2008, p. 48. The music of the day was the driving force in the development of these dances. For example, the 1980s rap group Gucci Crew II had a song called "The Cabbage Patch" that the dance of the same name was based on.Pagett 2008, p. 33. 2000s-era social dances include the Cha Cha Slide, the Cat Daddy, and the Dougie. The previously mentioned dances are a sample of the many that have appeared since hip-hop developed into a distinct dance style. Like hip-hop music, hip-hop social dancing continues to change as new songs are released and new dances are created to accompany them.
Primary influences Breaking
Breaking or b-boying, commonly known by its exonym as breakdancing, was created in the South Bronx, New York City during the early 1970s. It is considered the first hip-hop dance style. At the time of its creation, it was the only hip-hop dance style because Afrika Bambaataa classified it as one of the five pillars of hip-hop culture along with MCing (rapping), DJing (turntablism), graffiti writing (bombing), and knowledge.Kugelberg 2007, p. 17.Chang 2005, p. 90.Schloss 2009, p. 37. Though African Americans created breaking,Schloss 2009, p. 16. Puerto Ricans maintained its growth and development when it was considered a fad in the late 1970s.Rivera 2003, p. 75. "...Puerto Ricans had been and were still key in the development of the b-boy/b-girl dance styles; most of the better known breaking crews (Rock Steady Crew, the Furious Rockers, Dynamic Rockers, New York City Breakers) were primarily Puerto Rican." In a 2001 interview Richard "Crazy Legs" Colón, the president of Rock Steady Crew, commented on how Puerto Ricans contributed to breaking: "I think the difference is when the brothas first started doing [it] and it was at its infancy they weren't doing acrobatic moves. That didn't come into play until more Puerto Ricans got involved in the mid 70s. We then took the dance, evolved it, and kept it alive. In '79 I was getting dissed. I would go into a dance and I would get dissed by a lot of brothas who would ask 'Why y'all still doing that dance? That's played out'. By 79, there were very few African American brothas that was doing this... We always maintained the flava. It was like a changing of the guard and all we did was add more flava to something that already existed."Chang 2005, pp. 117, 136–137. Breaking includes four foundational dances: toprock, footwork-oriented steps performed while standing up; downrock, footwork performed with both hands and feet on the floor; freezes, stylish poses done on your hands; and power moves, complex and impressive acrobatic moves.DJ Hooch 2011, p. 20. Transitions from toprock to downrock are called "drops."Chang 2006, p. 20. "The transition between top and floor rockin' was also important and became known as the 'drop.'"DJ Hooch 2011, p. 27.
Traditionally, breakers dance within a cypher or an Apache Line. A cypher is a circular shaped dance space formed by spectators that breakers use to perform or battle in.Chang 2006, p. 24. Cyphers work well for one-on-one b-boy or b-girl (break-boy/break-girl) battles; however, Apache Lines are more appropriate when the battle is between two crews—teams of street dancers. In contrast to the circular shape of a cypher, competing crews face each other in an Apache Line, challenge each other, and execute their burns (a move intended to humiliate the opponent, i.e. crotch grabbing).Chang 2006, p. 21. "There were also the 'Apache Lines' where one crew stood in a line facing the opposing crew and challenged each other simultaneously."Guzman-Sanchez 2012, p. 129. "The Apache Line was basically two opposing lineups of dancers standing face-to-face doing the step toward each other. This simple shuffle step was done in a repeated manner.Guzman-Sanchez 2012, p. 138. "Even the Burns (thrusting motion to disrespect your opponent) and Jerks (dropping down) terminology became synonymous with B-Boy slang.
Locking