Street dancing
Thursday 19 July 2007
At the end of July around 450 street dancers will be taking part in the StreetDance UK championships. From breaking to krumping to popping, all styles will be represented. What does it all mean?
Street
Street dance is a term for a whole load of dance styles. The reason it’s called ‘street’ is because these styles developed outside of professional dance studios, inspired instead by people dancing in streets, schools and also nightclubs. Usually street dancing involves quite a lot of improvisation, contact with other dancers, and also interaction with the audience. New street dances are developing all the time.
Way back
It all kicked off in the 70’s in the US. A DJ in New York called Kool Herc bought two copies of the same record and mixed them in a way that extended the break for the dancers, therefore coining the term ‘breakdancing’.
Some of the most famous B-boys include Crazy Legs and Frosty Freeze from the Rock Steady Crew. A popping group called Electric Boogaloos spread the art of popping when they appeared on a famous TV show called Soul Train.
Battles
Battling involves dance offs with individuals or groups, but usually only one person is dancing at any one time. A form of battling called ‘uprocking’ gets the dancers facing each other on fixed positions on a straight line for the dance off. Most importantly battling is about respecting your opponent, rarely does it become personal.
Styles
Hip hop music is at the heart of almost all street dancing.
Break dancing involves a lot of getting down on the floor and spinning, with each move having a different name including backspins, headspins, windmills and the suicide - a front flip landing flat on your back.
Body popping is when the dancer quickly contracts and relaxes his muscles to cause body jerks called pops. Floating is also a kind of body popping and that includes the moonwalk, made famous by Michael Jackson in the 80’s.
Liquid dancing or waving is a style that is more flowing and concentrates on the fingers, hands and arms.
The more recent styles include krumping – a really high energy dance also involving battling. Clowning is a watered down version of krumping with less physical contact between dancers and was made famous by the film Rize. Sometimes the dancers will also dress up or paint their faces or bodies.
Competing
There are a lot of competitions all over the world. The first and biggest UK competition, Street Dance UK Championships is now in its 12th year. On Sunday 29th July over 450 dancers will compete in London ’s Hammersmith Apollo. Winners will be signed to an agency who is responsible for the dancers you see on Madonna, Robbie Williams, Kylie and Mariah Carey videos.
Fun
There are plenty of places to try street dancing around the UK. Wanna learn a dance at home? Why not try this one?
As well as the Street Dance UK Championships coming up, a dance company called Interlude is holding auditions on 26th August. The dance company was started by a 16 year old and the dancers are all under 18.
If you want to just have some fun and give it a go, or just have a bit of exercise check out this website.
