Hip-Hop

 Hip-hop 

The documentary Everything Remains Raw presents the struggle with their work getting stolen and racism. The hip-hop dance that we know today can be traced back to jazz. Most people in the black communities could not attend dance academies. They learn to dance during community gatherings. Their dance reflected the culture and struggles. There have been many instances where people have taken credit for dances that come from African American communities. To explain Luigi, he was a jazz dancer known for having the first structured organized dance techniques. He was inspired by the burlesque dancers. When he admitted to buying dances from young black people. He was a good dancer, but it was not his original idea. He did not give credit to the original dancers. The Strand was a dance that Joan Kiene and Jimmy Peatross took credit for creating, but it was originally from the black community. The dance class was solely based on count but the dancing in the streets was based on feeling. The dances were diluted in the studio version. Hip-hop has many of the same moves. Oftentimes African dance is viewed as vulgar and savage while Western dance is seen as intelligent. The rock and roll movement is a great example of this mentality. Rock was viewed as immoral. James Brown is one of the biggest names in K-pop. The song Got a Brand-New Bag brought new dance styles like locking and b-boying. The funk and soul music were about being black and proud. It was not just about the dance it was about the meaning behind it. Don Campbell was one of the pioneers of hip-hop. Yet he is not acknowledged for his contribution. The Lockers made a platform for dancers before the hip-hop video. The electric boogie lockers came from Fresno California. They were often called pop-locking. Michail Jackson tried to take credit for creating and popularizing it. Boogaloo Sam credited popping (also known as the boogaloo). The boogaloo was a cultural marker. What we know as the moonwalk is called the backslide. Meanwhile, on the East Coast, the burnings in the Brox fused the creative. From 1973-1977 more than 30,000 fires were set in the South Bronx. More than 150,000 dollars were collected in insurance. The fires started with people still in the buildings. Hip-hop was an outlet to escape their reality. There are influences from salsa, the hustle, lindy hop, jazz, and tap. Hip-hop helps to connect to their heritage and showcase their culture. B-boying comes from the idea that the energy comes from the ground that makes them want to move. That concept can be traced back to Africa. Street dancing is learned through a social environment. House dancing was born from the need for social dances. The circle dance comes from African culture. It is a way to connect with one's peers. Now hip-hop has been globalized. People have their interpolations of hip-hop. A big problem is that some people teaching hip-hop classes don’t understand the connection and history of hip-hop. It is fine to share the culture but not to appropriate it and commercialize it.

Workshop

That same week on Wednesday, February twenty first I took the dance class. I moved some furniture in the living room to be able to This time my sister joined me for the class. This class was taught by Tweet Boogie. She had a very upbeat personality. She made jokes and helped raise the mood in the room. The class started right away with no stretching or warming up. The first step consisted of raising your elbows to your ear and then rolling your arm back. When she explained the move she said, “You're getting them off of you”. Later she expressed that the step where you lift your hand and bounce back means that you don't want problems. From the start the moves had dimensionality. They held a deeper meaning than surface-level dance moves. Something that stood out to me was when she explained how the woah had been watered down on TikTok. She was very passionate about making the moves bigger and doing it intentionally. There are also polyrhythmic techniques. For example, when hopping on one foot and lifting your other leg as you bend it back and forward. Overall, it was a very fun experience. Although it was hard to keep up sometimes when the rhythms sped up, the choreographer made it fun with her energy and patience by teaching us the dance.