INTRODUCTIONTeenagers nowadays are quite different compared before. Before we are

even afraid making decisions in our own; we need guidance from our parents or

guardians, hence we cannot do anything without a permission from the elders.

But now everything has changed. Today’s generation have more freedom to

choose to their chosen careers, sometimes it seems like the role of the parents is

just to be only to be a good provider for their needs. Even parents’ advice

sometimes being neglected by their children. See how people evolved from timid

to experimental, even our own thought when we were in our childhood stage has

also changed. From fashion trends to dancing, today’s generation is more

creative, risk taker and innovative; from simple dance steps of our traditional

dance, we are now become fan in western dance, like street dance.

What is Street Dance all about?Street Dance is all about expressing yourself or just enjoying what you can do

and don’t have any fancy spring board or mats improvising with what you’ve got.

How to Street dance?Street dancing has been around for many years. There are three (3) easy

steps in street dancing:

1. Feel the beat- the only thing you have to think about when street

dancing is the beat or the rhythm of the song, so pick a song

with rhythm like hip hop or rap;

2. Make up a couple of funky moves like popping and body

rippling, popping where you move your body in a jerky way

which looks like you popped it and body rippling is when you

make your body like a wave; and

3. You don’t need to choreograph the dance just do freestyle but

make sure it goes to the rhythm.

What outfit as they wear for street dance?The girls usually wear tank tops with loose sweatpants or loose shirts with

tight sweatpants and high rise sneakers.

The boys usually wear colored tops, loose sweatpants and high rise

sneakers or vans. But you can wear anything as long as it guarantees that you

can move freely in it.

Where did origins of street dance come from?Street dance is very popular form of dance in western world. However, it is

yet to make a grand entry in Indian dance culture, though, street dancing is slowly

establishing its roots in India. Street dancing is also termed as vernacular dance.

There is no particular era when the street began. It is not a well-developed and

sophisticated form of dance. It is basically symbolizes all those dance styles

which originated and evolved in everyday life in places including streets, night

clubs, playground, school and others. Street dance was not prompted or

discovered in a dance studio. The best feature of street dance is the

improvisation factor.

There are no fixed dance moves in street dancing rather it focuses on

dance own improvisation instincts. Street dance is quite social in nature and

promotes contacts and interactions with spectator to make it even more fun.

Street dance was first seen in the United States. In 1970’s, street dance is an

interesting and energetic amalgamation of many hip hop and funk dance styles.

Other dance forms like house dance, locking, popping and others are also part of

the same movements which street dance originated.

Street dance is very popular in many parts of the world because of diverse

uses. It is also used as a physical education in many western schools, with the

passage of time. It has become more popular even when established dance

studios. The street dance finds its motivation in fighting against violent gangster

activities. It uses moves like rigorous hand, clapping hand, head movements and

stomping feet which help in releasing anger, frustration and aggression. It is a

wonderful medium of expressing one’s pent up emotions in a non-violent way.

The moves of street dance are quite fast, agile, dramatic and powerful.

Street dance is slowly making its presence felt in Indian metros. Many young

ones can be seen flocking to street dance classes every new season.

History of Street DanceYou may have come across the term “street dance” and wondered what it

meant. It is often used solely as a synonym for “hip hop”, “funk” or sometimes

even “house” dance. In fact, street dance refers to a lot of modern day dances.

To understand street dance better, discussion below is

provided-this will enable us to determine what a street dance is and

what it is not:

First of all we have the word “street”. Many people think this

refers to the Bronx, where hip hop was born, since “the streets” was

often a nickname for it. Others think it refers to dancing in a street or

using it to battle for ghetto or some other form of “urban” territory.

All these term usages are perfectly legit, without a doubt.

In formal dance terminology, the word “street” in “street

dance” meant any form of dance that evolved spontaneously

outside of a professional dance environment as part of some form

of culture. However, the term does not refer to just any non-studio

developed dance, it refers to those such dances that developed

vernacular as a reaction to some form of cultural movement that

occurred within an urban society. “Street” thus refers to “urban

counterculture”, and “street dance” refers to the dances evolving out

that said counterculture.

By calling a dance a “street dance” we can distinguish it from

commercially developed dance styles such as Modern Dance or

Zumba. Sometimes “street dance” may refer to both street and non-

street dance being danced literally in a street.

So what was the first street dance?When dances started evolving in urban rather than country environments,

they were referred to as “street dances”. These dances, however spontaneous,

were syncretic in nature and evolved from older forms of dance, such as folk,

country, traditional and tribal. Street, folk, country, traditional and tribal dances all

form as part of some geographical or musical culture, hence they all are known

as “vernacular dance” categories. Vernacular is a term that refers to the

apparently esoteric behavior or language of some segregated group as part of

their everyday culture.

So now we know that “street dance” refers to “any dance that evolved

outside of dance studios as part of some urbanized culture”, we may still be

wondering which the “first” street dance was.

The first street dance to be known as a “street dance” was the Tap Dance

and the dances it was based off, such as Clogging and Zapateo. We can easily

say that the earliest forms of street dance were newer revisions of older

vernacular dance. Clogging and Tap evolved just as the industrial revolution at

the time was at its peak and the hard working staff needed to “get away from it

all”, dance was one solution. These dances evolved during a time when urban

world was starting to become highly occupied by early technology such as

mechanical devices, etc. Clogging, in particular could be said to have had

evolved during the early 18th century within the Netherlands as a reaction to the

popularity of clog shoes at the time. However, it didn’t become its own dance until

a few decades later, when British cotton mill workers began dancing in clogs in

order to create their very own percussion (with or without music being played,

fiddles were a favored instrument by many). The Clog dancing resembled the

Irish Jig that had seemed to have had evolved out of pagan folk culture. The Clog

later evolved into pseudo Tap Dance.

Tap is a street dance that evolved amongst the Afro-American industrial

slaves during the early 19th century, but evolved into several dances when it

became the first street dance to be absorbed into mainstream culture. As slavery

began to decline, Tap split into two: commercial and traditional:

The commercial form of Tap was a non-street dance product that blended

the early form of Tap with new or old commercial dance forms.

Traditional tap was also very popular and eventually became a

performance dance just like its commercial version, however traditional tap had

always stayed pretty much the same over time.

Due to Tap’s mainstream popularity, it evolved into several dances that

were all largely fads to begin with. Swing, rock ‘n roll and funk all evolved from

Tap and became their very own dances. Swing and rock ‘n roll were largely

pattern dances. A dancer would start to break from the pattern dance and

perform a solo dance such as the Charleston. It was not until Swing and Rock N

Roll mutated back into a solo dance before the dances such as Funk and the

Hustle started to emerge. Afro-American and Afro-Caribbean music was gaining

popularity within the American and even European dance culture.

The four main aspects, or elements, of hip-

hop culture are: MCing rapping), DJing, Graffiti

and B-boying (known to the mainstream as break-

dancing).

OriginsThe term hip-hop was coined in the 1980s

by DJ Afrika Bambaataa. He used the term to

describe the urban cultural dance and music trend

that began in the 1970s. The words hip-hop were

originally used by MCs in scat (improvisational)

rhymes. Street dancing's origins lie in folk

dancing, primarily of Africa dancers were performed in a “cipher” or circle, with

one performer usually dancing at a time. In the 1920s, performer Earl Tucker

danced using glides and wave steps later common in hip-hop. In the 1970s,

James Brown and similar music influenced later hip-hop music, which, in turn,

affected street dancing.

DEVELOPING THE TECHNIQUEBreakdancers

Many early hip-hop dances were performed standing upright and had

influences from many sources, including Afro-Cuban, African and native tribal

dances. Martial Arts also played a role in

developing what is known as “Top Rockin’” which

took characteristics of Capoera, “a self-defense

method disguised as a dance.” Because of the

competitive nature of top rockin’ – and hip-hop

dance in general- upright dances were

supplemented with increasing footwork. If one

dancer dance upright the interrupted that dance

to lower onto the floor and perform complex

footwork or freezes, the next dancer would be

expected to outdo the first dancer, adding more complicated footwork to her

dance. These ground moves were named “floor rocking.” Such was the “battling”

context these dance continued to develop in.

Freezes and SpinsAnother aspect of street dancing was

freezing. The “chair freeze” and “baby freeze”

are two such positions. The chair freeze became

commonplace because it allowed the dancer to

support his body with his hand, forearm and

elbow, leaving his torso and legs free for a

variety of moves. The chair freeze was the foundation for moves like the back-

spin with arms and the continuous backspin (also known as the windmill). As of

2010, clowning and crumping are the latest styles of street dancing, originating

from Los Angeles.

Mainstreaming and Back AgainStreet dancing became

extremely popular in the 1980s, and

notable b-boys, girls and dance

groups began to perform in various

venues, including Broadway

Theater, performing arts ceremonies

and film. The mainstream U.S.

Population was familiar with a stripped down idea of what street dancing was.

However, during the 1990s, hip-hop groups in the United States and sprouting

groups in other countries sought to bring the style back to its roots. There was an

increase in hip-hop groups that merged the dance with theater, contemporary

dance, spoken word and other performance art forms. In the early 20th century,

street dancing takes on many forms, and new dances continue to emerge.

Street Dancing Education and Recognition With a burgeoning call for recognition

of the genre as a significant cultural and

artistic form, hip-hop education and

appreciation has taken root. The

Illadelph Legends Festival is an annual

event dedicated to educating the public

(as well as dancers of all sorts) about

hip-hop history and technique from

masters and creators of the genre itself

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame also honored the style in 1999 with a museum

and exhibit chronicling its history and style characteristics.