The difference between jazz and hip-hop in street dance

There are currently four popular theories explaining where the word Jazz comes from.

The first theory is that the word Jazz comes from a well-known black wandering musician in the Mississippi River Basin at that time. His name was Jazz Bob Brown. Like all black wandering musicians, Brown has been touring up and down the river all year round, especially in restaurants, hotels and cafes in black settlements. His performances are very exciting and he always gets a round of applause every time. When they see the climax, the audience will shout loudly: One more, jazz wave, one more, jazz! In this way, Jazz Bob Brown's name became synonymous with the new music he played.

The second theory is that the word jazz was first used by a poster painter. Around 1910, this poster artist created a poster for the black musician Poseid James Band, with the slogan "The Jazz Band will perform on stage, don't miss the exciting show." The atmosphere at Jazz's performance was lively and the actors were free and unrestrained. The audience called their music "Jazz" music, and eventually it became "Jazz" due to rumors.

The third theory is that in the early 20th century, someone wrote that the word "jazz" was derived from the word "raish" by the famous military band conductor and early jazz band figure James Urop. It was transformed from "Raish" to the name of a black pipe band that performed in New York around 1905. However, this statement was immediately denied by Urop himself. He refuted the rumor in public and said that he had never said such a thing!

The fourth theory is that the word "jazz", according to the research of some linguists, originated from the slang of African Americans, with meanings such as "enthusiasm" and "debauchery". In many cases , it is also used as an action adjective to describe men and women having fun. Some experts even cited that this kind of music is inseparable from the beginning of fireworks places like Storey Village (jazz was played near brothels in the beginning) , can prove the correctness of linguists’ views. There is truth to this statement, but many jazz fans are unwilling to admit it. But from my personal point of view, I unfortunately agree with this view, because many musical terms are related to sex. For example, the word Funk is related to the word Fuck; and the Grooving music style is more related to sex, because It is a movement in itself; the same is true for Hip-Hop, a dance music genre that became popular in the 1990s.

The so-called "HIP-HOP DANCE" is the most widely popular type of street dance now. If we look at it from the perspective of dance, it can be divided into two categories: NEWSCHOOL and OLDSCHOOL. How to distinguish between these two types? It can be distinguished by age and type of action or music.

HIP-HOP is the general name for all kinds of hip-hop.

In fact, the so-called BREAKINGDANCE or OLDSCHOOL are also a type of HIP-HOP. This kind of OLDSCHOOL dance includes LOCKING (lock dance), POPING (mechanical dance), BREAKING (break dance), WAVE (current) (the famous break dance style group is Rock Steady Crew), and originated from the American street dance. The artist’s impromptu dance moves. Most of these street dancers are black or Mexican. Perhaps it is the so-called "poor man's entertainment". Most of these popular street dances originated in Brooklyn, New York, USA (this area is full of poor blacks or Mexicans). These black and Mexican children often dance in the streets, naturally forming various factions and developing different styles.

The evolution of HIP-HOP DANCE

The key to the evolution of OLDSCHOOL into NEWSCHOOL can be traced back to the music of early OLDSCHOOL, which has a very fast beat to match these BREAKING movements. Then with the evolution of HIP-HOP music, people began to understand that BREAKING was not suitable for these NEWSCHOOL and HIP-HOP music (because the so-called NEWSCHOOL music is relatively slow, if you make a "windmill" in this kind of slow HIP-HOP music " or "footwork" and other movements, you will feel that there is no explosive power at all, and you may even lose the sense of dance. At this time, the dances of OLDSCHOOL and NEWSCHOOL began to separate. That was around 1986. In the early days of NEWSCHOOL, The dance steps are very simple, such as the familiar "running man", which can be seen in MCHAMMER and Bobby Brown's VIDEO. Perhaps this "explosive" HIP-HOP dance at that time can be called FUNKINGDANCE.

The emergence of NEWSCHOOL HIP-HOP

However, from the current perspective, these hip-hop dances that were popular during the MCHAMMER and Bobby Brown era gradually became OLDSCHOOL. There emerged a black dance group called MOPTOP (ELITEFORCE) (composed of HENRYLINK, LOOSEJOINT, and BUDDHASTRETCH). They developed a new style of HIP-HOP, which they called "original HIP-HOP." It was not like MCHAMMER Compared with the big movements, explosive and large-scale movements of the Bobby Brown period, there are no gymnastics-like movements on the floor in break dancing. Its unique style focuses on the coordination of the body (i.e. rhythm) and the upper body of the body. Rhythm, adding a lot of hand movements

Perhaps HENRY was just an unknown street dancer at the beginning, but when Michael Jackson's "Remabethetime" appeared on MTV, everyone saw it for the first time. This so-called in situ dance became a trend as soon as it appeared on the world's pop music king's MTV.

We dare not say what it is. The reasons made Mr. HENRY an instant hit, but the dance in "Remabethetime" was his masterpiece. Later in Mariah Carey's "Dreamlover" MTV, we saw a group of people wearing only clothes on a prairie. Black men wearing trousers danced in strange styles. These dances were mixed with things like HIP-HOP, LOCKING (locking dance), POPING (machine dance), and WAVE (current), but they were combined with RAP-style songs like "Dreamlover." At that time, it was difficult for us to determine what kind of dance it was, but it was a very important section in the development history of NEWSCHOOL HIP-HOP. It was the origin and the "culprit" of the popularity of NEWSCHOOL around the world.

The mature stage of NEW SCHOOL HIP-HOP

The so-called NEW SCHOOL HIP-HOP, I give it a definition that connects various types of dances together to form a The first light and fast slow HIP-HOP or R&B performance. (This is also a form in the early days of NEWSCHOOL)

We saw the black dance group led by Henry in the song "Dreamlover" perform incomprehensible dance moves. In the past, it could only be expressed with a new feeling in the slow dance rhythm of R&B with the fast-paced LOCKING (locking dance). They no longer have to do this kind of nunchaku-like hand-waving movements to express it. LOCKING (lock dance), they simplified many LOCKING (lock dance) movements. It also uses standard HIP-HOP left and right rhythms to express POPING (machine dance) and LOCKING (locking dance), and also adds WAVE (current) to the dance from time to time. To put it simply, it is to interpret these old dance steps with new feelings.

Immediately, the new single "Jingle Ding Dang" released by ZOO, a well-known Japanese hip-hop group and singer, also uses this NEWSCHOOLHIP-HOP to express the dance in MTV. Without noticing...this new style of hip-hop has become popular all over the world. Later, HENRY gradually worked as a choreographer on Mariah Carey's song "Fantasy" and the recent "Honey", and then on songs by the previously popular and then disbanded girl hip-hop group TLC. "Creep" and the movie "MIB" on MTV. We slowly discovered that this HIP-HOP has begun to mature. (Of course, you can also see traces of HENRY in these MTVs.)

The most famous ones in the past period were TLC's "Waterfalls" and MTV's "The Magic Shoulder Shake" The action brings NEWSCHOOLHIP-HOP into another new stage.

The current NEWSCHOOL HIP-HOP DANCE

I have to admire the Japanese people’s thinking. When this kind of NEWSCHOOLHIP-HOP became popular in Japan, the Japanese developed another version of their own. A set of dance styles is also something that is difficult for everyone to understand. These Japanese HIP-HOP dancers started to dance NEWSCHOOL HIP-HOP with the music of OLDSCHOOL. NEWSCHOOL originated from expressing old dances in new musical styles. Now it has become an interpretation of new dances with old music styles. It's really a strange thing.

In terms of movement, the recent NEWSCHOOLHIP-HOP has changed more, especially when adding WAVE (current) things, it becomes more irregular. From the perspective of the audience, it seems that the dancers who dance these NEWSCHOOL are all "polio" patients, because the body distortions are more severe and there is less and less regularity in dance.

HIP-HOPDANCE also has regional characteristics

We can divide it into two types: NEWYORKSTYLE and L.A.STYLE. Things in these two regions present polarizing styles.

For example, NEWYORKSTYLE is the style we usually see of body distortion and various street dances. Perhaps NEWYORK is HENRY's base camp, so naturally the HIP-HOP style in this area is also more HENRY-style, with in-situ dance coupled with strange twists of the body and LOCKING (lock dance), POPING (machine dance), WAVE ( (Electrical current) is a large string of these things, and it is not difficult for us to imagine that it is just a casual style of black people.

As for L.A.STYLE’s HIP-HOP, it inherits and continues the hip-hop that was popular during the MCHAMMER and Bobby Brown eras. The variability of big movements and footsteps also retains its explosive characteristics, but many new tricks are added to the changes in movements.

Because HIP-HOP is divided into these two factions, many dancers or magazines and media no longer refer to them collectively as HIP-HOPDANCE: they call NEWYORKSTYLE's HIP-HOP NEWSCHOOL. And call it L. ASTYLE's HIP-HOP is STREEDANCE.

What exactly is NEWSCHOOLHIP-HOP?

In short, NEWSCHOOL's HIP-HOP includes various types of hip-hop, including LOCKING (lock dance), POPING (machine dance), WAVE (current), and the rhythms of MCHAMMER and Bobby Brown. It's just that there is no trace of BREAKINGDANCE (break dancing) in NEWSCHOOLHIP-HOP. As mentioned before, it combines various hip-hop styles, perhaps we can say it is a comprehensive dance.

However, the scope of NEWSCHOOLDANCE is now wider: not only many kinds of dances are included in it, such as POPIN’ and BOOGIE, but the range of materials is also wider!

Some people abroad think that NEWSCHOOL's actions are much simpler when compared with windmills and HEADSPIN in the 1990s. But NEWSCHOOL's movements also require skills. This is similar to the concept of "footwork" in break dancing. Although it is casual, it also contains a lot of skills.

However, which one is better, OLDSCHOOL or NEWSCHOOL? We cannot really make a distinction or comparison. But I don’t know when a newer style of hip-hop will appear again. By then... the NEWSCHOOL we are popular now will become history again, and will become another kind of OLDSCHOOL.