Hip Hop Dance

International Dance Styles >> Hip Hop Dance

Its Beginnings-
Hip hop started as a cultural movement in the ghettos of New York in the early 1970s. The term 'hip hop' was initially used by underground MCs and DJs in the clubs, as they chose up on the rhythm of the music and shouted to the crowds to join in the dancing.On the other hand, it was DJ Africa Bambaataa who used the term to portray the urban movement which was at present on the rise.

Refers To-
Hip hop conventionally refers to four main art forms: MC-ing, or rapping, DJ-ing, dancing and graffiti. Street Dance or hip hop dance, as it survives today, stems from the original and varied movement styles which began to develop independently, but at the same time, on the east and west coasts of America. In New York, 'breaking' and 'up rocking' emerged. Meantime,'popping' and 'locking' came into being in Los Angeles.

Hip Hop has two kinds namely East coast Hip Hop and West coast Hip Hop and mixing it up i.e. as time passed all four dance styles of hip hop got spread and mixed.

The dance style primarily associated with hip hop is breaking, which appeared in New York City during the early 1970s and truly became a cornerstone of hip hop as a culture. Funk dance styles, such as popping and locking, evolved separately in California in the 1960-70s,but were also integrated into hip hop when the culture reached the West Coast of the United States.

In the late 1980s,as hip hop music took new forms and the hip hop subculture established further, new dance styles began appearing. Most of them were danced in an upright manner in contrast to breaking with its many ground moves, and were in the beginning light-feeted with lots of jumping. Some moves hit the mainstream and became fad dances, such as The Running Man, but overall they contributed a lot to later hip hop styles, and heavily influenced the development of house dancing.

All hip hop styles from the 1980s and beyond are sometimes collectively called new school while the distinct styles from the 1960-70s,such as breaking, uprocking, locking and popping,are considered old school. However, this classification is controversial, and often old school hip hop is used solely for the late 1580s upright and jumpy hip hop styles, excluding locking,popping and breaking, and new style hip hop for the heavier hip hop styles of today.