The Essential Guide to Jazz Dance by Dollie Henry

Author:Dollie Henry
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Crowood

The Impact of Hip-hop/Urban Dance

As is now well documented, the dance styles of much of the urban dance genre primarily originated on the streets of America, from breakdancing to locking, from b-boying and krumping, to hip-hop theatre. This specific genre and style of dance is now established as an important creative dance expression.

As a dance form, hip-hop as an extension of jazz is very inclusive and its recent commercial exploitation has made the form increasingly popular and influential. However, unlike commercial dance, there is not so much emphasis on one particular ‘look’. This has very much contributed to its rise in popularity. It often provides a creative community environment for youth culture and also the recreational dancer, as is evident in the many youth hip-hop troupes and urban dance collectives.

Although jazz and hip-hop are intrinsically linked, the training, many of the techniques, movement, styles, musical interpretation and choreography differ greatly. In keeping with its jazz lineage, hip-hop has always been an organic social expression, created through music, dance and song (poetry, the spoken word, rap). Indeed, rapping can be viewed as a continuation of the oral traditions of the African griots, passing down through history and culture as they travel from village to village. So without music there is no dance. It is important to recognize that hip-hop music and hip-hop dance developed in collaboration. Indeed, many of the early pioneers of hip-hop worked closely with music artists and early hip-hop producers. These pioneers include Don Campbell, Emillio ‘Budda Stretch’ Austin, Samuel Soloman, Ceasare Willis and Jo Ratti.

The very nature of both hip-hop and urban dance is that it changes rapidly as a new young generation of dance practitioners seek to express their creative work through this genre. As with all modern trends in commercial music and dance, much of the groundwork still continues to be instigated, created and formed from the streets, in dance halls, clubs and halls, dance studios and rehearsal spaces. Each dance creator develops movements and a stylistic approach that represent their individuality and also the accompanying music. Eventually, the most popular style makes its way into the mainstream, inspiring another generation. For sure, nothing is new. Dance has been, and will always be, reinvented or assimilated into the current dance trends.

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