1.

HIPHOP

The word hip is believed to have been first used in the African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) of
the African-American culture since 1904. This term means “informed” or “current.”

          Hip-hop dance is believed to have started from a street dance and evolved into its form today
through improvisation. Other studies show that a rapper named Robert Keith “Cowboy” Wiggins
coined the term in 1978. At the time, he had a friend who served in the US Army and he used to rap
the word “hip-hop-hip-hop” while mimicking the cadence of marching soldiers. Later, Wiggins
incorporated the “hip-hop” into stage performances.

          Artists performed the dance with goers with the new kind of DJ music and called the dancers
“hip-hoppers”. The DJs created rhythmic beats by looping breaks with a small tone of percussion and
accompanied the beats by “rapping”. This became later known as beat boxing. Hip-hop dance
became the fad of African-Americans and Latino-Americans who developed the steps in New York
City in the 1970s.

          Hip-hop dance then became popular not only in New York City but also on other countries.
Hip-hop culture has been connected with the graffiti craze or the writings and arresting illustrations
painted on walls. These art forms usually express social and political issues.

2. TYPES OF HIPHOP

Types of Hip Hop Dance Styles:

The following are some of the dance styles in hip-hop dance:

1.    Popping – This was created in Fresno, California by Sam Solomon. This style means to act as a “living
robot,” which consists of quick contracting and relaxing muscles, which are called pops or hits. To do this , you
have to move separately every part of your body or to pop your wrist, shoulder, and chest, among others. Go to
this link to see how to do popping:

2.    Isolation- This refers to moving your body parts individually. Isolate your arm, head, and chest to create a
robotic type of move. Go to this link to see how to do isolation

3.    Locking – This was crafted by Don Campbell in Los Angeles, California. It consists of a series of
movements that involves quick action. It is similar to locking one part of your body into another position, and
then freezing it in last position. Hips and legs should remain in a relaxed position while upper extremities
should be moving. The dancers of this style are commonly called lockers. Visit this link to know how to
perform locking 

4..    Breaking- This is also known as break dancing. Dancers are called b-boying and b-girling or breakers. This
style is an improvisation because it evolved from uprock --- another style of dance. It has movements to be
performed at different levels such as toprock when you are standing while performing, downrock when dancers
are close to the floor, power moves when you are doing acrobatics, and freezing while posing. Go to this link to
watch an example of breaking

5.    Whacking or waacking – The performer uses his or her upper body and arms. A “waack” is the strong
swinging or sweeping of the arms in dramatic rapid succession, creating movements like a “human
hummingbird”. The term waacking was coined by Soul Train dancer Tyrone Proctor of the Outrageous Waack
Dancers in 1974. The “Garbo,” meanwhile, was the name given to waacking because of its style of posing like
the models of the 1940s. Waacking is also performed to disco music. Visit and watch to this link to know how
to do waacking:

6.    Vogue or voguing – This became popular in late 1980sin the East Coast in the United States. It is
performed to house music, which was popular at that time. The movement imitated the perfect lines and poses
of models as depicted in fashion magazines such as Vogue, where the dance got its name. no touching is
allowed during vogue competitions, although who displayed creative movements wins the contest. Pantomimes
or imitating the moves of the challenger evolved as a distinct style under vogue dancing. Go to this link to know
how to do voguing: