Dancing: Hip-hop Styles - Essay Example

Dance research paper. Dancing is a set of movements according to music that is either with a partner or alone. This has been a part of human history and culture since the earliest discovery of human life. Vivid drawings of people dancing under discovery dating back are still to the 30,000 and 10,000 b.c. These drawings show dancing figures, which helps in illustrating the dances in the early human settings. Dancing in the modern world is a way of expressing ones feelings or a way to get active. The history of dance shows how people have perceived the world over time and each community had a reason to dance. The Egyptians danced ceremoniously as a law by the pharaoh while in Hindus believed dancing to be sacred, as they believed the creator a dancer who danced through seasons. In the ancient times, dancing was a form of worship for the early Christians. Most communities around the world danced in their own methods to show the mood that was in the atmosphere at the time. Dance evolves over time not only in the old days but even presently. Dancing varies with the type of music one is dancing to; romantic music tends to be slow and therefore should have a slow dance in order for the song to synchronize with the moves. I, however, prefer hip-hop dancing style, which involves popping, breaking and locking. It came into existence in the 1970’s with American crews popularizing it. The African-Americans have hip-hop as a culture and the dance has been a major identifier of the hip-hop culture. This from of dance has continually gained popularity all around the world due to the many shows commercializing it. In the eighty’s the show soul train premiered the hip-hop shows with many topnotch dancers participating. This trend has been continually pulling a crowd with and the films starring hip-hop dance styles including ‘step-up revolution’, which premiered in 2012. Hip-hop is a street dance and after its development, it had to have choreography in order to attract professionalism. This led to the birth of jazz music. Jazz has a cool dancing style, which is a cooler more relaxed version of the hip-hop street dance. The main distinguishing feature of hip-hop is that it depends mostly on improvisation from activities in the daily life. This dancing style started competitions between various hip-hop crews that known as dance battles. This dance is a way of entertainment for those who participate while to others it is a mode of livelihood and supporting themselves financially. Hip-hop involves three major styles the first is breaking which entails four foundational dances; top frock (footwork performed while standing), freezes (stylish poses done on ones hands), down frock (footwork done with both hands and feet on the floor) and acrobatic moves. Dropping is the motion and integration from one style to the other. The other style of hip-hop dancing is popping which entails quickly contracting and relaxing one’s body therefore causing a jerking motion in the body of the dancer. The jerks are in synchronization with the rhythm of the music and the dancers integrate this popping such that the smoothness of the flow does not look like popping at all. Locking is often confused with popping, however, in locking the dancers have to hold their decisions longer. These two moves are not that distinguishable by the casual observer but they are two different styles with their own histories, their own pioneers and different set of dance moves. These moves are in performance in streets and since each dance, crew has their own distinct style they form strong bonds of unity between the crewmembers. The other form of dance that I appreciate but dislike is ballet. This style has its origin in Italy with its own special vocabulary. To people who do not understand music ballet can be a gruelingly boring ordeal. This form of dance has an accompaniment of classical music. Its quick adoption and acceptance in France and Russian led to these two countries boasting of the most accomplished ballerinas. This style is now popular worldwide and those talented in it make careers as ballerinas. Since the dance’s emergence, several variations have been emerging but the most popular is the classical romantic ballet. This dance features a female ballerina a traditional French skirt that dances to a classical tune, which are in integration with acrobatics in a bid to pass a message. In order for one to dance to ballet, they have to attain training from professional ballet trainers. This dance requires years of practice to master, followed by more years of practice to remain proficient. In every form of ballet, dancing there is a minor distinguishing feature. In neoclassical ballet, the moves are faster than those of the classical ballet are and the structure is the most defining as opposed to the other forms of ballet dancing. Contemporary ballet is a fusion of the classical dance with a bit of the modern dance. Unlike the other classical ballets, this dance does not adhere to the formations of strict lines and it involves a lot of abdominal motion. During ballet performances and training special shoes and clothing is in use. This dance is very involving and occasionally people take it for fitness and flexibility improvement. Professional dancers, however, have a rough time in ballet school, as it is quite demanding. Most artists nowadays prefer hip-hop dancing due to its popularity and the simplicity of its execution. A movie showing the difference in these two is ‘step-up 3d’, which attempts to integrate the two dancing styles. An artist like Chris Brown performs with hip-hop moves due to the energy contained in the dancing style and the simplicity to its fans. I personally prefer hip-hop dancing because it attempts to integrate the components of the environment into the dance routine. Unlike ballet, hip-hop dancing does not require a school to be able to dance since it is mostly improvising. The energy and the mood passed through hip-hop dancing is more eminent than that passed through ballet, which is only clear to those who have knowledge of it. Ballet is a good dance but it is rather too complex for the comfort of learning and using. It does not encourage mingling and takes almost all the fun out of dancing. Bibliography Chang, Jeff. 2006. Total chaos the art and aesthetics of hip-hop. New York: Basic Civitas Books. Rajakumar, Mohanalakshmi. 2012. Hip hop dance. Santa Barbara, Calif: Greenwood. Kassing, Gayle. 2007. History of dance: an interactive arts approach. Champaign (IL) [etc.]: Human Kinetics. Clarke, Mary, Antoinette Sibley, and Clement Crisp. 1992. Ballet: an illustrated history. London: Hamish Hamilton. Read More