Hip Hop Dance Classes

Hip Hop is not just a style of music, or a culture, it is also a dance style that goes along with the culture and music. Dances of this style include breaking, locking, popping, and others. The style is always evolving and including new dances. The original dance style started in the 1970's by African Americans and Latinos in New York City. A key characteristic of this dance style is freestyle, or improvisational dance. Battles, or off the cuff competitions take place on the streets all the time without previous planning. There are also formally planned battles.

The informal battles are danced in a cipher or circular dance space created as a crowd gathers around. Freestyle, battles, and ciphers are the basic formula for Hip Hop dance. This American development has spread over the world and is especially popular in France and South Korea. French dancers have developed their own dance styles based on the American style called Tecktonik. France offers an annual international competition of all these dance forms. South Korea has followed similarly and also host an international breaking competition called R16. It is not just a way to dance, but a whole lifestyle to those that take it seriously. Many dancers are able to make a living dancing professionally in this form.

Breaking or b-boying is what most people think of as break dancing. It originated in New York and is one form of Hip Hop dance. Its moves include toprock, downrock, and freezes/suicides. Funk is another form of dance in this genre. It is very similar to breaking but started on the other side of the US in California. Its moves include locking, popping, and electric boogaloos. The genre is always evolving and introducing new element and styles. That is part of the beauty of the culture; it is embracing and influencing the entire dance world.

Even the dance industry has taken Hip Hop under its wing. It has taken the dance forms of the genre and commercialized them for mass consumption. Dance studios across American and worldwide offer dance classes in these forms of dance. Kids and even adults are enjoying breaking, funk, and many other types of street dance offered by their hometown dance schools. There is even professional potential in this type of dance. Dance crews have formed that provide training and professional dancing opportunities to the skilled dancers of this exciting form of dance.