The Bronx, New York, 1970s
HIP-HOP
The street in motion
Hip-hop was born in the New York Bronx in the early 1970s, at the block parties hosted by DJ Kool Herc. Facing deindustrialization, poverty and gang violence, Black and Latino youth invented an entire culture around four pillars — DJing, MCing (rap), graffiti and dance — under the banner of Afrika Bambaataa and his Zulu Nation. Dance at the time was "B-boying": dancers took advantage of the "breaks," the instrumental pauses that DJs looped, to let loose on the floor.
But Hip-hop is not a single dance style: it is a culture that shelters several disciplines with distinct lineages. Breaking (the Bronx) is first a standing dance (toprock) before dropping to the floor (footwork, power moves, freezes). Popping (California, Fresno) works on abrupt muscle contraction (the "hit"). Locking (Los Angeles) strings together crisp freezes to funk music. House (Chicago, New York) makes the whole body dance to fast 4/4 rhythms. To these founding styles are added Krump, Waacking, Voguing, Litefeet, Dancehall imported from Jamaica…
What is known today as "Hip-hop freestyle" or "New Style" was born in the 1990s in MTV videos: a hybrid language that draws on all these styles, adds jazz-funk influences and is danced standing, with "bounce," grooves and textures. On battle stages — 2on2, 7 to Smoke, cypher — the culture keeps writing itself, in a constant tension between respecting the roots ("knowledge of the culture") and individual innovation.
How it's danced
Technique & figures
Hip-hop is danced standing, grounded, with a constant "bounce" running through the whole body. This bounce is the signature of the culture: without it, one dances "on" the music rather than "inside" it. The basic vocabulary combines grooves (hip and shoulder movements), party dances (steps inherited from disco and funk) and technical foundations (isolations, rhythms, textures). The dancer works on musicality (the ability to interpret each layer of the music) and "swag" (personal identity).
Styles and fundamentals
Hip-hop today is practiced around three main axes. Old School (1970s-80s) gathers the founding steps: Running Man, Roger Rabbit, Cabbage Patch, Wop, Steve Martin, popularized by Soul Train. New School / Freestyle (1990s to today) integrates grooves, textures and bounces to current hits. Finally, the Foundations gather the sibling styles that feed the vocabulary: Breaking (the Bronx), Popping (California), Locking (Los Angeles), House (Chicago). A good hip-hop dancer knows their foundations and can, in a freestyle, cite the school a step comes from.
Main figures
- 01
Bounce (Groove)
The constant bounce, up or down, on the beat. "Down": the body sinks on every beat. "Up": it rises. It is the basic breath of any hip-hop freestyle.
- 02
Running Man
Created by MC Hammer. A simulated run in place: one foot slides forward while the other slides back. A signature of New Jack Swing.
- 03
Toprock
The standing vocabulary of Breaking, performed before dropping to the floor. It draws on Puerto Rican salsa, uprock and the charleston.
- 04
Six-step (footwork)
The basic floor sequence in Breaking: six hand-and-foot supports tracing a circle. It is the gateway into the whole floor vocabulary.
- 05
Freeze
A sudden stop in an acrobatic position (baby freeze, chair freeze, air freeze). It closes a floor phrase and serves as an exclamation point.
- 06
Hit (Popping)
A brief, sharp contraction of a muscle (bicep, chest, leg) on a musical accent. It is the founding building block of Popping.
- 07
Lock
A crisp freeze in Locking: a total stop of movement in a theatrical pose (point, wrist rolls, uncles). A playful, highly expressive dance, born in the clubs of Los Angeles.
- 08
Cypher
Not a step but a format: dancers form a circle and take turns entering it for a freestyle. It is the social heart of the culture.
Reading the music
Hip-hop feeds on funk, soul and breakbeat. DJs like Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa built the culture by isolating "breaks" (James Brown, The Incredible Bongo Band). Today one dances just as readily to 90s boom-bap as to trap. Recognizing the tempo (BPM), the beat's structure (kick on 1 and 3, snare on 2 and 4) and the secondary textures (hi-hats, samples) is essential to being musical.
Did you know?
Explore the rhythms
Cross connections
Styles from other families that share a common language with Hip-hop.