Hip hop is a powerful and entertaining form of dance that contains quite a few different dance types within its genre.
Though the original hip hop dance types are Locking, Popping, and Breaking, there are actually five main hip hop dance types that are used in modern dance practices. These five styles are Freestyle, Locking, Popping, House, and Breaking.
What Are The Hip Hop Dance Types?
There are five common types of hip hop that are used when dancing in this style of dance. These five styles are Freestyle, Locking, Popping, House, and Breaking. Each has different techniques and, like all forms of hip hop dance, has street dance origins.
Freestyle
Other names: New Style, Hip-Hop
Characteristics: Modern, combined styles, energetic.
Techniques: Pops, locks, spins, kicks, runs, head actions. Also incorporates parts of modern, tap, swing, and even ballet.
Significance: Freestyle borrows its techniques from other hip hop dance styles as well as other non-hip hop dances. It gives a dancer more freedom when they’re improvising their choreography.
Origin: Because freestyle uses so many different techniques from hip hop dance, its origin leads back to when hip hop first became popular. Hip hop began in the late 1960s, inspired by the movements that came from traditional African dancing.
Locking
Other names: None
Characteristics: Light-hearted, joyful, funky.
Techniques: Locks, wrist rolls, high fives, Uncle Sam points, the Scooby Doo, and more.
- Uncle Sam Points – Performed by bringing your hand up your chest and popping the same arm out with a pointing finger, followed by pointing forward.
- The Scooby Doo – An old locking move that uses the entire body by combining an exaggerated running stance, kicks, and a stomp.
Significance: Learning how to lock can improve your popping moves, but it’s also a powerful type of hip hop dance to know by itself.
Origin: It’s said that locking was created by Don Campbell in the 1970s when he failed to do the Funky Chicken correctly.
Popping
Other names: None
Characteristics: Quick movements, jerking body parts, sharp moves.
Techniques: Popping, hitting.
Significance: Popping is used to add sharp movements to your routine. It’s often combined with locking to create powerful movements and poses.
Origin: Popping was probably one of the first variations of the hip hop style to be created. It started in Fresno, California, with a man called Boogaloo Sam who went on to teach his brother and his cousin how to pop. This led to the famous dance group called Electric Boogaloos.
House
Other names: House Dance
Characteristics: Fast, complex movements, lots of footwork, fluid.
Techniques: Martial arts movements, tap dance moves, Latin dance, African dance, improvisation.
Significance: House signifies freedom of movement, giving dancers the ability to break away from the traditional constraints of dance techniques.
Origin: House started in the late 70s, coming from underground clubs in the bustling cities of Chicago and New York. It’s influenced by Tap, African, and Latin dance, but it also uses moves from martial arts, and this is what sets it apart from other hip hop dance types.
Breaking
Other names: B-Boying, Breakdancing
Characteristics: Variations of existing hip hop moves, creative, funny, elements of danger.
Techniques: Freezes, power moves, downrock, toprock, back spins, head spins, flips.
- Freezes – moves that require the dancer to hold themselves off of the ground using one or both hands.
- Power Moves – moves that need speed and momentum to be completed. They’re quite gymnastic and require a high degree of athleticism to perform.
- TopRock – a warm-up foot movement that is done while standing, which is a part of b-boying or breakdancing. It’s a reference to any set of steps that a breakdancer completes when they’re standing up.
- Footwork – also known as “DownRock”, this style of breakdancing refers to hip hop moves that are completed close to or on the floor. More often than not, DownRock moves are completed on the person’s hands or feet.
Significance: Breaking/breakdancing is often popular with teens, the reason for this is it’s become an alternative form of exercise for this group, offering them a place to go rather than getting into trouble on the streets. It’s also an incredible form of dance that requires significant athletic ability and skill.
Origin: Breakdancing was popularized by African Americans and Latinos in the late 1960s. It originated in New York and borrows skills from a number of activities, including gymnastics.
How Did Each Style Of Hip Hop Evolve?
To understand how each style of hip hop evolved, it’s best to look at the history of hip hop; from it’s conception to where it is now.
Hip hop began in the late 1960s. It was inspired by the style of dancing in Africa, and it gained most of its popularity in New York and along the East Coast of the United States. However, around the same time, the West Coast also developed its own style of hip hop dance.
The East Coast had a unique and rhythmic style, which took on more of a breakdancing element. While the West Coast took its inspiration from African dancing and evolved by adding pops and locks to create more explosive dynamic movements.
The reason for this difference was that the East Coast was graced with the musical stylings of Kool DJ Herc, who moved to Brooklyn and became an extremely popular DJ for hip hop dancers. He extended songs to include longer dancing sections, which meant that dancers could showcase their moves better.
Despite the hip hop style of dance being born along the East Coast, it was the West Coast that developed popping and locking; two styles that are heavily used in hip hop dance even today.
As the hip hop style continued to grow, the differing styles from the East and West Coast started to form their own street dance variation, born of movements and techniques from both Coasts.
Hip hop soon moved from the streets to clubs and studios, where dance battles became an enjoyable and competitive pastime. These competitions started to occur in the 80s and grew from freestyle battles to dance groups in a matter of years.
Today, hip hop is a core dance style that is taught in dance classes across the world. However, modern versions of street dance are less likely to focus on styles like pop or lock as these are not as predominant as they once were.
What Is The History Of General Hip Hop Culture?
Hip hop is widely considered a cultural movement, not just a type of dance. It is, in fact, a form of music and art intertwined with symbols of social/economic issues of the time. Hip hop started in the Bronx in New York around the early 70s, with the hip hop culture being a direct reflection of the economic events at the time.
If we picture 1970s New York, we’ll see a city in decline. The economy had collapsed and the demographic of the city changed as white, middle-class individuals moved into more suburban areas to get away from the changes and the challenges that came from businesses closing and other economic issues.
Crime was on the rise, as was gang violence and poverty. Entertainment became less frequent.
The result was a bored youth that took to the streets to entertain themselves by having block parties to connect with each other.
These block parties were the starting point for the culture of hip hop. Mobile sound systems were used by DJs and MCs, large pieces of cardboard became the stage for dancers to showcase their skills, and the walls of abandoned buildings and parking lots were turned into graffiti art.
Who Were The Pioneers of Hip Hop
Three pioneers became prominent figures in the early years of hip hop to contribute to the very framework of this dance genre, these included:
- DJ Kool Herc was a Jamaican immigrant who was a DJ in the hip hop scene. Along with his sister, he hosted the launch of the hip hop movement with his “Back to School Jam” party in 1973 – this was a huge dance party that they organized together. He also coined the terms “B-Boy” and “B-Girl” to reference dancers who performed during the break sections of his music.
- “The Godfather”, Afrika Bambaataa, was another DJ who played during block parties in the late 70s. He took it upon himself to guide youth away from the violence that plagued the streets, encouraging peace and unity through the hip hop culture. He founded Universal Zulu Nation to help with this, which is an international hip hop awareness group.
- Grandmaster Flash is the third DJ of the pioneering group. He and five others (Melle Mel, Keef Cowboy, Kidd Creole, Scorpio, and Rahiem) were widely known as one of the most influential hip hop groups around, trading lyrics between each other and combining them with Flash’s music. Their song, “The Message” helped cement hip hop as its own genre because of the deep political and social commentary of the song, as well as its unique use of music and lyrics. This appealed to the audience of the time and resulted in huge success, which in turn, led to hip hop being noticed on an international scale.
The Golden Age of hip hop occurred between the mid-80s and early 90s. These were the years when hip hop gained mainstream traction, with record labels recognizing the genre as a style of its own. As a result, large labels began signing hip hop artists. The music developed, and with it, the lyrics, and the style of dance.
What Are The Elements Of Hip Hop?
When we look at hip hop today, there are seven noticeable themes (aka elements) that form the genre, these include:
- Aural – DJing
- Oral – MCing
- Vocal – Beatboxing
- Physical – Dancing
- Visual – Art
- Fashion
- Knowledge of self
This list is expanded from the typical five elements of hip hop which are condensed into MCing, DJing, Breakdancing, Graffiti, and Knowledge of Self. Neither list is incorrect, but vocals have their own place in hip hop music beyond what an MC accomplishes. MCs do not, typically, beatbox or perform during dance battles because their job is to hype up the audience and introduce dancers.
Additionally, fashion has its own place in hip hop culture. There’s a specific style of dress that is associated with hip hop dancers and musicians. This is usually baggy pants, sports shoes, and loose-fitting shirts. This clothing is part fashion, part symbolic, part practical, and part of a way to communicate the gritty yet loose flow of hip hop dance.
What Is The Future Of Hip Hop Dance Types?
The future of hip hop will likely be more mainstream and perhaps more commercialized than it is today.
Hip hop is generally more accessible to the public than other dance forms due to the less strict nature of the dance compared to a genre such as ballet. We also see social media platforms such as TikTok providing mainstream exposure and access to dance, including hip hop. Additionally, the rise of online monetization such as advertisements, endorsements, and affiliate marketing can be attractive to dancers with an online following.
In the face of perhaps over-popularization/monetization of hip hop, skilled B-dancers represent and retain the core culture of hip hop. The future challenge for the hip hop genre will be ensuring that the next generation of breakers is aware of the rich history and struggles of the hip hop genre whilst also staying true to the deep meaning and symbols behind hip hop dance.
An interesting development in the future of hip hop dance is the addition of breakdancing to the Olympics.
Breaking will become an event in the 2024 Olympic Games. This decision may have been informed by the successful use of breaking in the 2018 Youth Olympics, where the dance sport showcased the most skilled young dancers. This could indicate a trend to popularize the more impressive/dangerous/athletic feats of hip hop dance (eg breaking) whilst the other hip hop genres may become less recognized/valued.
What Is The Easiest Hip Hop Dance Type?
Many hip hop dancers start by learning popping and locking. The reason for this is that in addition to popping and locking being impressive movements, a beginner can look skilled with entry-level popping and locking skills. The combination of moves from both popping and locking genres is always a crowd-pleaser.
Other hip hop dance types require you to learn acrobatic skills and work on your broader dance skillset, so starting with popping and locking will give you a good set of basic (yet impressive) moves that you can use in your hip hop dance journey.
What Is The Hardest Hip Hop Dance Type?
Freezes and power moves are one of the hardest types of hip hop dances to learn. They require a great deal of strength and athleticism, which takes significant time and training to develop. Trying to do such moves without proper physical preparation can result in long-term injuries.
Tips On How To Perfect Each Hip Hop Dance Type
Tips For Popping
- Focus on one technique at a time.
- Practice popping to different songs.
- Make a large and diverse playlist just to pop to so you don’t get used to the same beats from just one or two songs and can practice improvising to different styles of music.
- Go to popping battles.
- Ask other dancers for tips and tricks.
- Imitate videos and other dancers.
Tips For Locking
- Watch tutorials.
- Go to dance classes.
- Combine locking with popping; Popping and locking are complementary movements, and using both together enables even a new dancer to create powerful-looking dance steps.
- Practice holding movements in front of a mirror to make sure you’re in the right pose and can adjust if you need to.
- Test yourself to different songs with different beats so that you aren’t relying on your memory to tell you what locking moves to use during certain parts of a song. Improvisation is your friend when you want your moves to look natural and not robotic.
- Remember that locking isn’t about trying to lock your joints out, locking refers to a fast-paced movement that is then frozen to ‘lock’ that position in place for a short pause. Locking should not cause you any discomfort, even as a new dancer.
- Start with locking your arms and legs separately in different moves before you start trying move sets or combinations.
Tips For Freestyle
- Follow freestyle dancers on social media (particularly Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube). Doing this will expose you to their dance videos and tutorials more regularly, so even when you’re not actively dancing, you can still get inspired and learn by passive exposure.
- Watch freestyle dance videos. Beginners may benefit from watching tutorials to learn movements, as you progress you can start to watch dance battles to see how to put the moves together effectively.
- Improve your other dance skills, such as ballet, tap, and improv.
- Freestyle borrows many movements and inspiration from other dance styles, so improving these will help your broader freestyle.
- Improving your improvisation skills will help you reduce the time it takes for you to think of your next move when you’re dancing. If you can improv, you can connect your movements and fill time, giving you a space to think about what you want to do next.
- Dance to a variety of songs to test your skills and help you gain a well-rounded set of dance moves that you can use when dancing to different beats or genres of music.
Tips For House
- Take classes in African (commonly known as Afro) and/or Latin dance or watch tutorials online. House dance takes techniques from both African and Latin dance, so they’re a great starting point for dancers.
- Salsa classes, in particular, are great for footwork.
- Use a mirror to become aware of how certain footwork FEELS compared to how it LOOKS. This will generate a good automatic mind-muscle connection.
Tips For Breaking
- Gain whole-body strength to prepare your body for holding freezes and completing power moves. A great way to do this is through calisthenics (aka bodyweight gymnastics). This is superior to traditional weight lifting as calisthenics and breaking are both compound bodyweight movements. Additionally, calisthenics will strengthen key areas used in breaking such as wrists and shoulders. In calisthenics, you will also learn how to manipulate your body momentum to generate truly impressive movements (a simple example is a backflip). A great example of calisthenics can be seen below by Simonster (an Australian physiotherapist-qualified calisthenics expert):
- Join a hip hop dance class that includes breaking or a community dance group. A hip hop breaking dance class will guide you through different moves safely, while a community dance group (if available in your area) will give you somewhere to practice and help you make connections in your community with other people who enjoy dancing. Breaking is more likely to have such groups due to its enthusiast nature.
- Use online video tutorials to learn moves and practice them at home. The benefit of using online video tutorials is that you can practice in the privacy and comfort of your home, which is great for new dancers who might be nervous to dance in a class or in public.
- Find local street dance meets by checking social media platforms for events and group pages.
- Improve on your other hip hop dance skills to give you a range of moves to use when you’re breakdancing. This will make you a more dynamic dancer as you can use other hip hop styles such as popping in between your power moves/freezes.
Hip Hop Dance Types Vs Hip Hop Moves
The main difference between hip hop dance types and hip hop moves is that each move belongs to a type of hip hop dance. There are lots of hip hop moves, but they all use the techniques and style of each of the dance types that we discussed earlier. Here’s an example of one move from each type of hip hop dance:
| Hip Hop Dance Type: | Name Of Hip Hop Move: |
| Popping | Booty Pop |
| House | The Billy Bounce |
| Locking | The Whoa |
| Freestyle | The Humpty |
| Breaking | Windmill |
What Are The Best Hip Hop Moves?
The best hip hop moves will have high degrees of style, complexity, popularity, or a combination of all three.
In our experience, research and opinion, the following five moves are considered by many as some of the best hip hop moves.
- The Moonwalk – Popularized by Michael Jackson, this move is eternally impressive and not too difficult to perform. The Moonwalk is a slow straight leg sweep against, ideally, a slick floor. It is performed by placing your body weight onto your ‘relaxed knee and foot’, thereby creating the illusion that your straight leg is gliding backwards.
- Turtle – A freeze move that keeps your entire body weight suspended off of the ground using one hand. With bent legs and a 90-degree arm, it puts you into a strange turtle-like shape whilst also showcasing significant athleticism.
- Chest Pop – An effective and easy dance move that uses pop movements to generally mimic your heart beating in your chest. Whilst simple, if performed well with crisp and explosive movement, it remains a legendary hip hop movement.
- Crip Walk – Also known as the “C-Walk”, this is a complex footwork move that has several variations. Traditionally, gang members used to spell out the word “Crip” to show that they were affiliated with the Crips gang and not the Bloods. To do this, they would walk to spell out each letter one at a time.
- Helicopter – Alternatively known as the “Coffee Grinder”, this move uses your momentum to sweep your outstretched legs around your body by switching from one arm to the other as you move. The trick is that you’re actually resting your body weight on your non-sweeping leg and your arms to stay balanced. Similar movements can be seen in the advanced gymnastics version which involves the pommel horse.
Resources For The Hip Hop Enthusiast
As a hip hop enthusiast, you might be interested in learning more about the roots of hip hop dance and hip hop culture. Although this article gives a great overview, further reading can be found in texts such as:
- Hip Hop Dance: By Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar
- Hip Hop Culture: By Emmett Price
- Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: By Jeff Chang