How has street dance developed over the years


Definition of street dance, BuzzWord from Macmillan Dictionary

noun [uncountable]

an informal style of dance involving a variety of moves, which is popular with young people and often developed in public spaces such as streets, clubs, playgrounds, etc.

street dancing

noun [uncountable]

street dancer

noun [countable]

'More boys than ever before are joining dance troupes as a street dance craze sweeps London.'

London Evening Standard 8th June 2009

'… Croft could have been fired by anger but he side stepped that suggestion with the skills of a man who in his youth studied contemporary, modern and street dancing. …'

London Evening Standard 9th June 2009

'Street dancers Flawless pulled off another eye popping routine to a medley of hits. '

Daily Star 26th May 2009

On 30th May 2009, dance group Diversity wowed British audiences with a stunning routine which sealed their victory in the popular UK TV show 'Britain's Got Talent'. In the aftermath of this breathtaking performance of synchronised and acrobatic movements, the expression street dance made a corresponding leap into the radar of the general public.

Street dance, also informally referred to as street, is an umbrella term which encompasses a range of dance styles characterised by descriptions such as hip hop, funk and breakdancing. Its eclectic nature has spawned a whole new street dance lexicon, including terms such as popping, locking, waving and krumping.

with the last surge of interest occurring in the 1980s, street dance has resurfaced during the last five years to enjoy a renewed popularity

When a dancer pops, they jerk their body by quickly contracting and relaxing the muscles. The movements they make are correspondingly referred to as pops or hits. Locking refers to fast, exaggerated, movements which then freeze into a rigid position (a lock), whereas waving describes a more fluid style where movement appears to ripple through the limbs (as if a wave were traversing the dancer's body). Krumping is characterised by free, expressive and energetic movement of the arms, legs, chest and head. Proponents of these different styles can correspondingly be described as poppers, lockers, wavers and krumpers. If you'd like to see these street dance moves in action, check out the video in this article.

With the last surge of interest occurring in the 1980s, street dance has resurfaced during the last five years to enjoy a renewed popularity. Interest has been sparked primarily by television, especially through MTV music videos and advertisements using dance moves to sell products. Across the UK, dance studios have reported an increased demand for tuition, with more young people, especially more boys, participating in dancing classes than ever before.

Though the term street dance was already established within youth/dance culture, recent media interest in 'Britain's Got Talent' winners Diversity and rival group Flawless seems to have now planted the expression firmly into mainstream British English.

Background to

street dance

Street dance, also more formally described as vernacular dance, originated in New York in the 1970s. Evolving on the streets of Manhattan and the Bronx, it was developed as an improvised, social dance form, reacting against traditional, high-art dance styles. Popular with African-Americans and Puerto-Ricans, street dance was used as an expression of resistance and cultural identity outside of the mainstream.

The energetic nature of street dance makes it popular with young people on a variety of levels, both as an art form, a competitive activity or for physical exercise. Some UK secondary schools are therefore beginning to introduce street dance as a form of physical education.

by Kerry Maxwell, author of Brave New Words

A History Of Hip Hop Dance

Hip-hop dance is a unique and exciting style of street dance that is most commonly performed to hip-hop music. Hip-hop dance is a vibrant form of dance that combines a variety of freestyle movements to create a cultural piece of art. Through its three main styles of popping, locking, and breaking, hip-hop dance has evolved into one of the most popular and influential styles of dance.

Greeley dance studio, A Dance Place, enjoys teaching hip-hop dance because of its more laid back style that allows dancers to let loose and worry less about technique and more about expressing themselves through their movement and their music. With more upbeat music, hip-hop dance creates a different level of fun and creativity.

Where It All Began

 

Hip-hop dance began during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, originally inspired by the movements of African dancing, and flourished as a new style of dance performed on the street for the people. Hip-hop incorporates aspects of modern dance, tap, and swing, integrating music and complex movements to form artistry.

The early history and roots of hip-hop dance are most often associated with its beginning on the East Coast, specifically New York City. But the West Coast also formed its own style of the East Coast hip-hop dance around the same time.

East Coast hip-hop began with the unique rhythmic combinations created by Kool DJ Herc, a Jamaican DJ who moved to Brooklyn at the age of 12 and quickly became one of the most popular DJ’s of New York City. DJ Herc ingeniously thought to extend dance sections of songs to create better opportunities to showcase the breaking movements of dancers.

West Coast hip-hop took the dance style from the East Coast and made it its own, transforming some of the frozen moves and making them more robotic. The West Coast was also where two of modern hip-hop’s most iconic styles, popping and locking, were born.

Check out the video below to learn some basic pop and lock moves:

Evolution Of Hip Hop

East Coast and West Coast hip-hop dance styles were originally meant to be two distinct forms of dance. However, as hip-hop grew in popularity, the two styles began to merge together into a unique street dance culture. Over time, hip-hop expanded from the street scene, and its choreography became a sought-after style in dance studios, clubs, and other venues.

During the 80’s and 90’s, hip-hop dance competitions became increasingly popular with the emergence of “battles,” one-on-one freestyle competition on the dance floors of clubs surrounded by a circle of fans. Improvised battles soon led to advertised battles and a higher level of competition.

Modern Hip-Hop Dance

 

While hip-hop originated as informal street dance meant for the people present, it has further evolved onto the stage and screen and into an audience favorite. Hip-hop now is a highly sought-after and dominant style of dance. It is among the most common styles of dance for music videos, concerts, and dance competitions. It can be found in dance studios of all kinds, teaching its unique and energetic compilation of movements to young and old.

Hip-hop dance has transformed the world of dance and has taken the dance culture by storm. Many of its distinctive moves are often integrated into the choreography of more traditional styles of dance and it has even worked its way into major theatrical and cinematic productions.

Hip-hop dance provides a vibrant means for exercise, art, and movement, creating a platform for individual expression and undeniable talent.

 

Sign Up For Hip Hop Dance Classes in Greeley

A Dance Place offers exciting hip-hop dance classes in Greeley that incorporate body control, improvisation, and the high-energy movements that have shaped hip-hop dance for decades.

Our talented hip-hop dance instructors have a desire to make sure that students understand and experience that hip-hop class is a fun and safe place for them to be who they really are. At our Greeley hip-hop dance classes, students do not worry about how they look or dress; they simply come to let loose and have fun. For more information about our classes or to register, call today at (970) 590-9530.

The emergence of street dancing | Educational social network

Essay on the topic: "The emergence, development and styles of street dances."

22.04.2020

Gladkaya Ulyana


"The emergence, development and styles of street dances"

Introduction (What is street dancing)

commonly referred to as breakdancing) have been largely undocumented. Perhaps this is partly due to the fact that performance styles are usually either passed on from professionals to beginners in an informal setting, or just dancers right on the street show each other new moves. However, by 2010 information about the history of street dance began to be officially documented. nine0003

Street dancing is the same general concept as folk dancing. In order to dance street dances, only one condition is necessary - to feel the life and rhythm of the streets. Street dancing combines several styles that originated outside the walls of dance studios. To be more precise, modern street dances are mixes from different styles of hip-hop, house, locking, popping, ragga dance, new style, new age, bray to dance, electric boogie, krump, and others.

The culture is characterized by both special music and non-standard dances. At first, to arrange competitions, young people gathered spontaneously. Then competitions began to be organized in advance, inviting spectators and fans. Today, such events are held annually. One of the directions of street dances - hip-hop was formed gradually, it was saturated with elements from break-dance, rega, modern, belly-dance and latin. It should be noted that street dances are built on free fantasy and the flight of consciousness, the ability to listen to music and focus on semantic accents. Old-school styles of street dance appeared on the streets and in entertainment venues in the United States based on non-standard combinations of steps and movements. The old school of music was characterized by high percussiveness, combining breakdance-style moves. The modern school has undergone changes and is more complex. Many dancers supplemented it with their own movements. Today there are many individual and mixed styles, but these trends originated in the old and new schools. New style is the most fashionable direction of street dances. It is characterized by the manner in which movements are presented. It is soft, calm, at first glance relaxed, but demonstrating internal compressed energy. The dancer during the performance looks outwardly at ease. For free improvisation, he uses the power of resistance. In the United States, this kind of street dancing is called freestyle, which means free style. To demonstrate their abilities, the dancers fight in a specially prepared place, demonstrating their skills in turn. Participants show respect for each other and do not sort things out. The winners are determined by the judges together with the audience. nine0003

http://www.4dancing.ru/blogs/260614/1790/


Origins of street dancing

Origin:

The term hip-hop was coined in 1980 by DJ Afrika Bambaataa. He used the term to describe a trend in urban cultural dance and music that emerged in the 1970s. The origins of street dancing lie in folk dances, which were mainly performed by dancers from Africa. In the 1920s, performer Earl Tucker used sliding steps in his dances, which later became characteristic of hip hop. At 19In the 70s, James Brown created music that in turn also influenced street dancing.

The birth of such a phenomenon as street dancing (Street Dances) was preceded by a completely different street "culture" - a tough confrontation between gangs in the "black" neighborhoods of American metropolitan areas. Young, strong, but poor African Americans had nowhere to put their energy. Fitness centers, paid studios, gyms and other benefits were not available to them. In addition, brute force was considered the only way to assert their leadership in a particular area. "Black" youth clearly wanted to express themselves, but did not know how. Perhaps fights would have remained the main type of communication if there had not been a peaceful alternative - street dancing. nine0003

So, street dancing originated in the 70s of the last century in the poor neighborhoods of New York and Los Angeles. It was in the Bronx (New York) that the main hip-hop platform was formed, on which all street dances later arose and developed.

http://www.4dancing.ru/blogs/260614/1790/


Development of street dance

Development:

even perform on Broadway. The media in the US began to popularize street dance. However, at 19In the 1990s, hip-hop groups in the United States and elsewhere began to bring the dance style closer to what it was in the beginning. There has been an increase in the number of hip hop groups that have combined dance with theatre, modern dance and other forms of performing arts. At the beginning of the 20th century, street dancing takes on many different forms, and new ones keep appearing all the time.

Actions developed as follows. A place was vacated on a section of the street or in the hall of some institution. The audience "surrounded" the dancers and acted as a kind of shield. The winner of the fight was determined by the judges, who were guided by the opinion of the public. nine0003

Street dance competitions are currently held internationally, such as Juste Debout or Battle of the Year. However, it must be borne in mind that the main feature of such dances is still improvisation. Therefore, even pre-prepared speeches cannot be held within a strict framework. More often, changes in the dance of the program are made by the mood of the performer, who, to the rhythms of the music, begins to show the audience "miracles of acrobatics." Accordingly, the slightest change in the emotional background of the dancer is instantly reflected in the dance. nine0003

http://www.4dancing.ru/blogs/260614/1790/

http://www.dancity.ru/blog/kakie-oni-ulichnye-tancy.html ?

Under the general name "street dances" dances of different styles and directions are combined. Each of them has its own technique and its own characteristics. These are dances that are performed with pleasure, and not under the pressure of strict norms and standards. The mood of the dancer today and now is the main content of street dances. The performer focuses on individuality and originality. For the sake of creating his own individual style, the dancer is not afraid to mix and interpret the movements of other dance styles in his own way. Improvisation is the main feature of street dancing. Even performances prepared in advance do not have a rigid framework, and can be changed under the influence of the momentary mood of the performer. The feeling of the dancer is an important criterion for how appropriate this or that movement is in each particular case. A change in the emotional state of a dancer can lead to a completely new, original interpretation of a dance number. nine0003

Features:

Street dances are special, the original form of demonstration of their choreographic skills by dancers is the so-called fights. The term was originally used to refer to break dancing, but is now applied to other forms of street dancing as well.

The action is as follows. In the center of the hall or on the street, a place is vacated for dancers. Spectators stand around and cheer on those performers that they like. The judges, together with the audience, determine the winners. Usually the dancers demonstrate their skill in turn, unless it is a prearranged group number. Representatives of one team of dancers in hip-hop are called gangs. nine0003

Another type of such competition is called “wall to wall”. The performers stand in a straight line facing each other and perform impromptu dance moves. This type of competition is used less frequently, since in this case the possibilities for the manifestation of individuality are limited.

An integral part of the dance battles is the demonstration of respect of the competitors for each other and, especially, for the rivals. Aggressive showdown, fights, inappropriate behavior are not welcome. nine0003

http://hnb.com.ua/articles/s-sport-entsiklopediya_tantsa_ulichnye_tantsy-2443


Dance styles and their foundations , and to this day, interest in this dance does not fade, but is gaining momentum even more. After all, hip-hop is a lifestyle for young people, and dance brings harmony, drive, and energy to the human world. People find new friends, communicate, share new ideas. Dancing helps to gain self-confidence. In every dance, whether classical or folk, there is a foundation, basic movements, and hip-hop has its own base. This dance consists of groove, bounce (kach), and movements. Groove or state is how you feel the music and how you convey it, the groove of the dancers is individual, because each dancer hears music differently. Bounce or swing is the movement of the knees, they should always be soft. Of course, in hip-hop there are basic movements, steps. There are quite a lot of them, more than a hundred movements. They are needed in order to know how your body can move, for good execution technique. nine0003

Inspired youth decided to comprehend a hitherto unknown culture. Since the film was called "Breakin'", and in some translations "Break dance", and indeed there was confusion with the terms at that time, they called this whole dance break dance and divided it into an upper and lower break. The cassette "Break it" was not as common as "Breakin'" and was the first video lessons that reached our country. From there such styles as "Robot", "Locking", "King Tut", "Electric Boogie" became known. The tutorial was from the East Coast, and as we know at that time in New York, “breaking”, “popping” and “boogaloo” had already originated later, many only heard about the “Electric Boogaloos” team ( Boogaloo Sam, founder of the "popping" and "boogaloo" styles, creator of the team) and danced the "Electric Boogie" style, a mixture of robot technique, wave, sliding penetrations and "tricks". Also on the “Break it” cassette, the “popping” style technique was presented, or rather “pop”, the dancer on the video strained and relaxed his muscles, making “dad”, then he danced a little rather “wooden” popping, from which his Soviet students made the conclusion is that the “pop's” style is based on clear leg movements, in rhythm it is necessary to sharply straighten the knee and hit the floor with the heel so that the body “shakes” and at the same time do the so-called “shoulder drop”, this is what the “popping” style looked like in our interpretation. But still, most of the cassette, justifying its name, was devoted to the “breaking” style, all the main basic steps were presented there: “footwork”, “freezes”, “top rock”, and some elements of “power move”, which are so impressed the public. Thus, in the 80s of the last century, the USSR style "Break dance" was born, which was divided into "lower" and "upper", the latter, in turn, was divided into 5 styles: "robot", "locking", "king tat" , "electric boogie" and "pops". Now it all sounds ridiculous, but this is part of our dance history, without which today Russia would not have reached the level to be able to compete with other countries in which hip-hop culture originated much earlier. nine0003

Source: http://reftrend.ru/827788.html

List of used sources (Books about street dances links all)

Books about street dances:

1. Club dance tutorial: Funk, Trance, House

Authors:

Volodina O.V. Anisimova T.B.

2. "Fundamentals of Modern Dance"

Authors:

S. S. Polyakov

3. "ABCD (Any Body Can Dance)"

Authors:

Amit Aryan, Tushar Hiranandani.

http://www.divadance.ru/reports/allfdance_zzz_books.htm


Stage clothes for street dances

Dance "stage" clothes are designed to emphasize the style of dance and the image created in it. By "stage" is meant not only clothes for the stage, but also for a performance that the audience can only see, for example, on the street. Therefore, the costume must be "in the subject." In fact, imagine for a moment that you decide to dance breakdance in a ballet tutu or belly dance in a Russian kokoshnik. And it's not about the audience. It's a matter of inconsistency. It is simply unrealistic to move correctly and beautifully in inappropriate clothes. nine0003

Such a contrast is possible only if the artist is a dance guru and builds a stage image on the grotesque, trying to convey a certain idea to the viewer. But even in this case, the risk of being misunderstood is great. Let's leave their experiments with costumes to the gurus, it's more important for beginners to know what to wear for the first Street Dance practice.

First of all, I would like to note that stage clothing and equipment for training are two different concepts. For classes, you can dress and shoe in what is comfortable and in which there is little chance of injury. This is important, since the average workout lasts one and a half to two hours with an intense load, and the performance is usually 3-5 minutes. nine0003

Training clothes for street dancing should be moderately loose, but such that the nuances of the movements being practiced are easily “read” and the trainer can make changes during the class. It is best to opt for sweatpants with a drawstring or an elastic band. Classic jeans don't fit at all. The top can be anything that does not constrain freedom. In addition, it is for this direction that it is recommended to strengthen the knee joints with elastic bandages, since they will have a serious load. nine0003

For training, choose the most comfortable clothes - you will amaze the minds of the audience with your extravagance already at the performance. And during training, concentrate on the movements - not on the combination of colors and textures. Shoes are better to choose from genuine leather or generally on a fabric basis, also give preference to low sneakers without a collar - it hinders foot movements.

http://dancedb.ru/street-dance/education/article/282/


Deciding on the style

Despite the fact that street dances are already an independent direction of modern dances, they also have a division into so-called sub-styles. And before you jump into the maelstrom of modern hip-hop culture in the dance incarnation, it would be good to decide what exactly you want to learn how to do to the music.

There are a huge variety of street dances, especially if we take into account the fact that street style does not have basic movements as such - it is already a mix of many styles. The most popular subtypes of street dance:

  • Break dance;
  • Crip walk;
  • Popping;
  • Crump;
  • Locking.
  • Hip-hop

All of these varieties have one thing in common: they are built on pure improvisation in its brightest quintessence.


Conclusion (Determine the style, determine the type of training Time frame)

Determine the type of education

Despite the fact that there are quite a lot of dance schools in every more or less large city today, not everyone who wants to dance has enough time and money for such activities. An excellent alternative to training in a professional gym is self-study with video tutorials or special courses that can be found in stores or on the Internet itself, and for free. In fact, you will be taught by the best dancers in the world, in addition, at the lessons in dance schools, sometimes the teacher cannot give you enough attention. This problem automatically disappears when exercising at home. nine0003


Time frame

Immediately decide how much time you are ready to devote to your new hobby, because learning street dancing, like any other art form, requires a systematic approach and regularity. Set aside a couple of days a week for street dancing, this will be enough to start. Better rarely, but regularly, than occasionally, but for a long time.

Brief history of Soviet breakdance • Arzamas

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  • History
  • Art
  • Literature
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I'm lucky!

History, Anthropology

What is Soviet breakdance and when did it appear? What did the first dance battles look like? Why did the style eventually die out in Soviet times? And how did he influence the birth of Russian rap? Telling about the history of Soviet breakdance

Author Olga Krupnik

70s. Breaking, the founding style of street hip-hop dance, DJ Lance Taylor, better known by his pseudonym Afrika Bambaataa, was the first to identify five components of hip-hop culture: MCing (rap), DJing, breaking, graffiti and knowledge (philosophy). He began the history of the development of the genre in the USSR.

Breaking was brought to the USSR in the 1980s, and the popularity of the style peaked in 1985-1990. This period will be called the first wave of breaking in Russia. The development of dance coincided with perestroika and was just as rapid. In a short time, breaking has gone from closed apartments to major festivals and cinema. nine0003

However, few predicted a long life for this dance style: it was considered an imported fashion that did not have a foundation for further development. With the collapse of the USSR, interest in the style really faded. Breaking returned to Russia only in the 2000s.

1980-1982

Olympics-80 and new fashion

Olympic bears. Moscow, 1980 © Roman Denisov / TASS

The 1980 Summer Olympics opened the iron curtain, and American culture penetrated Russia: Pepsi-Cola, Fanta appeared on the shelves, and sneakers came into fashion. English has ceased to be a professional quality and has become an attribute of a good liberal arts education. Increasingly, translated books and anglicisms appeared in speech. nine0003

1983

Russian rock and first videocassettes

A shot from the movie "Rocky". Directed by John Avildsen. 1976 © Chartoff-Winkler Productions

Foreign tape recorders and video cassettes appeared in some homes. And Hollywood action movies like "Rocky" have become an alternative to Central Television. 1983, among other things, was the heyday of Russian rock: in May, the first festival was held at the Leningrad Rock Club, and informal associations began to become the norm. nine0003

1984

Imported breakdancing, dyed sneakers and aerobics

This is the time of circus art and plastic theater. The main heroes of 1984 were the clown theater "Litsedei" and Vyacheslav Polunin. At the same time, mass production of the first domestic tape recorder "Electronics VM-12" began - it was sold everywhere. Now the video can be watched at home.

Still from the film "Breakin'". Directed by Joel Silberg. 1984 © Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer; Cannon Films

Breaking gradually penetrated the families of diplomats, employees of embassies and the Ministry of Foreign Trade: they got acquainted with the dance abroad. The rest copied the movements and tricks of the heroes of the first American films about break dancing: "Breakin'" (1984), "Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo" (1984) and "Beat Street" (1984).

There was also a request for everyday dance practices: aerobics became incredibly popular among women. The Melodiya record company even released a special soundtrack - a vinyl record for rhythmic gymnastics. So dance and bodily gymnastics became the norm. nine0003 Rhythmic gymnastics vinyl sleeve. 1985 © Melodiya Firm

The younger generation strove for individuality, and teenage fashion began to develop. Those who had the opportunity received clothes from abroad - mostly the children of wealthy parents. Others illegally bought it from peddlers. peddlers are private merchants who illegally bought things and currency from foreigners, and then sold them. patterns of Western models. nine0003

The most important attribute of street dancers is, of course, sneakers. In 1984, Chinese-made models were on sale, mostly black and brown. But dancing needs bright colors, so many people dyed sneakers themselves, by analogy with jeans.

1985

Breakdance on the Arbat and settlement of culture houses

In 1985, breaking ceased to be a dance of privileged youth and moved from apartments to gyms and dance floors. At the same time, the first professional dance groups appeared. The famous saxophonist and jazzman Alexei Kozlov created Break-Arsenal, a dance group based on the Arsenal musical group. Break Arsenal introduced the style to the public and gradually popularized it. nine0003 Performance by the Break Arsenal Ensemble. May 31, 1985

In addition to the Break Arsenal, the Magic Circle, Mercury, Mirror and Vector were among the important bands of that time.

Soviet children who read the Strugatsky brothers and Kir Bulychev were very attracted by the aesthetics of Afrofuturism. The influence of the school of mimes, which at that time was very popular, also had an effect. The audience was fascinated by the strange futuristic movements of the dancers: they moved like robots, making waves and lunar paths. Some tried to imitate them and looked for an opportunity to learn how to dance the same way. nine0003

Learning to breakdance and practicing moves requires a lot of space and mirrors. Dancers gradually settled in palaces and houses of culture. For the first time, breaking courses were organized in the Pravda Moscow Palace of Culture, they were led by circus director Valentin Gneushev. The Pravda school, named after the Palace of Culture where it was located, became one of the most developed: in the future, its students represented Russia at the All-Union Championships and showed break dance in the cinema.

The first break parties where dancers shared new moves were at the dairy cafe. The dairy cafe served food and drinks made from dairy products, such as milkshakes and ice cream. "At the Fountain" (it was simply called "Milk"). It was the first permanent youth cafe in the capital. nine0003

“Moloko was a place for a really fashionable pastime, where a wide range of young people gathered: from iron-farmers to variety performers. Makarevich sat there from time to time. Sergei Penkin, Volodya Presnyakov gave some of their first concerts there. Even one of the New Year's lights was filmed there. The place was fashionable, and there we saw the performance of Volodya Ratskevich's Vector group for the first time. That performance made an indelible impression. Thoughts “I want that too” were not only mine. From that day on, our studio members began to break their bodies for a break "  Fragment from an interview with Mila Maksimova. nine0193 M. Buster. Hooligans-80. M., 2009..

Also, in 1985, breaking hit the streets. This was facilitated by the opening of the first pedestrian street, the so-called "showcase of perestroika" - Arbat. It was immediately occupied by street musicians, circus performers and break dancers. On the Arbat, a unique Russian style, "upper breakdance", also developed. The reason for its appearance is an incorrect interpretation of Western terms. What we called the top break, in fact, were styles electric boogie Electric boogie is a style that combines smoothness in movement and illusory forms (imitation of waves, robot movements), inspired by the aesthetics of Afrofuturism and the musical environment of New York (funk, electrofunk and other genres). and locking Locking is a social dance with characteristic bright images and the author's style of The Lockers, performed to funk music. Dance movements are interrupted by stops in certain positions, after which the dancer continues to move at his own pace. Russian dancers reasoned something like this: if you spin on the floor, you perform footwork elements0264 footwork - “foot movements”., you dance the lower break dance, as soon as you rise up, blow waves through your hands, imitate a robot or Pharaoh Tutankhamen ( king-tut , or tutting ), this is already the upper break -dance. We can say that the term "upper breakdancing" appeared for the convenience of classifying and separating styles.

At first, upper and lower breakdancing were closely related to each other. Often, performers of the lower style inserted elements of the upper style into their dance. But as it developed, everything became more complicated: people appeared who were exclusively interested in the upper or lower style. There was a gradual division into the so-called "top" and "bottom". Top breakdance existed in Russia until the 2000s. Its longevity is due to the fact that the first generation of Russian dancers (“old schoolers”) did not want to be retrained and lose their status:

“The fact is that our country was closed until 91-92, information did not flow into Russia and did not flow out at all. Therefore, what has come down to us in 86-87 years - dancers began to grow on that, and their homegrown popping, locking grew - their homegrown tops. <...> When they became interested in what exists in the world, when the curtain opened in front of the West, they saw that everything had changed there so that they had to start learning from scratch if they wanted to dance the same way. But we did not have these sources, bases, roots - we did not know where the tree grew from. So we decided to build a house without a foundation. And a house without a foundation collapses from the first wind. You need a deep foundation: the deeper it is, the more and better bases you can build on it. And I didn’t want to strain with the foundation - to start from scratch, because it’s a matter of status: they are old-schoolers and everyone respects them. And in order not to lose prestige in the eyes of the students, they did not recognize Western trends. As a result, they remained there, in that century, in that millennium”  “I come to Russia to enlighten” // iDance.ru. April 4, 2007..

Break dance. Moscow, 1986 © Igor Boyko / RIA Novosti

Now the “upper break” phenomenon is interpreted differently:

“This desire to learn to dance from scratch is precisely the property of young people in the periphery states. The guys want to learn how to do something like in the center (in our case, in the USA), to make the “correct” and “approved” version of art. And older guys understand that their art is their skill, they are not ready to give up their views on the movement. And many of these views already at the end of the 10s again aroused genuine interest - the same Savenkov is now very relevant. nine0193 What happened in the mid-2000s - passionate youth appeared (like me, Lesha Bugi and Andrey Slide), who could not appreciate the originality of our Soviet school (in my case, in the pursuit of Western "approval", I could not appreciate our culture, unfortunately , it comes with years).
The old schoolers were that foundation. In Europe, which was not a country of the periphery in terms of culture, the "cassette" old school players completely survived and developed their styles, integrated into modern funk culture. Guys like Nils (b-boy Storm) and Steen (Steen) perform in theaters and do top choreography and no one says that it is “wrong” ”  Fragment from an interview with Matvey Lebedev (Matt Fownk). Recorded by Olga Krupnik. April 2022..

1986

Video clips, battles and Courier movie

In December 1986 Karen Shakhnazarov's film The Courier was released. He revealed the topic of generational conflict, and also tried to formulate new ideals and principles of young people in the era of perestroika. "Courier" became one of the leaders of the box office in 1987, and later the best film according to the results of a poll by the Soviet Screen magazine. It was a legendary picture for the Russian breakdance community. In the final scene of The Courier, street dancers show their skills on the courtyard. The song "Rockit" by B.T. & The City Slickers sounds: an arrangement of the canonical track by American composer and pianist Herbie Hancock. nine0003 Courier. Directed by Karen Shakhnazarov. 1986

Pupils of the Pravda dance school and other famous dancers, for example, Oleg Smolin and Konstantin Mikhailov from the Mercury group, starred in the film. Then "Mercury" appeared in the films "You Don't Mess With Robots" (1987) from the series of Soviet television plays "This Fantastic World", and later in the musical "The Rattlesnake Dozen" (1988) - in which tap dancers compete with break dance dancers. breakdancing can be found in the films "Publication" (1988) and “My name is Arlekino” (1988) — Moscow dancers appear in their episodes. A year before, the clips of Alla Pugacheva, as well as the Kino group, were released. At the same time, the future pop star Vladimir Presnyakov Jr. released a video for the song "Red Cat", in which he demonstrated the technique of breakdancing. The video was shown in the popular program "Morning Mail" on the First Program of Central Television. Another iconic video clip is the work of Alexander Kalyanov "Karabas-Barabas". nine0003

Movies and videos popularized breaking and made it part of popular culture: the audience interested in breakdancing has grown rapidly. Such excitement could not go unnoticed, and breaking received state support. The Ministry of Youth Affairs saw street dance as one of the ways to heal the nation.

Modern Tants Festival. Estonia, 1986 © Community “Break Dance the 80s — Old School” / Fair use

there is a regular music festival in the country. 26 April 1986 years in the city of Vinni (Estonian SSR) the first all-Union breaking festival called Modern Tants was held. And in the autumn of the same year, the all-Union final was held in Tallinn, which brought together the best Russian break dancers:

“In 1986, an all-Union break dance competition was held in Tallinn. This was done by local Komsomol members, who were well prepared. We rented the entire Sport Hotel and settled it with delegates from Minsk, Kyiv, Riga, St. Petersburg, Kharkov, and, of course, Muscovites. There were 100 participants alone. At the same time, everyone went with support groups, pretended and noisy. When all this crowd gathered in the hotel, the attendants went crazy. Loud music played around the clock. In all the corridors, the participants were rehearsing and fans were wandering around; there was a feeling of complete happiness. By the way, there were no drunks, which, you see, is not typical for a subculture ”  A fragment from an interview with Mila Maximova. nine0193 M. Buster. Hooligans-80. M., 2009..

Modern Tants Festival. Estonia, 1986 © Community "Break Dance the 80s - Old School" / Fair use

Most of the breaking festivals were held in the battle format. Battle is the main communication tool for street dancers. It is a dance opposite each other, while the performers are surrounded by people. In fact, the battle is a continuation of the folklore tradition, the transfer of rural dance practices to the city. The dancers take turns doing their exits, demonstrating their technique and telling their story. Dance itself is a means of communication. Accordingly, a battle is a conversation between two dancers, an exchange of dance information. nine0003

As in a good conversation, a whole new dance idea, movement or concept can be born at a battle. An important role is also played by the skill of improvisation, that is, the creation of new movements without preparation. Street performers understand dance as a job that requires many hours of training to achieve results: this brings breakdancing closer to academic dance.

Later, battles became a part of professional activity for dancers. By participating in them, they remain visible and continue to function in the community as educators or judges. Despite the fact that breakdance battles can look quite aggressive, the participants consider them primarily a cultural exchange. Some demonstration battles are called that - exchange (from English - "exchange").

1987

Luberas, breakers and informal culture

Participants of the break dance school at the Prioksky Palace of Culture. Ryazan, 1987 © Vitaly Karpov / RIA Novosti

By 1987, breakdance had gained an all-Union scale. Festivals were held not only in the Baltic States, but also in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. The competitions lasted for several days and were broadcast on local television. In parallel with the dawn of the breaking culture, informal associations also developed: rockers, hippies, punks, metalheads, as well as luberas (or lubers) - aggressive young guys from the city of Lyubertsy near Moscow. They actively promoted a healthy lifestyle and were at enmity with fashionable informals. Luber was mostly not touched by breakers because of respect and love for the sport. However, it went to those who looked too fashionable or "ironed"  That is, they were a farce. items:

“At the same time, of course, groups of Lubers cruised around the city and often watched the breakers, but did not particularly touch them. Apparently, related sports styling and a dismissive attitude on the part of radical informals, with whom they began a real war, had an effect. Back in 86, I met a guy who lived on Zhdani, who at first gravitated towards the break, and then, already in 88, I met him, but already in a bull suit and with other interests in his head. He then indicated to me that we do not touch the breakers, but only drive the majors, irons and radicals. At the same time, the breakers themselves, willy-nilly, were forced to do ironing in order to “keep the style” and “be in the know” ”  Fragment from an interview with Ilya Pincher. nine0193 M. Buster. Hooligans-80. M., 2009..

In 1987, a film by Latvian director Juris Podnieks “Is It Easy to Be Young?” was released. The film told about the Soviet youth of the early 1980s: their desires, dreams and difficult relationships with their parents. In a sense, he formulated the meaning of informal associations for young people of this era.

Juris Podnieks. "Is it easy to be young?". 1987

1988

Triumph of Russian rock

Still from the film Assa. Directed by Sergei Solovyov. 1987 © Mosfilm Film Studio; Creative Association "Krug"

In 1988, Sergei Solovyov's film "Assa" was released. He immediately approved the unconditional triumph of Russian rock. A vinyl record with songs from "Assy" became one of the first official publications of Russian rock music. The soundtrack included compositions by Boris Grebenshchikov and the Aquarium group, the Bravo group with Zhanna Aguzarova and the Kino group:

“Sergey Solovyov broke me even more, who almost invited me to the main role in his Assu. Few people know that at first he wanted to mix the artistic part of the film with breakdance. We went to Mosfilm, even did screen tests. But then Solovyov went to St. Petersburg, and they convinced him there that break dance was already going down, and the new wave was rock music. Then he decided to bet on rock, chose Africa for the main role according to my type, and transferred the musical part to Kino, Aquarium and other St. Petersburg groups. While the film matured, this wave really came up. ” The history of Russian breakdance // School of breakdance "Volnorez". 2013..

Youth on the streets of Minsk. 1988 © Evgeny Koktysh / RIA Novosti

The breaking wave was indeed gradually fading away. Many dancers were taken to the army, the rest started families. The Pravda Palace of Culture was closed, and smart children's groups began to dance break dance. So the style faded away.

But the most enthusiastic b-boys B-boy/b-girl (eng. b-boy / b-girl) - a person who dances break dance. continued to perform on the Arbat and delve into the history of style. They began to understand breakdancing as part of the hip-hop culture, which includes not only dance, and discovered rap for themselves:

“Back in 1988, everyone knew that there was not only break, but also rap, so attempts to read were made repeatedly. Timur Mammadov, I remember, on the Arbat, on April 1, when people were dancing on the stage and for some reason the tape recorder did not work, he composed on the go and read this to the clapping rhythm . .. Like: “So, friends! As you can see, we are breakers from the city of Moscow. I won’t surprise you with this, I’m starting to rap…“”  Fragment from an interview with Ilya Pincher. nine0193 M. Buster. Hooligans-80. M., 2009.

1989 and early 1990s

From breakdance to rap

In 1989, the first rap groups appeared. The dance group "Mercury" has transformed into a rap group DMJ, consisting of two soloists and three dancers. The hip-hop duo "Black and White" took on break dancers from the "Stop" team.

1989 - the year of the founding of the Bad Balance team: it was formed from the White Gloves break dance group. At 19In 1990, the well-known musician and singer Mikhey joined her. Later they became legends of the local hip-hop culture. The team members not only wrote music and rapped, but also danced break dance. And in 1991, the group "Bachelor Party" appeared, consisting, in fact, of Arbat street dancers.

The "Bachelor Party" group © Rock 'n' Roll Wiki

Further development of breaking took place already within the hip-hop culture. Strong horizontal links have developed between dance, music and art (graffiti). People moved from one type of creativity to another, spent time together and organized events. nine0003

The first wave of breakdancing was marked by protest and street action, which was later compensated by sports (numerous championships) and cultural (joint hangouts and events) projects. However, the subculture is inextricably linked with the protest: it gives energy for development and social unification, which is difficult to replace with something.

“I started in the late 90s, and for us it was also a protest. We protested against the attempts of schools, sports clubs and parents to turn young people into a gray mass, who had to dress so as not to stand out, not to listen to loud music and so on. It was a protest against something different than in the 80s, but it was one hundred percent"   Fragment from an interview with Jan Nemalovsky. Recorded by Olga Krupnik. 2022..

In the future, breaking has become more professional in terms of technique, and intercultural exchange has become stronger.


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