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Hip Hop Dance History

interview with Buddha Stretch, one of the pioneers of hip hop dance

"HIPHOP as a dance is founded in RHYTHM, STYLE, and TECHNIQUE. Rhythm is 1st and foremost the foundation for EVERY STREET DANCE! Style determines what the dance is about, and technique shows how it's done."

"the music comes 1st! The music dictates what the dancer does, not the other way around"

the New School Dictionary with Buddha Stretch, Henry Link, and Caleaf Sellers music is dancing, it's yin and yang

the dancing follows the music. at first new york was the center of hip hop, then the west coast had their moment, then the south. whenever there's new popular music, there's a new popular dance to go with it

the culture is very regional, different niches and styles are birthed in different places

jacking started in 2000, didn't start until the new school of house (this explains why they weren't jacking in the old school house stuff) they created the jack to communicate to people who don't know house dance how house dance feels.

link: get out of the mirror, everything you do, every mistake is a new dance step. if you aren't making mistakes you aren't contributing anything to hip hop. it's meant to be raw and dirty, not neat and tidy.

the first wrong part in any dance is thinking about doing instead of feeling what you're doing.

"dance for the music, to the music, and because of the music"