Popping (other)
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Popping is a
street dance Street dance is an umbrella term for a large number of social dance styles such as: breakdancing, popping, locking, house dance, waacking etc. Social dance styles have many accompanying steps and foundations, created organically from a culture, ...
adapted out of the earlier
boogaloo Boogaloo or bugalú (also: shing-a-ling, Latin boogaloo, Latin R&B) is a genre of Latin music and dance which was popular in the United States in the 1960s. Boogaloo originated in New York City mainly among teenage African Americans and Latinos ...
cultural movement in
Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
. As boogaloo spread, it would be referred to as "robottin'" in
Richmond, California Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was municipal corporation, incorporated on August 7, 1905, and has a Richmond, California City Council, city council.
; strutting movements in
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
and San Jose; and the Strikin' dances of the Oak Park community in
Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...
, which were popular through the mid-1960s to the 1970s.Guzman-Sanchez, T. (2012) Underground Dance Masters: Final History of a Forgotten Era. Praeger. Popping would be eventually adapted from earlier boogaloo (freestyle dance) movements in
Fresno, California Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, makin ...
, in the late 1970s by way of California high school gatherings of track and meet events: the West Coast Relays. The dance is rooted in the rhythms of live
funk music Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...
, and is based on the technique of boogaloo's posing approach, quickly contracting and relaxing muscles to cause a jerk, or can be a sudden stop in the dancer's body, referred to as a "pose", "pop" or a "hit".Guzman-Sanchez, T. (2012) "The Oakland Funk Boogaloo Generation". Underground Dance Masters: Final History of a Forgotten Era This is done continuously to the rhythm of a song, in combination with various movements and poses. The dance was popularized by a Fresno & Long Beach-based dance group called the
Electric Boogaloos The Electric Boogaloos are a street dance crew responsible for the spread of popping and electric boogaloo. The name "Boogaloo" came from a song called "Do a Boogaloo" by James Brown, which was also adapted as a Boogaloo street dance done from Oak ...
, which mixed popping techniques with boogaloo. Closely related illusory dance styles and techniques are often integrated into popping to create a more varied performance. These dance styles include the
robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be c ...
, waving and tutting. However, popping is distinct from breaking and locking, with which it is often confused. A popping dancer is commonly referred to as a "popper". Popping developed before hip hop and helped influence the tradition of styles of
hip hop dancing Hip hop dance is a range of street dance styles primarily performed to hip hop music or that have evolved as part of hip hop culture. It is influenced by a wide range of styles that were created in the 1970s and made popular by dance crews in th ...
. It is often performed in
battles A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...
, in which participants try to outperform each other in front of a crowd, giving room for improvisation and freestyle moves that are seldom seen in shows and performances, such as interaction with other dancers and spectators. Popping, and related styles such as waving and tutting, have also been incorporated into the
electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...
dance scene to some extent, influencing new styles such as
liquid and digits Liquid and digits is a type of gestural, interpretive, rave and urban street dance that sometimes involve aspects of pantomime. The term invokes the word ''liquid'' to describe the fluid-like motion of the dancer's body and appendages and ''digit ...
and
turfing Turfing (or turf dancing) is a form of street dance that originated in Oakland, California, characterized by rhythmic movement combined with waving, floor moves, gliding, flexing and cortortioning. It was developed by youth from West Oakland and ...
.


Terminology

As stated earlier, ''popping'' has become the latest umbrella term for a group of closely related styles and techniques rooted in the boogaloo tradition that have often been combined, evolved or danced together with popping, some of which are seldom seen outside of popping contexts.The popping category generally centers around the technique of popping, but much variation involving closely related styles is allowed.


Characteristics

Popping is centered around the technique of "popping", which means to quickly contract and relax muscles to create a jerking effect (a "pop" or "hit") in the body. It is also known as posing hard from the boogaloo tradition; this technique was innovated by the
Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...
-based boogaloo group the Black Messengers. Popping can be concentrated to specific body parts, creating variants such as arm pops, leg pops, chest pops and neck pops.


Music

With its roots in the late 1970s funk era, popping is commonly danced to
funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...
and
disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...
music. Popular artists include Zapp,
Dayton Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...
,
Dazz Band The Dazz Band is an American Rhythm and blues, R&B/funk band most popular in the early 1980s. Emerging from Cleveland, Ohio, the group's biggest hit songs include "Let It Whip" (1982), "Joystick (song), Joystick" (1983), and "Let It All Blow" ( ...
and Cameo. During the 1980s, many poppers also utilized
electro music Electro (or electro- funk)Rap meets ...
, with artists such as
Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize the ...
,
Yellow Magic Orchestra Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO for short) is a Japanese electronic music band formed in Tokyo in 1978 by Haruomi Hosono (bass, keyboards, vocals), Yukihiro Takahashi (drums, lead vocals) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (keyboards, vocals). The group is conside ...
,
Egyptian Lover Gregory James Broussard (born August 31, 1963), better known by his stage name Egyptian Lover, is an American musician, vocalist, producer and DJ, and was a part of the L.A. dance music, electro, and rap scene in the early 1980s. History Th ...
and
World Class Wrecking Crew World Class Wreckin' Cru was an American electro group, during the 1980s in the Los Angeles area, that contributed to rap's development. Two of its members, Dr. Dre and DJ Yella, attained greater fame as members of N.W.A, which pioneered gangsta ...
. More mainstream hip hop music was also employed by poppers during the 1980s, including
Afrika Bambaataa Lance Taylor (born on April 17, 1957), also known as Afrika Bambaataa (), is an American DJ, rapper, and producer from the South Bronx, New York. He is notable for releasing a series of genre-defining electro tracks in the 1980s that influenc ...
,
Kurtis Blow Kurtis Walker (born August 9, 1959), professionally known by his stage name Kurtis Blow, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record/film producer, b-boy, DJ, public speaker and minister. He is the first commercially successful rapper a ...
,
Whodini Whodini is an American hip hop group that was formed in 1982. The Brooklyn, New York-based trio consisted of vocalist and main lyricist Jalil Hutchins; co-vocalist John Fletcher, a.k.a. Ecstasy (who wore a Zorro-style hat as his trademark; Ju ...
and
Run DMC Run-DMC (also spelled Run-D.M.C.) was an American hip hop group from Hollis, Queens, New York City, founded in 1983 by Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels, and Jason Mizell. Run-DMC is regarded as one of the most influential acts in the history of ...
. Today, it is common to see popping danced to more current music genres, such as modern hip hop (often abstract/
instrumental hip hop Hip hop production is the creation of hip hop music in a recording studio. While the term encompasses all aspects of hip hop music creation, including recording the rapping of an MC, a turntablist or DJ providing a beat, playing samples and "s ...
) and various forms of electronic dance music, such as
dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken be ...
. Poppers generally favor music with a straight and steady
beat Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery ( ...
of 90–120
beats per minute Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery ( ...
, a 4/4
time signature The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...
, and a strong emphasis on the
back beat In music and music theory, the beat is the basic unit of time, the pulse (regularly repeating event), of the ''mensural level'' (or ''beat level''). The beat is often defined as the rhythm listeners would tap their toes to when listening to a pi ...
, normally by a
snare drum The snare (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often used ...
or a drum machine. The pops are generally performed 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 Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular recu ...
of a
melody A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...
or other rhythmic elements.


Variations

; Animation : A style and a technique where the dancer imitates
film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
characters being animated by
stop motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...
. The technique of moving rigidly and jerky by tensing muscles and using techniques similar to
strobing Jerkiness, sometimes called strobing or choppy, describes the perception of individual still images in a motion picture. Motion pictures are made from still images shown in rapid sequence. Provided there is sufficient continuity between the imag ...
and the
robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be c ...
makes it appear as if the dancer has been animated frame by frame.
Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...
was the first to use this term, referring to his character Steam Boat Willie’s motions as "the animation dance" in 1929. This style was heavily inspired by the
dynamation Raymond Frederick Harryhausen (June 29, 1920 – May 7, 2013) was an American-British animator and special effects creator who created a form of stop motion model animation known as "Dynamation". His works include the animation for ''Mighty ...
films created by
Ray Harryhausen Raymond Frederick Harryhausen (June 29, 1920 – May 7, 2013) was an American-British animator and special effects creator who created a form of stop motion model animation known as "Dynamation". His works include the animation for '' Might ...
, such as ''
The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad ''The 7th Voyage of Sinbad'' is a 1958 Technicolor heroic fantasy adventure film directed by Nathan H. Juran and starring Kerwin Mathews, Torin Thatcher, Kathryn Grant, Richard Eyer, and Alec Mango. It was distributed by Columbia Pictures and pro ...
'' (1958). ; Boogaloo : Boogaloo or "bug'n" is an older umbrella name of funk dances originating in Oakland, California. It can be described as a free-form dance style with loose movements trying to give the impression of a body lacking bones, partly inspired by
animated movies Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...
and
cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...
s. It utilizes circular rolls of various body parts, such as the hips, chest, shoulders, knees and head; this technique is also referred to as "wormin" and isolates sections of the body toward funk rhythms, especially sectioning through separating the rib cage from the hip. "Wormin" was innovated by Jerry Rentie of One Plus One., and the rolling of the chest or "wiggling" was innovated by Donald "Duck" Mathews. It also makes heavy use of angles and various steps and transitions to get from one spot to the next. ; Tutting/King Tut : Inspired by the
art of Ancient Egypt Ancient Egyptian art refers to art produced in ancient Egypt between the 6th millennium BC and the 4th century AD, spanning from Prehistoric Egypt until the Christianization of Roman Egypt. It includes paintings, sculptu ...
(the name derived from the Egyptian pharaoh
Tutankhamun Tutankhamun (, egy, twt-ꜥnḫ-jmn), Egyptological pronunciation Tutankhamen () (), sometimes referred to as King Tut, was an Egyptian pharaoh who was the last of his royal family to rule during the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ruled ...
, colloquially known as "King Tut"), tutting exploits the body's ability to create geometric positions (such as boxes) and movements, predominantly with the use of
right angle In geometry and trigonometry, a right angle is an angle of exactly 90 Degree (angle), degrees or radians corresponding to a quarter turn (geometry), turn. If a Line (mathematics)#Ray, ray is placed so that its endpoint is on a line and the ad ...
s. It generally focuses on the arms and hands, and includes sub-styles such as
finger tutting Finger-tutting is a type of dance that involves intricate movements of the fingers. The word "tutting" is a street dance style based on angular movements which are supposed to stylize the poses seen on reliefs in the art of ancient Egypt, and ...
.


Notable Poppers

* Boogaloo Shrimp (aka Michael Chambers)Full cast
for
Breakin' ''Breakin (also known as ''Breakdance'' in the United Kingdom and ''Break Street '84'' in other regions) is a 1984 American breakdancing-themed musical film directed by Joel Silberg and written by Charles Parker and Allen DeBevoise based on a ...
at IMDB. Accessed 2009-08-03.
* Pop' n' Taco (aka Bruno Falcon) *
Popin' Pete Timothy Earl Solomon (born August 5, 1961), known as Popin' Pete , is an American dancer, choreographer who popularized the "popping" dance style and member of the Electric Boogaloos. Pete’s career has spanned over forty years since the emergenc ...
* Prince Ali * Nonstop *
Mr. Wiggles Steffan "Mr. Wiggles" Clemente is a street dancer, noted for his popping skills. He is a member of the Rock Steady Crew, The Electric Boogaloos, Tribal Click, Zulu Nation, and TC5, also known as The Cool Five or The Crazy Five. Wiggles has bee ...
*
Suga Pop Steve da Silva', better known as Suga Pop, is an American "street dance" practitioner and choreographer based in the United States. He is known for his work in "popping" and "locking", styles of dance collectively grouped under the umbrella term "fu ...
*
Salah (, plural , romanized: or Old Arabic ͡sˤaˈloːh, ( or Old Arabic ͡sˤaˈloːtʰin construct state) ), also known as ( fa, نماز) and also spelled , are prayers performed by Muslims. Facing the , the direction of the Kaaba wit ...
* Skeeter Rabbit *
Slim Boogie Slim or SLIM may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Slim Goodbody, a fictional character who teaches about anatomy * Slim, one of the alien antagonists of the 1988 film ''Killer Klowns from Outer Space'' * Slim, the Pixl from ...
*Mr. Animation *
Poppin John Poppin' or Poppin may refer to: Music * ''Poppin (album), a 1980 album recorded in 1957 by Hank Mobley, or the title song * "Poppin'" (Chris Brown song), a 2005 single by Chris Brown * "Poppin'", a 2009 song by Utada, from the album ''This Is th ...
*JC Joint Control NYC


See also

*
Hip-hop dance Hip hop dance is a range of street dance styles primarily performed to hip hop music or that have evolved as part of hip hop culture. It is influenced by a wide range of styles that were created in the 1970s and made popular by dance crews in ...
*
Locking (dance) Locking is a style of funk dance, which is today also associated with hip hop. The name is based on the concept of ''locking'' movements, which means freezing from a fast movement and "locking" in a certain position, holding that position for a s ...
*
Turfing Turfing (or turf dancing) is a form of street dance that originated in Oakland, California, characterized by rhythmic movement combined with waving, floor moves, gliding, flexing and cortortioning. It was developed by youth from West Oakland and ...


References


External links

{{Street dance Popping (dance) Funk dance Syllabus-free dance Hip hop dance Street dance