Hip-Hop is one of the newest, and quickly evolving dances in the dance world right now. It is very commonly found in clubs and seen on tv and in music videos. Hip-hop is done to hip-hop or rap music that generally has a very strong beat.


Hip-Hop has countless styles, but many commonly used styles are breaking, popping, locking, house, lyrical hip-hop, and old school hip-hop. Breaking is what is also known as break dancing and originated in New York. When you see dancers doing flips, spins and tricks (generally on the floor) this is referred to as breaking. Popping and locking originated on the West Coast of North America. Popping is when you see a dancer do a sharp movement isolating one part of their body. For example, popping their chest in and out. Locking is when a dancer will begin to move and quickly freeze, 'locking' their muscles and joints. House is a very fun type of hip-hop that originated in clubs and house parties, giving it the name house. Lyrical hip-hop includes influence from modern, contemporary, and lyrical dances. This style is done to a slower piece of music that still has a strong beat. Old school hip-hop is generally what a lot of people from the modern hip-hop world make fun of, but it was a step in the evolution of today's hip-hop. Old school hip-hop is what was done in the 1980's and 1990's.


The credit of the creation of hip-hop cannot really be given to one person. Hip-hop has been evolving for many, many years with the influence of countless numbers of dancers. Adam Shankman is generally credited with the popularization of lyrical hip-hop. Many hip-hop music artists are well known hip-hop dancers. For example, people like Soulja Boy, Salt 'N' Pepper and MC Hammer (who popularized Old School Hip-Hop). Some well known hip-hop artists are Shane Sparks and Wade Robson. You may recognize the name Shane Sparks off of So You Think You Can Dance. As the types of hip-hop evolve, the dancers will evolve with them, with new artists being discovered.

© 2009 Jordynn