What is Popping Dance, and Why is it in High Demand for Learning Online Hip Hop Dance

20th Jul, 2022

Popping dance is a certain style of dance that began in the late 1960s and 1970s. This particular form of dance style is characterized by a sudden tensing and releasing of muscles to the rhythm of beats in music.

In this guide, you will get to know about Popping dance, its history and important moves in this dance. You will also know how this form of dance is presented in the media and how it is currently in the present time.

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History of Popping Dance

The origin of this form of dance can be tricky as different people give different accounts and interpretations of the story as per their regions and influence circles. Though there are various parts of the Popping style's history, some of them conflict with the others.

But one clear part of the origin of this dance style is that it began among a group of teenagers in various deindustrializing parts of cities. Dancers usually used to come up with moves, practice those moves and then show them off to dance clubs or perform them in dance battles.

Other than it being a hobby, Popping dance in Hip Hop Dance classes gave dancers an opportunity to escape and form an identity and a family. With time, the word "Popping" was used to describe a collection of techniques and moves invented by expert poppers.

What Are the Important Moves in the Popping Dance?

Some of the top moves in Popping dance are as follows:

● Animation

This was inspired by the Dynamation films by Ray Harryhausen and is meant to stimulate the movement of animated characters moving frame-by-frame. This technique involves the sudden tensing of muscles to form a stop-motion illusion.

● Boogaloo

The Boogaloo was invented by Boogaloo Sam and is a loose and fluid motion that provides the impression of your body having no bones. This type of move in Popping helps to incorporate isolated circular rolls of body parts.

● The robot/ Botting

You can find this move in Hip Hop Dance classes when you copy a robot or a mannequin with the use of different Popping dance techniques.

● Dime Stop

Here, you move at a steady pace and then come to a clean halt without any reverb or shaking. This effect comes when you stop suddenly and out of nowhere or stop on a dime.

● Gliding/Sliding/Floating

These are footwork techniques that help to create the illusion that your feet move smoothly across the floor. The backslide is a move that can use this special type of technique.

● Hitting/Popping

Here, you flex your muscle groups suddenly. You continuously hit to a steady rhythm and are combined with different purposes and poses.

● Isolation

The move practised in Hip Hop Dance classes includes keeping the rest of your body still while you separate yourself and move a part of it.

● Miming

Classic mimes inspire this, and miming is when you use isolations to create illusions and pictures of scenery or an object that is not present.

● Snaking

In this style, there are full body waves that indicate as if you are slithering your body around like that of a snake.

● Scarecrow

Here, you move and are hit with pictures that imitate a scarecrow and a puppet that has strings attached to your joints.

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● Strobing

When you move and strop your body quickly in steady increments with the use of dime stops, it seems like you are moving with a strobe light. Poppers are known to use walking movements with strobing.

● Strutting

This is a dance style that began in San Francisco, and it involves hitting angles with your limbs when you hit.

● Ticking

This style is a series of hits, and you break up your movement path into smaller increments and pop at each one.

● Tutting

This dance style creates angular circles and pictures of your body parts.

● Waving

In this dance style, you fluidly move parts of your body, trying to imitate the ocean waves. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics inspire the name and the moves.

Popping Dance Presently

Popping dance is mostly related to Hip Hop that you practice in online Hip Hop dance classes and also the other dance styles. But Popping is also its own style of dance that many dancers around the world practice. This type of dance is often performed in battles and cyphers or included in choreographies.

Most of the foundation moves of Popping have been learned, viewed and modified by different generations of dancers worldwide. The main aim of such dancers is to maintain the authenticity of the techniques and history of this particular dance style.

Associate with Kafqa Academy

If you want to learn Hip Hop dance, especially Popping dance, you need to contact a reputable dance academy. In this case, look no further than Kafqa Academy; we are one of India's most famous dance academies, where you can learn Hip Hop and other dance forms. You can benefit immensely from our expert dance instructors.

To know more about us, click here.

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