Dance Hip Hop

Hip-hop dance refers to dance styles primarily danced to hip-hop music or that have evolved as part of hip-hop culture. This includes a wide range of styles notably breaking, locking, and poppingwhich were created in the 1970s by African Americans.[note 1] What separates hip-hop dance from other forms of dance is that it is often freestyle (improvisational) in nature and hip-hop dancersfrequently engage in battles—formal or informal freestyle dance competitions. Informal freestyle sessions and battles are usually performed in a cipher, "a circular dance space that forms naturally once thedancing begins."[6] These three elements—freestyling, battles, and ciphers—are key components of hip-hop dance.

More than 30 years old, hip-hop dance became widely known after the first professionalbreaking, locking, and popping crews formed in the 1970s. The most influential groups are the Rock Steady Crew, The Lockers, and the Electric Boogaloos who are responsible for the spread of breaking,locking, and popping respectively. Parallel with the evolution of hip-hop music, hip-hop dancing evolved from breaking and the funk styles into different forms: moves such as the "running man" andthe "cabbage patch" hit the mainstream and became fad dances. The dance industry in particular responded with a studio based version of hip-hop—sometimes called new style— and jazz funk. These styleswere developed by technically trained dancers who wanted to create choreography for hip-hop music from the hip-hop dances they saw being performed on the street. Because of this development, hip-hopdance is now practiced at both studios and outside spaces.

Internationally, hip-hop dance has had a particularly strong influence in France and South Korea. France is the birthplace of Tecktonik, astyle of house dance from Paris that borrows heavily from popping and breaking. France is also the home of Juste Debout, an international hip-hop dance competition, and Battle of the Year, the largest...