Dance
Familiarize yourself with the coolest styles of street dance
Red Bull Dance Your Style events are happening again, so get to know the differences between everything from locking and popping, to hip-hop and house.
When you watch different street dancers, they can appear totally different. The reason for that is that street dance isn't a single dance style, but a catch-all term we use for all the dance styles that have their origins 'in the streets'. Also, every dancer strives for their own unique style within the dance they do.
The most common street-dance styles are locking, hip-hop (aka hip-hop freestyle or new style), popping, house (aka house dance) and breaking (aka B-Boying or its media-created name breakdancing). Below we will briefly introduce those five styles and show a videoclip to understand how they look.
While watching, you should pay attention to the different styles of music, which ultimately lead to the differences in the dance styles.
What Is Red Bull Dance Your Style?
Red Bull Dance Your Style is a dance competition that features dancers from different street dance backgrounds. It's an international mixed-style dance competition that puts a different twist on traditional competitions.
All the Red Bull Dance Your Style content to get you in the zone
So what sets it apart? There is a unique 1-vs-1 battle format where dancers show off their musicality and freestyle dance skills. Then, the crowd decides who wins by voting for their favourite dancer.
The 2023 season is in full swing with different dancers from over 30 countries competing. The ultimate goal is to get to the Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final which takes place November 4 in Frankfurt, Germany.
In 2022, Canadian dancer Humuza Bazira, who is from Surrey, British Columbia, secured his spot in the National Finals by winning a Qualifier event in Vancouver. This catapulted him onto the world stage where he finished in the top 4 of the 2022 Red Bull Dance Your Style competition in South Africa.
01
Locking
Locking looks light-hearted and happy. This is probably because the music is funk, which is played by real musicians (not produced on a computer) and feels much more alive as a result. The second point is that the inspiration for a lot of the moves comes from comic characters that were on TV when the dance was created. Some of the names even reference the character that inspired them – the Scooby Doo or the Tom and Jerry are both good examples of this.
The legend says that the 'lock', which gives the dance style its name, was created when American dancer Don Campbell tried to do a move called the Funky Chicken but couldn't get it right.
Watch the Locking Final of Juste Debout 2017 below.
11 min
Locking Final
Vovan and Funky-J (Paris, France) go up against Black A and JP Black (Sorocaba, Brazil) in a funk-filled face-off for the Locking Championship.
02
Hip-hop
Hip-hop is a dance style based on freestyling with techniques originating in the social dances from the beginning of hip-hop culture and other influences. These can range from other dance forms, movement from everyday life to nature or even fictional characters from movies. Hip-hop dancing can look very different from one dancer to the other. The personal interpretation of the movement and the music is what gives the dance its ultimate flavour.
Watch the Hip-Hop Final of Juste Debout 2017 below.
11 min
Hip-Hop Final
This is a dance battle that’s all about personal expression and making conversation through movement – this is the Juste Debout 2017 Hip-Hop Final.
03
Popping
Another style that originated on the USA's west-coast is popping. It has a slower pace and is defined through hard muscle contractions called pops. When music production shifted from musicians with instruments to drum machines and synthesisers, the dance music was infused with a very precise and robotic vibe, which further shaped the look of this style. Poppers create illusions in their movement by using isolation techniques to create seemingly impossible moves and the style is often used as a catch-all term for similar styles even though pioneers of these styles disagree on that and have their own separate names for them.
Take a look at the Popping Final of Juste Debout 2018 below.
11 min
Popping Final
Ness and Poppin'C face off with bold moves against Greenteck and Nelson to bring the judges to their feet and win the championship street dance competition in the Popping category.
04
House
House dance originated in Chicago and New York, and is different from the other styles on this list for many reasons. It's the only style performed to house music, while all the others have a funk or hip-hop soundtrack.
While the dancers usually have a relaxed vibe in the upper body and arms, the style emphasises fast and complex footwork. The steps and combinations are like a kaleidoscope of different cultures, borrowing inspirations from African dance, Latino dances, Native-American dance and many more.
See some of the finest house dancers in the final battle of Juste Debout 2018 in the player below.
13 min
House Final
Toyin & Frankie J get into the groove against Kwame & Serge to win the street dance championship. Feel the vibe that’s expressed by the dancers as they improvise their moves based on the music.
05
Waacking
Waacking emerged in the LGBTQ2S+ clubs of Los Angeles during the 1970s disco era and was popularized on the TV show Soultrain. The style is known for its diva-like choreography—traditionally mimicking poses seen on a runway— and combines striking arm movements with fancy footwork.
Meet Japanese Waacking dancer, Yumeki, who's a wildcard at Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final 2021, in the player below.
3 min
Introducing Yumeki
Meet Japanese Waacking dancer, Yumeki, who's a wildcard at Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final 2021.
06
Breaking
Breaking originated in the Bronx in New York City. It was an artistic outlet for the youth and is considered to be one of the four original elements of hip-hop culture. The unique features of breaking include acrobatic movement and an emphasis on ground moves, while the other styles prioritise dancing while standing up. Breaking isn't one of the styles represented in Red Bull Dance Your Style because breakers have their own competition that's called Red Bull BC One, but occasionally dancers borrow moves from breaking to add to their performance.
Watch the final battles of Red Bull BC One 2018 for examples of B-Girls and B-Boys breaking in the players below.
6 min
San Andrea vs Ami – B-Girl final
B-Girls Ami and San Andrea battle one-on-one to claim the inaugural Red Bull BC One B-Girl championship belt.
7 min
Lil Zoo vs Luigi – final
The finalists Lil Zoo and Luigi go head-to-head to decide who'll be crowned the Red Bull BC One 2018 champion.
07
Krumping
Krumping is an energetic street dance style characterized by sharp movements, power and aggression. Taking heavy influence from the clowning dance style, krumping was popularized in the early 2000s after the short-documentary, titled Krumped" appeared at the Aspen Shortfest in 2004. The discipline has been a staple of street dancing ever since.
Meet US krump dancer, Outrage, who's a wildcard at Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final 2021, in the player below.
3 min
Introducing Outrage
Meet US krump dancer, Outrage, who's a wildcard at Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final 2021.
Now learn more
If you want to see more amazing dance, make sure to check out Dance on Red Bull TV. We recommend you start with Get to know the world of Streetdance and the ABC of... Breaking.