This studio practice course introduces students to urban dance practices, aiming to broaden students' understanding of hip hop culture beyond the commercialized representations prevalent in the media today. This class will explore the history and practice of different forms of hip hop: b-boying/b-girling (breaking/breakdancing), uprocking, popping, waving, and locking. We will also look at hip hop's connection to other club forms such as house dance and house-ballroom forms, waacking, and voguing. Students will view video performances of cultural practice (battles and "cyphers"), as well as media- and theatrically-influenced forms of hip hop, to identify significant commonalities and differences within hip hop practices.
Our classes will be conducted to hip hop, house, and dance music from the past four decades, and will begin with a set warm-up and follow with stretching and conditioning exercises. Class will always conclude with a combination that incorporates that week's dance form, and it will be compared to other hip hop dance forms we will be studying.
Required readings will explore these forms through the lens of historical context and critical theory perspectives on urban dance, supporting an immersive studio practice. |