Street Dancing

Dance is very diverse. There are many different styles, and there are a lot of different versions of each style. In my opinion the most unique and diverse style is hip hop; or street dancing. This is a style that you can be trained in but most people just teach themselves or learn from a friend, not necessarily in a studio. The most unique thing about hip hop, or street dancing is how there are so many different types of it. A lot of times you can find people “street dancing” in big cities for money or just for entertainment because that is what they love to do.

                Popping is a type of street dance that originated in California. Popping looks really cool because the dancer flex’s and relaxes their muscles very fast to “jerk” the body; locking is a style almost the same just the dancer waits a little longer before relaxing the muscles to give a slightly different affect. Tutting sometimes called Tetris, is another type and it is probably the most unique, It’s supposed to be based off of the ancient Egyptians. It is just rapid hand and arm movements, it is not only used as a street dance but also used sometimes in other choreography like show choir choreography for example.

                One of the most common street dance styles is break dancing, sometimes referred to as B-Boying. This particular style was started in the South Bronx area by Latino and African American kids. There are four main parts of this style; Toprock, Downrock, Freeze, and power moves. Power Moves are a crowd favorite and what every kid wants to be able to do when they first see it. Power moves are things like hard jumps, spinning on your head or back, basically any of the tricks. This style of street dance is probably the most well known and most recognizable.

                Battling is very entertaining and has little to no rules. Groups of people gather in a circle usually around two street dance crews that will freestyle battle. The can use contact and do whatever they want; tricks and any style, or even mix all the styles together. There is no time limit and the winner of the battle is chosen by the crowd. Until the winner is chosen the dancers take turns running in and taking over the center spotlight. Dance battles are usually improv dances which means they are come up with on the spot and the song is unknown until it is played. This is like the dancing in the “Step Up” movies.