Street dance

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Street dance, also called vernacular dance^[1] is an umbrella term, used to describe dance styles that evolved outside of dance studios in everyday spaces such as streets, school yards and nightclubs. They are often improvisational and social in nature, encouraging interaction and contact with the spectators and the other dancers.

Street dance is also commonly used specifically for the many hip hops and funk dance styles that began appearing in the United States in the 1970s, and are still alive and evolving within hip hop culture today: such as breakdance, popping, locking, hip hop new style and house dance. These dances are popular on levels, as a form of physical exercise, an art form, and for competition, and are today practiced both at dance studios and other spaces. Some schools use street dance as a form of physical education.

Contents 1 Characteristics 2 Competitions 3 Styles 4 Dancehall 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Characteristics

Dancers interpret the existing moves freely and even invent new ones to create a personal style of their own. Improvisation is the heart of most street dances, though choreography is also seen, mostly mixed with improvisation or used for prepared shows.

Generally, a street dance is based on a unique style or feel that are expressed through the dance, usually tied to a certain music genre. As new dance moves evolve based on this feel, the dance is under constant development, and if the feel starts to change it might give birth to a completely new dance form.

[edit] Competitions

Today, serious street dance competitions are increasingly popular, and a number of large annual international events are taking place around the world, such as Battle of the Year, Juste Debout and House Dance International. These contests focus mainly on judged battles but also on choreographed shows.

[edit] Styles

Some of the most famous street dance styles of today, such as breakdance, popping and locking, began appearing around the 1970s, and hip hop new style and house dance around the 1980s. Though some of these styles originally evolved separately, most of them are today associated with the hip hop scene, as they share many street dance elements.

More recently, new street dance styles are emerging that are further inspired by hip hop and its music. Krumping, with its focus on highly energetic battles and movements, is an example of such a style that just recently became publicly known. It's also common to see some characteristics of street dance being mixed with other more traditional dance forms, creating styles such as street jazz, a hybrid of modern hip hop styles and jazz dance. Such styles are generally focused more on choreography and performance and less on improvisation and battles, and are not always considered pure street dances, though a popular alternative to the more traditional and classical styles of studio dancing.

[edit] Dancehall

Main article: Dancehall

Similarly in the Caribbean nation of Jamaica, Dancehall music the contemporary version to Reggae, has spawned its own street dances, the movement has gathered momentum within the last five years where everyday a new dance is being tested on the streets. Most noted of them includes the Bogle, Worl-a dance, Jerry Springer, Dutty whine, Willy Bounce and Gangsta Rock to name a few. Others such as Tunda Clap and Rock-a-way were made popular on the North American scene by their inclusion in R & B superstar Usher's "YEAH" video. With the advent of You Tube Jamaican street dances such as Dutty Whine has become a world wide phenomenon and can be viewed being performed by people of all races all over the world. These dances have become so popular that artists race to produce and release the latest songs named after these dances, the more popular the dance increases the chance of the song becoming a hit, a present day anthem in the Dancehall music scene. Just like their North American counterparts these dancers practice their moves on street corners, at street dances and in the clubs. The absence of any formal structure within the street dance realm leaves much room for fiercely contested controversy among individual street dancers or crews as to who was the originator of a dance, especially when it becomes popular.

[edit] See also

• African American dance

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• "Dancing on the Through-Line: Rennie Harris and the Past and Future of Hip-Hop Dance" by Jeff Chang; from the series Democratic Vistas Profiles: Essays in the Arts and Democracy

Street dance
Breakdancing - Hip hop dance - Krumping - Liquid dancing - Locking - Popping - Robot - Tutting - Uprock