What Is Hip Hop Dance?

One of the most popular styles of dancing has always been hip-hop dancing, especially with the more recent generations. And with a lot of movies dedicated to the hip-hop dance culture, a lot of people are now beginning to gain interest in learning how to dance it.

Hip Hop dance refers to a form of urban ethnic dance that is performed to different styles of hip-hop music. Although Hip Hop dance has some pretty basic forms or styles, it is a dance style that involves a lot of improvisation or ‘freestyle’ dancing. This is where Hip Hop dancers can put their personal touch and flavour into their dance routines. Hip Hop dancers often engage in what we call as ‘battles’ wherein they perform dance moves and routines against another dancer, trying to outdo each other in their dance techniques. Once a battle begins, a cypher, which is a circular space that surrounds the dancers battling, is formed. All these components make the core of Hip Hop dance.

History Of Hip Hop Dance

Hip Hop dance made its mark early in the 1900’s when it became a part of the Hip-Hop culture, more specifically when people living in the Bronx, New York, began dancing it on the streets, especially when professional Hip Hop dance crews and groups began to form and compete against one another.

Hip Hop dance got even more exposure when some of their moves, such as the ‘running man’ and the ‘cabbage patch’, invaded into the mainstream dance culture. These were all made possible by the dedication and hard work by the different breaking, locking and popping dance groups and crews that influenced Hip Hop dance as we know it today. There are three different Hip Hop styles of dance that a person can do, and they are breaking, locking and popping.

Breaking

The Hip Hop dance style ‘breaking’, it has four basic forms that compose its foundation for you to be able to perform this particular style of dance. The four basic moves. The top rock, which are foot movements done while the dancer is standing up. The down rock, which are foot movements done while the dancer is down on the floor while using his hands to support his entire weight>  Freezes, which are poses done by the dancer on his hands. The power moves, which are acrobatic moves that are relatively difficult to perform.

Locking

As the name implies, locking involves locking your body during a dance routine. A dancer can achieve this by simply pausing for a brief moment and then moving again after. This temporary holding of position is what is called a lock, and is usually performed together with popping movements.

Popping

The last style of Hip Hop dance, popping involves a jerking motion of the body which is achieved when a dancer contract and then relaxes his muscles instantly. These pops or hits are timed and synchronised together with the music, which means that each movement is done in rhythm.