Dance
Hip hop vs. street dance: Which one is right for you?
What is hip hop dance? What is street dance? Where are the differences, what do they have in common and what does the moonwalk belong to? These questions are answered here at a glance.
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01
Hip-hop - the beginnings
First, let's go back to the beginnings: Hip hop (or hip-hop) is a culture that originated in the Bronx in the 1970s. Dance was a form of expression of this cultural and political movement from the very beginning and played just as important a role as graffiti, rap and DJing. It all started with improvised freestyle dance on the street and in clubs. Through joint sessions, elements from widespread funk styles such as popping, locking and breaking were mixed and reinterpreted. By the end of the 1980s, this had become a precursor to what we know today as hip-hop dance.
02
Hip-hop dance and music videos
Various personalities and dance crews have had a significant influence on today's understanding of hip-hop dance - especially often through the medium of music videos. For example, Buddha Stretch, who comes from New York, was nominated for the MTV Video Music Award in the category "Best Choreography" in 1997 and 1998 for his work on the music videos for " Gettin' Jiggy With It " and "Men in Black ". A few years earlier he became part of the dance crew Elite Force, as did the legendary Henry Link: The latter was involved in quite a few music videos in the 90s and can still be found on the jury of dance battles today. But the Elite Force's history goes back even further and they were responsible early on for making hip-hop moves visible to a wider public - as they did in 1992 in the music video for "Remember The Time" by Michael Jackson.
But how did the basic steps come about? Since hip-hop is a social dance, dancers developed their basics through face-to-face dance sessions in clubs, where they tried out different ways of moving to hip-hop music. Famous basics such as the Running Man were created in the process. Over time, the vocabulary of basic steps was expanded more and more, such as the Dougie or the Reject. But what unites all hip hop movements to this day is the typical groove.
A "running man" you won't forget - on MC Hammer from 1:21 minutes:
03
Choreography vs. freestyle
Just as hip-hop music evolved from boom bap to g-funk to drill or trap, the currents of hip-hop dance also changed. Thus, the divisions of choreography and freestyle emerged, which in turn opened up many more subcategories. In hip-hop freestyle, we went back to the origin of dance sessions: freestyle battles offer dancers an opportunity to compete in different categories. Hip-hop choreographies consistently fill dance schools and can also be seen on the very big stages.
4 min
Badmómzjay & Loredana: 2 Bad Bitches
Badmómzjay performs the joint song "2 Bad Bitches" with Loredana live for the first time!
04
And what about street dance?
Street dance is an umbrella term for dance styles such as locking, popping, voguing or house, which also includes hip-hop dance. The dance styles originated at different times and are mainly determined by their basic movements and the music that goes with them. House, for example, as the name suggests, is danced to electronic beats with the jack as the main element. Popping means robot-like movements to G-funk and popping beats - dancers also create illusions such as a state of suspension, which can be seen well in the "moonwalk" popularised by Michael Jackson, which we can therefore assign to street dance with the subcategory of popping. (An early example of a moonwalk can be seen here from second 20.) However, the term street dance has become highly commercialised and many dancers from the scene prefer to use the term "urban dance".
As you can see, it's not easy to draw a line between the two because, as in many art forms, there are no fixed rules for street dance. You probably know this from your circle of friends: for some Jay-Z is the epitome of hip hop, for others Nicki Minaj and for still others Lil Uzi Vert. If you want to delve deeper into the topic, our street dance guide with sample videos for different dance styles is a hot recommendation - click HERE. For more tips on how to get started, click HERE.
23 min
Get to know the world of street dance
Learn about the origins of street dance and discover the styles that have evolved from its humble beginnings.
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