Hip Hop Dancing: Social

The dancing of Hip Hop is more social than just a type of dance. It connects people on multiple levels. Dance crews started emerging in major cities like New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles back in the 1970s. With the dance crews created then came battles and competitions, and before people knew it hip hop dance became it's own culture. Crews were formed based on friendships and neighborhoods.

Since hip hop dancing is so social, many fad dances emerge, constantly. Some include the Hammer dance, the running man and even current ones like the cat daddy. Fad dances fade in and out and we will explore some fad dances in the future.

The development of hip hop social dancing can be traced back to a famous jazz dance called the Cubby Checkers Twist, which at the time was considered Rock & Roll and was made popular by James Brown which ultimately influenced the creation of Soul Train.

We often talk how Rock & Roll and even Soul music predicates Hip Hop music, and once again, through the use of dance we can see how Hip Hop stems from Rock & Roll as well as Soul music.