The Underground Dance Movement
In almost every culture throughout history, there has been dance. Prayer dances, celebratory dances, social dances. In many cases, we can see the cultural progression through the progression of dance. In the United States alone, we've seen the transitions from the European-grown ballet to tap, then to modern dance. What is not so well catalogued, however, is the underground progressive dance movement. Starting in the late sixties, the so-called Underground or counter-culture has built its own species of dance. Our subject today is the three most dominant styles of this new wave, popping, or the Electric Boogie, hip hop/break dancing, also known as old school dance, and the trance/house or new school dance. The television show "Soul Train" was really one of the keys to the spread of these radical new styles. It was especially instrumental in spreading the Electric Boogaloo, or Boogie. The Electric Boogie developed in the mid-sixties by a family of black men living in Fresno, California, through influences like James Brown and strangely enough, TV shows like "Lost In Space." It was a mutant child of sorts, of what is called 'The Robot' dance, Popping, and Miming. The Robot is a dance that our generation has gr
For the kids in the mid-sixties, the Electric Boogie was an expression of their need to do something, to create something their own. Break dancing was also influenced by the great James Brown. Style is everything when it comes to house dancing, because there are no set moves to master, no steps to learn. Good Foot was the first freestyle dance that incorporated moves involving drops and spins. What they didn't know is that they were creating an entirely new culture, a counter-culture which would produce an answer - a tangible answer - to the ballets of the elite, and through break dancing, popping and just plain house dancing, many have found the expression of their own lives. Popping can be described as energy passed through the body, popping and snapping elbows, wrists, necks, hips and just about all the body joints along the way. Something unique of these dance forms, I think, is that they are accessible. This new dance was the forerunner to break dancing, and indeed many of the so-called power moves in break dancing incorporate some . Whereas ballerinas train most of their lives, almost anyone can do these dances. There is controversy between b-boys and b-girls (the "b" coming from the word break) over emphasis; some put emphasis on power moves and their combination and the others show their style and individuality by footwork and freeze. House and Trance are two of the most popular genres of techno; these two are more closely related to each other than any of the other genres, jungle, speed garage, or hardcore, and the dancing styles are closely related as well. It is more free style than hip hop and its emphasis on footwork. And that's what dance is, no matter how we break it down by its characteristic steps and moves, its the outward expression of those emotions within us that are unexpressable. It has been noted by Ejoe Wilson, a reknowned house dancer, that while in hip hop, you control your body to the beat, in house dance, music controls your body.
Common topics in this essay:
Electric Boogie,
Ejoe Wilson,
Foot Brown's,
,
Miming Robot,
BeatStreet Breaking,
House Trance,
Lost Space,
Soul Train,
James Brown,
break dancing,
electric boogie,
hip hop,
house dancing,
james brown,
school dance,
dancing style,
closely related,
dance trance/house,
progressive dance,
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Acceptance Essays
