How do teenagers dance

10 Street Dance Videos For Teenagers

By Simon Books

Published Dec 16, 2020

Dancing is the best form of physical exercise as it involves movement and stretching of every muscle in the body and these videos are great to follow.

Via Shutterstock and illustrated by Adam Jeffers for Moms

Dance is a tool for the stimulation and development of talent and creativity for all people. It allows people an opportunity to channel and express their thoughts and feelings vividly and peacefully, with each body movement telling their story. Dance has several mental, physical, and emotional health benefits to the human body. They include improving stamina, increasing the flexibility of hands, feet, and joints, and improving body strength and balance. Dancing is the best form of physical exercise as it involves movement and stretching of every muscle in the body.

Street dance, which has been in existence since the 1970s, is a collective name given to dance styles that originated from the streets. The dancing styles, which include hip-hop freestyle, locking, popping, house dance, and break-dance, are a combination of both improvisation and choreography. Dancers can either follow a set of standard moves that they learn from choreographers or improvise by allowing the music to dictate their body movement. The dancing styles can be applied to different genres of music or songs.

RELATED: 6 Videos That Teach Kids' Every Viral Dance Move

Teenagers love street dancing as it is very entertaining, and it creates an outlet for their energy and passion. Dancing also keeps their bodies active and improves their concentration. They gain strength and self-confidence whenever they dance and create some new dance moves of their own. Here are some videos for teens who love street dance.

10/10 High School Dance Battle

After class, two high school freshmen went around the school searching for a club that they could join. They ended up getting involved in a dance battle between two of the best dance teams in their school, with each showing their best dance moves. The two freshmen could not be left behind in all the action, and they showed the two teams that they too had talent and great moves.

9/10 Plain Jane

A dance crew made up of young girls took to the stage at the Hall of Fame Dance Challenge and impressed the audience with their amazing moves and co-ordination. Their performance which was mainly of modern hip-hop freestyle was well appreciated and applauded.

8/10 That’s What I Like

A hip-hop teens' class for beginners made a dance video of Bruno Mars' song hit song called That's What I Like. The choreography is relatively simple and mainly consists of hip-hop freestyle along with other easy dance moves.

7/10 DVJ

This dance crew comprised of kids between the ages of 10 and 18 years thrilled the audience at Britain's Got Talent with their outstanding performance. Their cool moves and well-coordinated choreography compelled the judges to push them on past the auditions to the next round of the famous competition.

6/10 The Battle of GWAI

The dancing scenes from the 2010 film Step Up 3D are arguably some of the best dance scenes in any dance movie out there. In one of the scenes, there was a dance battle between two crews, each showing their prowess in the field of break dancing and hip-hop freestyles in tune with old school hip-hop music. The Step Up film franchise that consists of five movies and a television series is ideal for those who love street dance.

5/10 The Box

Matt Steffanina, along with other dancers in Studio V, came up with a dance video for The Box, a song by award-winning American rapper Roddy Rich. Different pairs of dancers created and showcased different styles and dance moves to keep the audience entertained.

4/10 The Main Event

A dance crew presented a thrilling choreography of house dance at the Main Event in Vancouver. There were also some sessions whereby each member did their freestyle and enjoyed themselves.

3/10 Level Up

A group of young dancers choreographed by Sabrina Lonis danced to Ciara’s song ‘Level Up’. Sabrina came up with a choreography that was different from that of the song's video but equally interesting. The young dancers put in all their energy and strength while dancing as the audience keeps cheering them on.

2/10 Summer Dance Forever

The event had popping and locking competition between Blondy and Jaja Vankova. Blondy’s moves were no match for Jaja, who amused the audience and stole the show with her skills.

1/10 Groove Session

It was an old vs. new affair in an event that saw a group of very young boys go up against a group of adults in a break-dance and freestyle competition. The adults were left surprised by the kids who were so young yet had amazing dance moves and great skills.

NEXT: 'Just Dance 2021' Launching This November

Sources: redbull.com, realbuzz.com, healthline.com.

Teen Dances of the 1950s

Teen Dances of the 1950s
Richard Powers

After the Swing Era and World War II, American social dancing cooled down in the late 1940s, in a shift from dance bands to concerts in night clubs. This was due to many factors — musician union fees that made big bands unaffordable, the undanceable aesthetics of bebop cool jazz, and a generation of post-war veterans with the new priority of settling down and raising a family.

But teenagers still liked to dance. Teens' dancing during the 1950s was widely varied in steps and styling. Most of it was still swing-based, but swing had been diverging into local styles and regional variations each decade for thirty years. In one high school it might be low and smooth; in another, wild and angular. In some areas it was constant swing moves, while in others it was dancing with steps in place, simply holding your partner's hand, with no swing moves. Other innovations are listed below.

One incentive for new variations was the rebelliousness of the time — teens didn't want to dance like their parents who were actively disapproving of their lifestyle, so they invented a wide range of step and style replacements. Another motivation for change was the music. Rock'n'roll simply called for different styles of dancing, some of which mirrored the strong backbeat of rock.

Terminology was just as varied as the dancing. This was called jitterbug, or swing, Lindy, the rock'n'roll, boogie-woogie or Bop. The word Bop was new then, so almost everything was called the Bop. But that word usually referred to a family of low swiveling Charleston-like steps danced in place, sometimes without a partner.

Some teens sought out African American sources for new steps and styles, sometimes from their black maids or from the cooks at a summer camp, and especially from black teens at high school and local dances, which started to become possible after a 1954 desegregation ruling.

Another source of new dance styles was from television. Daily soap operas were finished by 3pm, and local stations needed programming to fill the void until evening shows began. Since teenagers got home at that time, local stations hired radio DJs to play popular teenage music as cameras televised teens dancing. One of the first was Bandstand on Philadelphia's WFIL-TV (1952) hosted by former radio DJ Bob Horn. When he was fired after a drunk driving arrest in 1956, Dick Clark was selected as his replacement.

The increasingly wide regional diversification of dance styles reversed on August 5, 1957, when Clark convinced ABC to broadcast his show nationally, becoming American Bandstand. Suddenly teens from coast to coast were seeing and copying the way the kids in Philadelphia danced, and that regional style soon became a national dance style. Three years later, the same thing would happen with the Twist, and from then on, teenagers got most their dances from television.

Other dances: In addition to the many styles of swing, there was also the Stroll, the solo version of Bop, Chalypso (American Bandstand's name for teen cha-cha), the line dance Madison (soon followed by the Hully-Gully), the Bunny Hop, various kinds of slow dancing, and more. The dance later known as the Twist was also done by teens in the mid-fifties, years before Chubby Checker made it a hit in 1960. (Watch the 1957 film Rock Baby Rock It for a good example.)

Some specific changes made to swing by 1950s teens

As a reference point, the most common style of swing at the beginning of the 1950s was:

Counts 1-2: Take a step, to walk through a swing move.
Counts 3-4: Take another step, to finish the swing move.
Count 5: Facing partner, rock back, in place.
Count 6: Replace weight forward, in place.
Timing is slow-slow-quick-quick, 6-count swing. Some began with the rock step.
With slower music, the two walking steps would be replaced by triple steps.

Changes made by teens in the 1950s:

Change 1) The walking steps were replaced by a tap-step, matching the strong backbeat of rock music.

Change 2) Side-close-side triple steps were replaced by hook-replace-side triples, with the strong side step emphasizing the backbeat.

Change 3) The tradition of executing one swing move after another was often replaced by mostly dancing in place, holding one or both hands, with fewer swing moves.

Change 4) Push off with one hand, drifting back away from partner on counts 1-4. Then walk forward to your partner on counts 5-6. (Shown at left.) This replaced the rock step with walking forward.

Change 5) Some teens danced in place on counts 1-4, then traveled forward through a swing move on 5-6, or 4-5-6. This turned the figure inside-out — stationary where it used to travel, then traveling where it used to rock-step in place.

1) Tap in place
2) Step to side
3) Tap 2nd foot in place
4-5-6) Walk forward through a swing move.

A fancier version, in triple-time, shown by several fifties teens:

1) Tap in place
2) Step to side, backing away from partner
3&4) Step back on 2nd foot, close back taking weight, step forward on the 2nd foot.
5-6) Continue walking forward 2 steps, through a swing move.

Note: The 1970s Latin Hustle is exactly this same step. The version above it became the American Hustle.

This also became Sugar Push in West Coast Swing. Today WCS dancers usually begin with the above 5-6, with the Follow walking forward to him before the same 1950s push-off on the 1,2,3&4 above.

Change 6) While some rock and pop music continued the triple "swung" feeling of blues and big band music, teenagers also danced to straight 4/4 music (similar to cha-cha rhythm) — an innovation from the 1950s which continued into 1970s disco, and then West Coast Swing.

All six of these changes continued when 1950s teen swing became the Hustle during the 1970s. Some believe that the Latin Hustle was created by Hispanics, from Cuban and Puerto Rican dances. But it was the 1950s rock'n'roll teenagers who invented all of these changes. New York Latinos do deserve credit for keeping this teen swing tradition alive from 1960 to the 1970s, while adding some of their own style, until it was reignited by the Disco scene.

All of these changes also continue today in West Coast Swing. Contrary to claims on some WCS web pages, 1950s teenagers deserve the credit for many of the fundamental innovations that later defined West Coast Swing.

— Richard Powers

On to 1970s Disco

modern dances for teenagers at the Triumph school Kharkiv

Dances for teenagers 12 - 16 years old (groups for children)

Dancing for children 12 years old is an important activity that contributes to the manifestation of their personality in the best possible way. Children of this age are already beginning to enter the phase of "transitional" age, they have a sense of adulthood. This is the time to search for yourself, your individuality. Adolescents see the shortcomings of others and strive to stand out more favorably against their background, which is often manifested by aggression and results in conflicts with society.

Another reason for this behavior is their physical transformation - the growing up of children. To solve these problems, dance circles are suitable. Dance helps a person express himself. In addition, teaching dance to a teenager will allow him to independently choose those movements, melodies and clothes that correspond to his preferences and express his worldview.

Conflicts between teenagers are quite common, and dance lessons for children aged 12-16 successfully solve this problem, as they teach not only dance elements, but also how to communicate with people. These skills will help in resolving conflicts peacefully.

Adolescence is a rather difficult time. This is the time of the overthrow of the authorities. Parents and teachers cease to be such, and it is important that a truly worthy person fills the vacancy. Our teachers often become such. You can't deceive children - and sincere interest, love, attention to children, as well as high professional training and personal achievements of our coaches contribute a lot to this.

Dance at 12-16 years old - everything will work out for me

Adolescence is the longest transition period, characterized by external changes such as angularity in boys and the appearance of rounded shapes in girls. Psychological characteristics of this age are manifested:

sensitivity to assessment of difference from others;
extreme arrogance and specificity of judgments about strangers;
inconsistency of actions and views (mindfulness and callousness, strong shyness and swagger).

Puberty also plays a major role in this period. As a rule, in girls it begins earlier than in boys, which causes differences in physical fitness and training in dance art. Often girls of this age are much more willing to start dancing, unlike boys. They have more developed flexibility and grace. This is due to the fact that girls begin to feel their femininity, and boys for the most part have the wrong idea about masculinity. For us, the primary task is not only to teach a child of 12-16 years old how to move to music, but also to explain the essence of these and other concepts. We realize that a good dance comes not only from the heart, but is achieved by awareness, so it is important for us to explain the true essence of things. We sincerely believe that the dance training section for children aged 12-16 will be able to instill in the guy the correct meaning of “courage”, teach him to show respect for the girl and admire her femininity. In general, the process of teaching dance helps to instill the norms and rules of communication.

In our work with children, we remember that in addition to psychological fatigue, physical fatigue also accumulates. This is due to an increase in the load at school (new complex subjects appear), as well as increased growth, which leads to a violation of posture and gait. Such violations entail the development of various complexes. Our teachers help teenagers cope with these problems in their classes. The need for emotional relief, correcting posture and solving problems with complexes - all this can be solved at once by a dance school for teenagers, where the child learns to accept himself as he is.

Teaching dance to children from 12 years old: difficult and interesting

Teaching dance to children 12 years old is not an easy, but quite feasible task for a coach, which we successfully cope with. When working with teenagers, you need to be ready to use your authority in teaching and to constantly confirm your status with a large store of knowledge, skills and abilities.

This age is promising for a professional teacher, because to achieve winning results in the study of new productions and movements, improvisation in individual and collective dance, you can use:

youthful maximalism;
breadth of views;
purposefulness;
feeling of rivalry;
desire to overtake peer leaders;
childish modesty;
thirst for new things;
imagery of thinking;
impulsiveness.

That is why it is so important to interact with both emotions and logical thinking of a teenager. It is also worth noting that for girls and boys at this stage, our trainers use different teaching methods. An integral and beautiful part of our life is the excitement of the heart. Our trainers know from experience that this can be both an additional incentive for training and a negative effect on them. Having a good sense of tact, understanding the psychology of adolescents, we often help our student friends to overcome their experiences, give them the right meaning and, often, already lived, previously incomprehensible emotions express in dance.
Our teachers are true professionals in their field. The best evidence of this is the love of their students, a sea of positive emotions, thanks and positive feedback. They have such qualities as dedication, patience, honesty with children, acceptance of children's authority, the ability to work in a team, which helps in their work.

Modern dances for children and teenagers in St. Petersburg from 3 years old

Do you want your child to always be healthy, cheerful, cheerful and successful in life? Take it to children's balls from 3 years old in St. Petersburg! Sometimes it is possible to start classes with children's dance at a children's dance school and at an early age. You should try to understand if your child (girl or boy) will be able to master the material that is taught in children's dance lessons for the little ones.

Get your child to direct the bubbling energy in the right direction. Children want and should move and enjoy life. They need to diversify and alternate study with entertainment, play. Make his game fun and useful at the same time. Children's dances for girls and boys are not just physical activity and a positive attitude. Dancing for kids is also a useful skill that will brighten up the rest of your child's life. Those who know how to dance always stand out from the crowd and go through life dancing!

When to start teaching dance to children

Children should ideally start dancing at an early age. If a child has already developed a sense of rhythm, he is distinguished by mobility and activity - parents will not be mistaken if they send him to children's dance classes. Trainings are held in a cozy and friendly atmosphere, teachers usually use game techniques that help form a young dancer's positive attitude towards their hobbies and teach children to work in a team.

Types of dances for children and adolescents

Dance directions for children and adolescents:

Activities for preschool children
DanceMix, jazz funk, go for kids
belly dance for children - oriental dances for children
Hip-hop for children and teenagers
Break at school (break dance) - lessons
Sports and circus pole dance for children (pole dance)
More dancing

1. Dance lessons for toddlers - preschoolers

Dance classes are taught by certified teachers with years of experience working with children.

In a preschool, a child easily picks up new movements, his body is more flexible, mobile, so dancing from an early age will give noticeable and quick results. In fact: more than 80% of children aged 8 to 15 suffer from poor posture, which subsequently leads to scoliosis - this is the result of insufficient physical activity in preschool institutions. Dance lessons not only develop the muscular corset, but also contribute to the formation of a correct and uniform posture. In addition, the dance develops a beautiful gait and is the prevention of flat feet.

2. DanceMix, jazz-funk, for children

Girls also want to make a modern transition to popular music, while remaining feminine, which, for example, hip-hop and tectonics do not. The children's club dance is an energetic and lively dance, in which femininity is gently and innocently expressed. With the help of this dance, a girl creates an image: active, vicious, sporty.

3. Belly dance for children - oriental dance for children.

We are all touched when we see our daughter trying on our beads and earrings, showing off in front of the mirror, hiding her mother's lipstick behind her back! Children's oriental dance develops femininity through gentle and graceful movements, movements without vulgarity. Who doesn’t want their girlfriend to have sophisticated plasticity, flexibility, a slender figure and a feminine walk?! Oriental dance demonstrates coordination, plasticity, smoothness and clarity of movements to the music - all the graces of a girl, girl, woman.

4. Hip-hop for children and teenagers

Hip-hop is an energetic contemporary dance. This will give your child a positive attitude, self-confidence, a boost of energy, and he will develop well physically. Hip-hop is mobile, physical activity in the classroom with this dance is very diverse. Wide movements can not only strengthen muscles, but also improve endurance, the cardiovascular system. And what is valuable for a child is that this dance is modern, it allows a growing person to gain confidence in a circle of peers, to see the best and positive in modern culture. And also be athletic, fit and energetic.

5. Break at school (break dance) - lessons

Breaking develops great strength, endurance, dexterity. This is truly a male dance. Because it is the gap that shows the boy as a real man: strong, agile, self-confident, skillful. And in such a modern style! Boy, boy, a dance break always draws admiring glances. And in the training process there is a real sports training. So breakdancing is a great combination of sports and dancing!

6. Sports and circus pole dance for children (pole dance)

Pole-dance (pole dance) for many years turned into a sport and circus, moving away from the "club-erotic" past. Now these are sports tricks, real circus dexterity. It stands for strength, agility, flexibility, stretching and athletic excitement. You wanted to send your child to a circus studio, but it didn't work out "? Now there is a children's sports pole dance for this!

7. More dancing - more opportunities.

In fact, a child or teenager can join groups of adults, except in such indications where "non-child" content is present (for example, except for indications of striptease, twerk, etc.).

In many styles, a narrow question does not allow for separate groups of children, so the child can join the adult: Irish dances, Indian dances, stretching, dances of the peoples of the world, reggaeton, Latin solo, classical dance (ballet).

How to choose the direction of dancing

Children's tastes may differ from the tastes of their parents, so it's better to choose dances together. The easiest way is to activate some kind of dance program and watch how the child reacts to different numbers.