Hip-hop dance features energetic and rhythmic movements typically performed to hip-hop music. It merges three primary dance styles: breaking, locking, and popping, each of which has its own origin story. Prior to enrolling your kids in hip-hop dance classes, you might want to know more about how these styles began. Here's a brief history of the elements of hip-hop dance. 

Where Did Hip-Hop Dance Styles Come From?

Breaking

After moving to Brooklyn from Jamaica, DJ Kool Herc hosted block parties in the city and played music for large crowds throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s. He noticed that some dancers would wait until the break in the song—the part featuring beats and music only—to start dancing. He manipulated the music he was playing in order to extend the duration of these breaks so that dancers could hone their moves, put on a show for the crowd, and engage in dance battles with one another. This prompted them to come up with more and more impressive spins, poses, and acrobatic movements, which gave birth to breaking, also known as breakdancing.

Locking

Locking began in the late 1960s in Southern California, when American dancer and choreographer Don “Campbellock” Campbell attempted to do the funky chicken in front of a crowd. Typically, this dance involves raising the left and right hands in alternation while bobbing the head and moving the feet with the beat. However, rather than following these motions, Campbell deliberately fell, slid, and stopped mid-movement, which amused and impressed the audience. This started the hip-hop dance tradition of locking, which involves freezing in the middle of a fast motion, "locking" the position for a moment, then continuing the rapid motion.

Popping

In Fresno, CA, in the mid-1970s, a young dancer by the name of Boogaloo Sam invented popping while perfecting his locking technique. This hip-hop dance style involves suddenly tensing and then releasing the muscles to create a jerky effect. His signature "boogaloo" style of popping incorporated these snappy motions with more fluid rolls of the hips, knees, and head, resulting in a series of movements that flowed smoothly together.

When your kids are ready to learn how to break, lock, and pop, enroll them in hip-hop dance classes at Forte Arts Center. This studio is passionate about providing quality dance lessons with a focus on inclusion and diversity for children throughout Channahon, IL. You can visit their website to learn about class schedules, or call (815) 521-0744 to sign your child up for their first hip-hop dance class today.