Hip Hop Dance History: Evolution and Technology's Role

Introduction to Hip Hop Dance

The history of dance is a lengthy and rich one, certainly worthy of serious scholarly pursuit. It encompasses numerous styles and motivations for dancing, as well as a plethora of cultures, ethnicities, races, and religions. Many aspects of these different facets of dance remain highly visible in the 21st century, especially in a country such as the United States, which is a virtual melting pot of people from varying socioeconomic backgrounds. However, despite the multitude of dance styles, the one that has consistently been most compelling — ever since becoming aware of dance from a fully conscious perspective — is what is commonly referred to as hip hop dance. Although the term "hip hop" is used in a variety of contexts, the type of hip hop dancing discussed here is that which accompanies hip hop music. The vast majority of such music is rap, although there are also songs in which artists sing — typically in a variation of rhythm and blues — and dance in this style as well. A thorough deconstruction of this form of dance reveals that history and various tools today, most of which involve technology, have helped to catapult it into one of the most influential styles of dance in contemporary times.

The true history of hip hop dance began alongside hip hop itself, in the streets of the South Bronx in New York City during the 1970s. Hip hop culture has always encompassed three distinct elements: music (primarily rapping and deejaying), dancing, and graffiti. When hip hop culture was first forming, breakdancing was the form of dance that most commonly accompanied this music. There is, however, a clear distinction between the contemporary version of hip hop dancing and formal breakdancing, in which individuals would spin on their backs and heads.

Origins and Styles of Hip Hop Dance

It is also worth noting that the type of hip hop dancing most worthy of admiration is not the highly choreographed kind performed by large dance troupes, nor the style that artists such as Justin Timberlake or Robin Thicke perform in their videos and concerts. The dancing under consideration here is less rigid than breakdancing, and considerably more fluid than anything those aforementioned artists do on stage. Specifically, the dancing of the Pharcyde — a seminal Los Angeles-based hip hop collective from the 1990s — represents this ideal. The four original members of this group moved in a way that is rarely seen elsewhere, and they remain one of the few acts whose dancing is genuinely visceral and moving. Their style is fluid, compelling, and wholly unique.

Another form of hip hop dancing worthy of recognition is that performed by New Edition, a six-man group largely from Roxbury, Boston, which made its debut in 1983. Although they do engage in the coordinated group choreography typical of the many "boy bands" that have populated popular culture since, certain members of the group stand apart. Bobby Brown, in particular, displays footwork that is so effortless, and an agility and dexterity that seemingly defies physics. His best dancing — considered a form of hip hop dancing — is not the coordinated ensemble work he performs with the rest of his group, but rather the moments in which he freely improvises and simply moves as the music moves him.

New Edition and Bobby Brown's Improvisational Style

This same quality — where the dancer takes a kind of autonomy with the music — is also what makes the Pharcyde's dancing so compelling. Bobby Brown was once seen performing a few solo dance moves during a Whitney Houston concert television broadcast, and the spontaneity and precision of his movement was completely captivating. The rows of girls engaged in uniform, synchronized hip hop dancing that appear in some music videos of that era represent the opposite of this ideal: choreography that is technically proficient but lacking in individual expression.

There is no denying that contemporary hip hop dancing — including that performed by the Pharcyde and New Edition — is part of a broader evolution that has become increasingly dependent on technology in the 21st century. The Pharcyde was widely said to have inspired some of Michael Jackson's more recent moves in the years before the turn of the century. At the height of Bobby Brown's career — particularly during the transition from the 1980s to the 1990s, when he released his multiplatinum album Don't Be Cruel — many observers believed his dancing and music videos were inspired by the Jacksons, and specifically by Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson's own dancing and elaborate stage performances, in turn, were widely understood to have been influenced by the work of James Brown. Thus, there is a living, modern history of dance that has transmitted itself across generations: James Brown inspired Michael Jackson, who inspired Bobby Brown and New Edition, whose work influenced the Pharcyde, who then informed a later phase of Michael Jackson's artistry.

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