Street dance is an umbrella term for a large number of social dance styles such as:

breakdancing Breakdancing, also called breaking or b-boying/b-girling, is an athletic style of street dance originating from the African American and Puerto Rican communities in the United States. While diverse in the amount of variation available in ...

popping Popping is a street dance adapted out of the earlier Boogaloo (funk dance) cultural movement in Oakland, California. As Boogaloo spread, it would be referred to as Robottin in Richmond, California, Strutting movements in San Francisco and San ...

, locking,

house dance House dance is a freestyle street dance and social dance that has roots in the underground house music scene of Chicago and New York.

waacking Waacking (also ''whacking'', ''posing'' or ''punking'') is a form of street dance created in the LGBT clubs of Los Angeles during the 1970s disco era. The style is typically done to 70s disco music and is mainly distinguishable by its rotational ...

etc. Social dance styles have many accompanying steps and foundations, created organically from a culture, a moment in time, a way of life, influenced by natural social interaction. A street dance is a

vernacular dance Vernacular dances are dances which have developed 'naturally' as a part of 'everyday' culture within a particular community. In contrast to the elite and official culture, vernacular dances are usually learned naturally without formal instruction.An ...

in an urban context. Vernacular dances are often

improvisation Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

al and

social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives from ...

in nature, encouraging interaction and contact with spectators and other dancers. These dances are a part of the

vernacular culture Vernacular culture is the culture, cultural forms made and organised by ordinary, often indigenous people, as distinct from the high culture of an elite. One feature of vernacular culture is that it is informal. Such culture is generally engaged ...

of the geographical area that they come from.

History

Street dance evolved during the 1970s outside

dance studio A dance studio is a space in which dancers learn or rehearse. The term is typically used to describe a space that has either been built or equipped for the purpose. Overview A dance studio normally includes a smooth floor covering or, if used fo ...

s in any available open space. This includes streets, dance parties,

block parties A block party or street party is a party in which many members of a single community congregate, either to observe an event of some importance or simply for mutual solidarity and enjoyment. The name comes from the form of the party, which ofte ...

, parks, school yards,

rave A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...

s, and nightclubs. This is partly because African American and Latino people who created the style were generally not accepted into dance studios because of their race. A significant feature of street dance is that it was historically a dance of young people offering a sense of freedom and giving a 'voice' to unrepresented communities. Due to the mix of styles within street dance, its origin can not be traced to one precise area, however, America is the birthplace of most street styles. Breakdance originated in the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

while popping and locking developed during the 1970s funk era in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, USA.

Clogging Clogging is a type of folk dance practiced in the United States, in which the dancer's footwear is used percussively by striking the heel, the toe, or both against a floor or each other to create audible rhythms, usually to the downbeat with the ...

, which evolved in the streets and factories of

Northern England Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...

in the mid-19th century, is an early form of street dance.

References

External links

* {{Dance

History

See also

References

External links