Dance
Learn what is Uprock and how the street dance style was created
Three practitioners of Uprock, aka Rock Dance aka Rocking, tell us about how they were introduced to the dance and how prominent it is in India.
Uprock is a competitive urban street dance that began in Brooklyn New York in the late 1960s.
It is also known as Rock Dance or Brooklyn Rock, and was formerly referred to as Rocking.
It began as a ritual that gang members would perform before fights, essentially telling their opponents what they planned on doing to them in the fight by using dance gestures.
When it was taken up by Brooklyn dancers called Apaches, they added concepts of burns and gestures to create the dance form. As other boroughs in New York City took up the dance, new movements kept getting added and the dance form got more structure, effectively becoming a legitimate form of street dance.
Thias conducts a toprock workshop at Red Bull BC One Camp France 2017
© Little Shao | Red Bull Content Pool
Although Uprocking didn’t become as widely known as other forms of dance, it has heavily influenced other street dance forms; for example, the element of toprock in breaking was created out of Uprock.
Here’s a detailed understanding of the dance form and how it is practiced in India.
01
What is Uprock?
Prince Paswan aka B-Boy Burst from Kolkata has been practicing Uprock since 2012. His crew Break Guruz is one of the few crews promoting the dance form in India.
“Rocking started as a dance form that gang members used to do. Before going to gang fights, they used to enact how they would beat their enemies. Different gangs used different styles. Some of them used nunchakus, some used guns, some used butterfly knives, some used boxing moves. By the 1970s, it started changing positively, as a form to curb gang violence,” says B-Boy Burst.
Jayanta Samaddar aka B-Boy Hotshot – also from Break Guruz Crew – is a pioneer of Uprock in India.
“The toprock element of breaking derives some influence from rocking although the major difference is that toprock is usually performed as a prelude before a breaker does the ‘get down’ (footwork or powermoves), while Uprocking is performed to the entire song,” says B-Boy Hotshot.
Arif Chaudhary aka B-Boy Flying Machine from Mumbai says the roots of most hip-hop dances are connected to Uprock. “It’s a different dance form. Rock Dance came before breaking but helped build toprock. Rock Dance doesn’t have powermoves, but it's very groovy. It has a very native essence that was discovered by the African American dancers,” says B-Boy Flying Machine.
3 min
Toprock fundamentals
Get top advice from B-Girl AT of Flow Mo Crew and Bboydojo.com as she goes through three toprock steps.
02
What makes Uprock unique?
Being an urban dance form, Uprock has its very own unique flavor and character.
“I like the idea of taking imaginary weapons out of my jacket and fighting an opponent without harming anyone. To me, I thought I was demolishing my demons when I was training Rocking and that was great for a kid growing up with plenty of energy to kill. It probably felt like when a boxer trains by punching a sandbag; expelling energy but not hurting anyone,” says B-Boy Hotshot.
“When it originated in New York City, Rocking gave people a way of escaping the gang scene. I love it because of this story and background of the dance form,” says B-Boy Burst.
03
What are the fundamental moves in Uprock?
“The dance consists mainly of hand gestures and jerks. Hand gestures are basically ‘burns’, and jerks are sudden body movements. Jerks can be further classified into drops, spins, turns, shuffles, and freestyle. These are the basic fundamentals of Rocking,” says B-Boy Burst when asked about the elements of the dance form.
04
How are Uprock dance battles conducted?
Like all competitive dance forms, Uprock battles have their own set of rules and technicalities. Battles are usually conducted in 1v1 format where both dancers perform to an entire song at the same time.
“Dancers draw a line on the floor called Apache line. The line is imaginary and drawn between two opponents. Neither of the opponents can cross the line when they dance. People win by most burns, jerks, hand gestures, etc. The more character you have in your dance, the more concepts you use, the more storytelling, the more burns, etc, the higher your chances of winning the battle,” says B-Boy Burst.
“Rocking has a very different approach for competitions. Dancers don’t go round after round like most other street dance battles. You're both competing together for the whole song against each other. You're dancing simultaneously,” explains B-Boy Flying Machine.
05
What kind of clothing do Uprockers wear?
“Original Uprockers were part of gangs and thus utility jackets, jacket patches, bandanas, sneakers, etc were considered part of the traditional clothing. In India, we don't really follow that gang culture. We respect the history of Rock Dance but we dress in a modern context. We prefer denim jackets usually as Rocking has burns where the dancer takes imaginary weapons out of their jacket to gesture towards the opponent. So a simple denim jacket helps as a prop for the dance,” says B-Boy Hotshot.
06
What kind of music is used in Uprock?
Uprock is usually danced to the rhythms of rock, soul and funk music. Originally, it was performed to an exclusive collection of songs that have an underlying hard-driving beat.
“Funk and soul music with a good hard beat is what works best. ‘Give It Up Or Turn It a Loose’ by James Brown is my all-time favourite song to dance Uprock. ‘The Mexican’ by British band Babe Ruth and ‘Apache’ by Incredible Bongo Band are other Rocking tracks I enjoy. But most James Brown tracks have got that X-factor – a soulful voice and a banging beat in the backdrop – that’s good for Rocking,” says B-Boy Burst.
Taisuke uses toprock during a battle with Cheerito
© Little Shao| Red Bull Content Pool
07
What is the Uprock scene around the world?
There aren’t any major dedicated Uprock competitions or events around the world. Uprock battles usually feature as part of our street dance events.
“Culture Shock is a rocking event that happens as an underground event in small jams. Not many people know about it,” says B-Boy Burst.
B-Boy Flying Machine had the opportunity to battle in an international Uprock competition in 2019. “I attended Rock City Park Jam at Taipei Bboy City. It’s very underground. My experience was great. I used to Uprock before and loved the vibe, but there were no jams in India. I got down for the first time in Taipei and made it to the top 16,” says B-Boy Flying Machine.
08
What is the Uprock scene in India?
Although Uprock has been practiced in India for more than a decade, it isn’t as widespread as other forms of street dance.
“There are no 'Rockers' as such who only do Rocking. This is primarily because Rocking is top-heavy and has a limited range of movements. Dancers in India, whoever can Rock, tend to do the dance in addition to practicing other dance styles,” says B-Boy Hotshot.
He had performed an Uprock sequence during a breaking battle at the 2012 April Fools’ Jam Battle which was recorded. The sequence in the video was India’s first clear introduction to Uprock. Watch Hotshot’s Uprock sequence at 1:18 in the video below.
“I was probably the only one training Rocking with a focus on good form and technique before the April Fool’s Jam Battle. Although this was 2012, there were earlier defining instances as well which might not have got captured on camera. For example, I had a Rocking battle during the Havikoro workshop in Chandigarh in 2011; I battled against Marlon of the Havikoro crew,” says B-Boy Hotshot, adding that he started practicing Uprock when he started breaking in 2008.
“I was introduced to it through my crew members B-Boy Stick and B-Boy True1. They had learned from Uprock legends Rob Nasty and Profo Won from USA through an online workshop in 2011-12. They taught me and then I started watching videos of Rob Nasty, Profo Won and King Uprock to learn more,” says B-Boy Burst.
“I don’t know of any proper Rocking crew in India. Maybe Break Guruz, but we also have other styles. We are trying to spread knowledge of the dance form. Stick, True 1, Hotshot and I, we try to do workshops around the country. We had also done a small Rocking jam at our event Break Veda Cypher Night in January 2021,” adds B-Boy Burst.