Art in Motion

Posted by Cool Seekers / at 10:42 AM / /

After the discussion and research, we decided to choose Dance Performance as our main topic. We will then research about topics and things related to dance performance all over the world, and from all over the time. Few of many examples of dance genre includes Hip-Hop, B-Boys, Locking and Popping, Modern Dance, Street Dance, Salsa, Bollywood, Disco, Tango Waltz, Jig, Break Dance and Belly Dance; the list goes on.

As for the start for this week, we will grasp on the B-Boys. It is a genre of street dance that evolved from and as a part of the Hip-hop movement among African American and Puerto Rican youths in Manhattan, and the South Bronx of New York City during the early 1970s.

Quick-info: there are numerous styles used in hip-hop dancing. Often times, dancers stems their own individual styles on their dances by influence of their environment or sometimes other dancing forms outside hip-hop. Although there is a certain constant on their styles, these dancers are creative enough to synthesize elements of different styles with their own ideas and knowledge to come out with their very own, personal unique dance style.

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08 Aug 2009

Editor's note: for our first week down the way exploring the theme, we decided to hit on one of the cultural movement known as hip-hop. And of course, as our theme is about dance, we will focus in the culture's dance forms.

Started out in the early 1970s primarily among African Americans and Latino Americans, hip-hop has now grown into a worldwide-scale movement. And despite the fact that it has to endure numerous negative criticism pointed toward the performers and the audiences alike for past decades (particularly in its country of origin), it is still one of the more powerful cultural movement and still growing.

The following articles are background information for Hip-hop and its dance forms. These separate-but-remain-one entity came from the same roots but are often confused between each other. These articles would compare and contrast them in to help you to learn the similarities and differences about them.

-TEGUH LIMANTORO

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08 Aug 2009

History

B-boy fiction

The first B-boy-themed novel, Kid B, was published by Houghton Mifflin in 2006. The author, Linden Dalecki, was an amateur B-boy in high school and directed a short documentary film about Texas B-boy culture before writing the novel. The novel was expanded from a B-boy-themed short story The B-Boys of Beaumont, that won the 2004 Austin Chronicle short story contest.

B-boy in Entertainment
The documentary film "The Freshest Kids: A History of the B-Boy" (2002) provides a comprehensive history of b-boying, its evolution and its place within hip-hop culture and beyond. "Planet B-Boy" (2007)is a documentary that follows crews around the world in their quest for a world championship at Battle of the Year 2005. "BreakBoy" (1985) is a view of the determination of one individual to become one of the best. The award-winning (SXSW Film Festival audience award) documentary "Inside the Circle" (2007) goes into the personal stories of three b-boys (Omar Davila, Josh "Milky" Ayers and Romeo Navarro) and their struggle to keep dance at the center of their lives.

Battles
Battles are an integral part of the b-boying culture. They can take the form of a cypher battle and an organized battle. Both types of battles are head to head confrontations between individuals or groups of dancers who try to out-dance each other.

The cypher (or the circle) is the name given to a circle of b-boys and/or b-girls who take turns dancing in the center. There are no judges, (other than the participants of the cypher itself), concrete rules, or restrictions in the cypher, only unspoken traditions. Although participants don't always compete with each other in the cypher, on many occasions this does take place. B-boying began in the cypher and organized competition only developed later. This was the origin of b-boying battles and it is often more confrontational and personal. The battle continues until it ends for one of many possible reasons, such as one dancer admitting defeat. Cypher dancing is more prevalent in communities with an emphasis on what is regarded as authentic and traditional hip hop culture. Battling "in the cypher" is also a method of settling differences between dancers, whether between individuals or crews.

Organized battles set a format for the competition such as a time limit, or specify a limit to the number of dancers that can represent each side. Organized battles usually choose judges based on their years of experience, level of cultural knowledge, contribution to the scene and ability to judge in an unbiased manner. On occasion, organizers invite judges from outside the b-dancing community, and these events (jams) sometimes meet with disapproval from the b-boying community. Organized battles are publicized to a much greater extent than informal events and are known to the mainstream community. They include famous international-level competitions such as Battle of the Year, UK B-Boy Championships, Redbull BC One, Freestyle Session and R16 Korea. However, the trend in recent years to place excessive emphasis on organized battles, may detract from the spontaneous aspect of the culture that is the emphasis in cypher dancing.

B-boy styles
There are many different styles used in breaking. Individual styles often stem from a dancer's region of origin and dancing influences. Although there are some generalities in the styles that exist, many dancers combine elements of different styles with their own ideas and knowledge in order to create a unique style of their own.

-LIM CHU HUI FION

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08 Aug 2009

Hip-hop is a cultural movement which developed in New York City in the early 1970s. There are 4 of main Hip-Hop dance style are Breaking, Popping, Locking, and Krum ping. Breaking, Locking, and Popping were developed in the 1970s. Then Krum ping followed in the 1990s.

In Breaking, a variation to the traditional cipher is the apache line. Ciphers work well for one-on-one B-boy battles, however, apache lines are more appropriate when it's crew versus crew. Popping, Locking, and Krumping are more famous with Funk Style. They called it since in the 1970's. Popping is based on the technique of quickly contracting and relaxing muscles to cause a jerk in the dancer's body, referred to as a pop or a hit. In liquid the body movements look like water. Your popping is so smooth. Popping—as an umbrella term—also includes gliding, floating, and sliding. Locking, originally called Campbell locking. Modern locking looks similar to popping and thus gets confused with popping all the time. In locking you hold your positions longer. The "lock" is the primary move used in locking. It is similar to a freeze or a sudden pause. Krumping includes four primary moves: wobbles, arm swings, chest pops, and stomps.

"This is the first time artists from around the world will be performing in an international context. The ones that are coming are considered to be the key members of the contemporary underground hip-hop movement."

Social Impact ..

Effects

Hip-hop has made considerable social impacts since its inception in the 1970s. Professor Patterson argues that mass communication controlled by the wealthy, government, and businesses in Third World nations and countries around the world. This is due to the fact that the culture reflected the social, economic and political realities of the disenfranchised youth.

Language

Hip-hop has a distinctive slang (It is the use of highly informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's dialect or language).

Media

Hip-hop culture is intrinsically related to television; there have been a number of television shows devoted to or about hip-hop. Hip hop films have been related since hip-hop's conception and have become even more related in the 21st century. Hip hop magazines have a large place in hip hop lifestyle, including Hip Hop Connection, XXL, Scratch, The Source and Vibe.

"What differentiates hip hop dance competitions from others is that much emphasis is placed on freestyle battles—battles that take place between two solo dancers: two poppers or two breakers for example."

-SINDY ANGGRAENI GUNAWAN