Check out the latest from Strife TV. Featuring interviews with Poppin’ Pete and Teresa Espinoza. The topic.. Hip-Hop Dance and what it means to be Hip-Hop dancer. This clip probably got a lot of wheels turning. Especially for those who teach Hip-Hop classes. One of Poppin’ Pete’s comments state that if you are not teaching B-Boying in your Hip-Hop class, then it is not a Hip-Hop class. Teresa shares some thoughts on what a dance class should be called… Check it out. What do you think about the subject?
i think so long as people make distinctions when they teach, then the students and people being newly exposed will pick up on the lineage.
BUT, in a TV show format, it’s probably hard to include that much information, because the actual differences btw locking and hip hop borders on academic (in the way that practitioners view their craft as a study), and therefore.. of less interest to make clear for a general entertainment audience.
while the producers might want to educate, their #1 goal is to entertain. and whomever is chosen to be/show the examples of certain styles… well we know it’s not always done based on abilities.
but i hear you on this. lockin aint hip hop, kids!
i almost want to say that if kids are seriously interested, that they’ll eventually find the truth themselves…
Posted by dwbl | 04/27/2010, 3:41 amhey wussup Waylan! To answer your question.. I meant the Hip-Hop Dance name umbrella. I think it makes sense when people associate street dances with Hip-Hop the culture in general, by association like how you described. What made me think about this actually was an episode of SYTYCD when the category for the week was Hip-Hop. But the choreographers were teaching them locking/popping routines. And although a lot of moves between styles are all the same (just different feel), I think by that show labeling what they were doing Hip-Hop, it might confuse the younger generation without acknowledging the actual dance styles that they were presenting on the show. I don’t know if that show still does that now, so things may be different?
Posted by soulo | 03/29/2010, 12:16 pmDennis, what do you mean about
“I also feel Street dances in general shouldn’t be put under a Hip-Hop name umbrella.”
because not all street dance is done to hip hop music?
you know that people only associate street dance with hip hop because hip hop kind of has a monopoly on the “coming from the streets” origin, so it’s pretty much just association.
but yea, what do you mean by that? just wondering.
Posted by dwbl | 03/29/2010, 5:38 amthe Rock the School Bells conference addressed the topic of “What is Hip Hop” or at least, in the context of whether Hip Hop is still alive.
kind of interesting, now that i compare what was said by MC Supernatural, Zulu Gremlin, and Kevvy Kev, from their perspectives, to this clip here.
i don’t know about Pete’s comment though. it seems the purist’s pov, which makes sense because he is OG. and you are right to point out that bboying aka dancing on the breaks came before hip hop, and was more of a latin/funk dance style. it was simply rejuvenated and hit its prime stride when heads started sampling.
Kevvy Kev’s comments were especially strong: basically that rock and latin and techno are all parts of hip hop because those elements were all sampled in the early records. you can’t say something isn’t hip hop when it can be traced to have been used in hip hop before. “Van Halen is Hip Hop!”
so then it just becomes about what a specific person makes hip hop to be, for themselves. and if it speaks to other people as making sense, then it becomes hip hop for them too.
the nature of hip hop was already to be omnivorous of other things, to be open to other styles, so as to incorporate and create something new.
to be so stagnant and closed off is contradictory.
though, in analysis, it ultimately comes down to psychology, and any statements or experiments/output is really just a reflection of that person.
if a producer wants to throw in rock and salsa elements, that’s them being an open and curious musician; likewise, if a person wants to only make bboying the definitive hip hop dance, that’s them being a protector of primal roots.
this might be a shrewd viewpoint, but i feel like after a certain age, cats have to really strive to maintain continuity and sense of history, not just because knowledge gets lost/buried in the general sense, but within that, because that entire structure of knowledge dictates their place in the hierarchy. somewhat of a selfish motivation, but like i said, that’s me being shrewd AND an outsider to being a role-player.
Posted by dwbl | 03/29/2010, 5:36 amgreat topic. I’m a bit sketchy on some of Pete’s comments though. In my opinion, I agree that Bboying is in fact the 1st dance brought into hip-hop culture. But I disagree that a class shouldn’t be called Hip-Hop if it doesn’t teach Bboying with it. Hip-Hop dance has a different history and Bboying came way before it. Bboying wasn’t even originally done to Hip-Hop music, it was done to Rock, Soul, Salsa, Breaks, etc. Locking and Popping, was brought into Hip-Hop culture as well but that doesn’t mean that Hip-Hop classes have to teach Locking/Popping too right? Again, no disrespect to Pete or anyone else on this video, but Hip-Hop dance from what I’ve learned is really just social dances done to Hip-Hop music. I also feel Street dances in general shouldn’t be put under a Hip-Hop name umbrella. I think it can potentially confuse kids more in this generation today.
Posted by soulo | 03/14/2010, 5:25 pm