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Popping is a style of hip hop dance and one of the original funk styles of dance that came out of Fresno, CA in the 1970s. It is based on the technique of quickly contracting and relaxing muscles to cause a jerk in the dancer's body, referred to as a pop or a hit. This is done continuously to the rhythm of a song in combination with various movements and poses. Popping is also used as an umbrella term to refer to a group of closely related illusionary dance styles and techniques that are often integrated with popping to create a more varied performance (see below). A popping dancer is commonly referred to as a popper.
Like other styles of hip hop dance, popping is often performed in a battle-trying to outperform another dancer or group of dancers in front of a crowd. This gives room for improvisation and moves that are seldom seen in shows and performances. It also allows for interaction with the other contestants and spectators. Along with hip hop dance, popping has also been incorporated into electronica dance scene to some extent.
History
In the 1970s, the pioneer popping group the Electric Boogaloos (earlier known as the Electronic Boogaloo Lockers) greatly contributed to the spread of popping, partly because of their appearance on the television program Soul Train. Their founder Sam Solomon (a.k.a. Boogaloo Sam) created a set of movements that evolved into the styles known today as popping and boogaloo after being inspired by one of the pioneer locking groups known as The Lockers as well as a fad dancepopular in the 1960s known as the jerk. While dancing, Sam would say the word "pop" every time he flexed his muscles, eventually leading to the dance being called popping.
"While Sam was creating popping and boogaloo, others were creating and practicing unique styles of their own. Back in the day many different areas in the west coast were known for their own distinct styles, each with their own rich history behind them. Some of these areas included Oakland, Sacramento and San Francisco" —The Electric Boogaloos |
The Electric Boogaloos encourage the term Funk styles to identify the dance moves that came out of the west coast during the funk era. The primary funk styles are popping, electric boogaloo, and locking. The funk styles were integrated into hip hop dance once the culture reached the west coast of the United States. They are now included in several hip hop dance competitions. Some state that popping itself existed in some forms in the late 1960s in Oakland, California before the Electric Boogaloos were formed and that the style cannot be traced to a specific person or group. This is generally accepted regarding the various related styles such as animation, (ro)botting, and strobing, which the Electric Boogaloos themselves acknowledge.
Terminology
As stated earlier, popping has become an umbrella term for a group of closely related styles and techniques that have often been combined or danced together with popping, some of which are seldom seen outside of popping contexts. However, the use of popping as an umbrella term has been criticized on the grounds that its many related styles must be clearly separated so that those who specialize in more specific styles aren't classified as poppers (ex: a waver, a tutter, a strober).
It is often assumed that popping is a style of breakdance. This is due in large part to the movies Breakin' and Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo. In these movies all styles of dance represented, (breaking and the funk styles: popping, locking, and electric boogaloo) were put under the "breakdance" lable causing a naming confusion. This caused the media to associate funk styles with hip hop music and assume that popping and electric boogaloo were the same as breaking. The difference between the two is that breaking originated in the Bronx, New York and is danced on the floor while popping and electric boogaloo came out of Fresno, CA and are danced standing up.
Another term, pop-locking, gained popularity in the late 1970s and early 1980s in some circles around Los Angeles as a general slang term for popping and its integrated styles. The term is controversial because some believe it generates connotative confusion by incorporating the word locking which is the name of another distinct funk style that is separate from popping.
Characteristics
Popping is centered around the technique of popping (or hitting), which means to quickly contract and relax muscles to create a jerking effect (a pop or hit) in the body. Popping can be concentrated to specific body parts creating variants such as arm pops, leg pops, chest pops and neck pops. They also can vary in explosiveness. Stronger pops normally involve popping both the lower and upper body simultaneously.
Normally pops, or hits, are performed at regular intervals timed to the beat of the music, causing the dance to appear very rhythmic in nature. A common technique of transitioning between poses is thedime stop, heavily utilized in robot dancing, which basically means to end a movement with an abrupt halt (thus "stopping on a dime"), after which a pop normally occurs.
Poses in popping make heavy use of angles, mime style movements and facial expressions. The lower body has many ways to move around from basic walking and stepping to the more complex and gravity defying styles of floating and electric boogaloo. Movements and techniques used in popping are generally focused on sharp contrasts, being either robotic and rigid or very loose and flowing.
As opposed to breaking and its floor-oriented moves, popping is almost always performed standing up, except in rare cases when the dancer goes down on the knees or even lies down for a short while to perform a special move.
Music
Having its roots in the late 1970s funk music era, popping is commonly danced to funk and disco. During the 1980s, many poppers also utilized “electro” and other “new wave” styles to choreograph their popping routines. Popular artists utilized by poppers included Kraftwerk, Twighlight 22, Egyptian Lover, and World Class Wrecking Crew. More mainstream Rap was also employed by poppers during the 1980s, including Kurtis Blow, Whodini, and Run DMC. Today, it is also common to see popping danced to more current music genres such as modern hip hop music (often instrumental hip hop) and various forms of electronica.
Songs that are generally favored have a straight and steady beat at around 90-120 beats per minute, a 4/4 time signature and a strong emphasis on the back beat, normally by a snare drum or a drum machine. The pops performed by the popper normally occur on every beat or on the distinct back beats. The popper can also choose to follow the music more freely such as by timing the pops to the rhythm of a melody or other rhythmic elements.
[edit]Related styles and techniques
There are a number of dance styles and techniques that are commonly mixed with popping to enhance the dancer's performance and create a more varied show, many of which are seldom seen outside of popping contexts. That is why these moves can be considered a part of popping when using it as an umbrella term.
- Animation
- A style and a technique where you imitate film characters being animated by stop motion. The technique consists of moving rigidly and jerky by tensing muscles and using techniques similar to strobing and the robot to make it appear as if the dancer has been animated frame by frame. This style was heavily inspired by the dynamation films created by Ray Harryhausen, such as The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (1958).
- Video example (YouTube)
- Electric Boogaloo
- A loose and fluid style trying to give the impression of a body lacking bones; partly inspired by animated movies and cartoons. It utilizes circular rolls of various body parts, such as the hips, knees and head, as well as isolation and sectioning, like separating the rib cage from the hip. It was developed in 1976 by Boogaloo Sam. The electric boogaloo is the signature style of the Electric Boogaloos (the dance crew).
- Bopping
- A style of popping in which the chest is isolated by being pushed out and brought back while flexing the chest muscles. As this movement is performed to the beat the popper can incorporate different moves in between the chest bop. When practiced the chest bop can be done at a double-time interval adding a unique effect to the move.
- Cobra
- Similar to a Boogaloo, except you roll your chest like a snake.
- Crazy legs
- A leg-oriented style focusing on fast moving legs, knee rolls and twisting feet. Developed in 1980-81 by Popin' Pete, originally inspired by the fast and agitated style of breakdance by the famous b-boy Crazy Legs from Rock Steady Crew.
- Dime stopping
- A technique of moving at a steady pace and then abruptly coming to a halt, as if attempting to stop on a dime. This is often combined with a pop at the beginning and/or end of the movement.
- Fast forward
- The concept of moving faster than normal, like being part of a video being played in fast forward.
- Floating, gliding and sliding
- A set of footwork-oriented techniques that attempt to create the illusion that the dancer's body is floating smoothly across the floor, or that the legs are walking while the dancer travels in unexpected directions. Encompasses moves such as the moonwalk (sliding).
- Main article: Floating (dance)
- Fresno
- A move, which defines all that is essential in Popping (also used in electric boogaloo). The Fresno can be performed in various different ways as only the following requirements exist. In a fresno, the dancer moves side-to-side doing a hit on each turn with the leg and arm of the side the dancer has moved to.
- Liquid dancing
- An illusionary dance style that focuses on flowing and continuous liquid-like motions, with concentration on the fingers, hands and arms. It is stylistically connected to – and often mixed with – waving. Liquid dancing is common in rave culture, and some dancers consider it a complete style of its own.
- Miming
- Performing techniques of traditional miming to the beat of a song. Most commonly practiced are various movements with the hands as if one could hold onto air and pull their body in any possibly direction. Miming can also be used to allow a popper to tell a story through his or her dance. This style is often used in battles to show the opponent how they can defeat them.
- Old Man
- Inspired by watching an old man who had one of his leg deformed and had walking difficulty, Off that, Boogaloo Sam saw inspiration and worked with that move.
- Puppet
- A style imitating a puppet or marionette tied to strings. Normally performed alone or with a partner acting as the puppet master pulling the strings.
- Scarecrow
- A style imitating the scarecrow character of The Wizard of Oz. Created by Boogaloo Sam in 1977. Focuses on out-stretched arms and rigid poses contrasted with loose hands and legs.
- Slow motion
- Moving very slowly with exaggerated movements to make it appear as if the dancer is viewed in slow motion.
- Strobing
- A style of popping that gives the impression that the dancer is moving within a strobe light. To produce this effect, a dancer will take any ordinary movement (such as waving hello to someone) in conjunction with quick, short stop-and-go movements to make a strobing motion. Mastering strobing requires perfect timing and distance between each movement.
- Ticking
- A way of popping where the dancer pops at smaller intervals, generally twice as fast as normal.
- Toyman
- Based on action figures such as G.I. Joe and Major Matt Mason, developed by an old member of the Electric Boogaloos called Toyman Skeet.Goes between straight arms and right angles to simulate limited joint movement.
- Tutting/King Tut
- Inspired by the art of Ancient Egypt, tutting exploits the body's ability to create geometric positions and movements, predominantly with the use of right angles.
- Tutting example (YouTube)
- Twist o flex
- Moving only one body part at a time, which gives the impression that the body is twisting.
- Vibrating
- Tensing muscles very hard, causing them to shake or vibrate.
- Walk-out
- A move commonly used to change positions.
- Waving
- Waving is composed of a series of fluid movements that give the appearance that a wave is traveling through the dancer's body. It is often mixed with liquid dancing.
Competitions
- Hip Hop International: World Hip Hop Championships is an international competition based in the US where both crews and solo dancers compete. For the crews there are three divisions: junior (ages 7–12), varsity (12-18), and adult. Each crew must have five to eight people and must perform a routine that showcases three styles of hip hop dance. Solo dancers compete in breaking, locking, and popping. For the 2009 competition there were 120 crews representing 30 countries. Hip Hop International also runs the USA Hip Hop Championships.
- Juste Debout is a large European street dance competition held annually in France. Competition categories include popping, new style, locking, and house. Breaking is not included to put more focus on hip hop dance styles done while standing up, hence the name (French for Just Upright). Juste Debout also publishes a hip hop dance magazine of the same name.
- B-Boy Summit is an international four day conference that was created in 1994. The conference includes competitions, panels, workshops, and a marketplace. The difference between the B-Boy summit and other hip hop dance competitions is that the B-Boy Summit places a lot of emphasis on the history of hip hop culture and the importance on bboys/bgirls across the world understanding of the roots of where it came from. For this reason the conference brings together rappers and DJs for a talent showcase and graffiti artists to do live paintings so that "each element of Hip-Hop combine[s] together to make the cipher complete." There's also competitions for Lockers and Poppers as part of the "Funk Fest" portion of the conference and a Battle of the Sexes Super Jam.
Notable poppers
- Salah Benlemqawanssa
- Michael "Boogaloo Shrimp" Chambers
- Steffan "Mr. Wiggles" Clemente
- Steven "Skeeter Rabbit" Nichols
- Bruno "Poppin Taco" Falcon
- Suga Pop
- Nam "Poppin'" Hyun Joon
- "Boogaloo" Sam Solomon
- Timothy "Popin' Pete" Solomon
Popping musical artists
Michael Jackson - Jackson's Billie Jean performance, which included the famous moonwalk, at Motown's 25th Anniversary in 1983 was influenced by the legendary dancer and popper Jeffrey Daniel. Jeffrey Daniel originally called the moonwalk the "backslide". The backslide was already known to poppers and mime artists, but it was made famous by Michael Jackson's performance. Michael Jackson was coached by Bruno "Poppin Taco" Falcon and Timothy "Poppin Pete" Solomon. Although this introduced a new naming confusion as the moonwalk was already known by a different name in popping contexts (the backslide, see floating) before Jackson made the move famous, he was very influential in popularizing popping and the robot (dance)
- Buckethead - The avant-garde guitarist is known to incorporate popping and (ro)boting into his stage persona and performances.
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