Street Dancing; expression into culture

Street Dancing was developed in the early late 60s early 70s with the foundation known as "Locking". Locking was developed accidentally when Don Campbell accidentally messed up the "funky chicken" and thus locking was born. Locking itself involves quick sharp "funky" movements followed by a lock (freezing of the body).

Through the evolution of locking came its sister dance style known as popping. Popping involved quick pulsation of the muscles in order to give the illusion that the body was "popping" or robotic. Through this evolution came moves associated with this new style of movement. Moves such as "waving" (illusion that different parts of the body are rubber), "gliding" (the illusion you are floating or gliding as you move), and "tutting" (the movement of ones arms, hands and fingers while maintaining right angles with these body parts).

The styles of "popping" and "locking" were hence forth known as street dancing due to its foundation on the streets of New York and L.A.. These street styles became a culture on its own developing the street style of New York and L.A.. This street culture became a world wide phenomenon and began to develop on "the streets" in other countries such as Canada, France, Japan and Korea. and have recently grown into other countries culture all around the world.

This evolution of dance sparked a phenomenon which soon found its way into house, hip hop hop and even lyrical dancing. While this style developed into the mainstream with shows such as "So you think you can Dance" and "America's best dance crew". McLuhan's saying "the medium is the message" is evident through this. While street dancing has its own it's own culture. It has only been recently that it has grown into a culture far bigger than the street. By using medium's such as reality TV, street dancing has grown into a new fad among children and adults alike. While these shows have grown because of the medium of television, street dancing keeps its street culture and continues to influence people all around the world.

By Christian Julal