“…but like when i go to the club and see everyone doing their thing i really want to learn how to dance to hiphop”
“…We actually ended up leaving and went to a bar that was playing hip hop music and people were dancing and having a good time. I had no idea what to do”
Okay guys,
If you’ve been involved with the nightlife scene within the last 10 years, then I’m sure you know that hip-hop music is completely unavoidable!
The problem I hear about a lot of time though is that we want to be able to dance to hiphop music without “actin-a-foo” or coming off looking all “ghetto”.
On top of all this, you don’t want to learn any crazy choreography that you may have seen on T.V. because you know there are no way you would put it in to use in public.
Well, I’m guessing you’re reading this article because you can relate to this – or you just want to find out once and for all: how you should be dancing casually to hiphop music – you know, just have fun!
In this article I’m going to show you how you can do exactly that. I’m going to show you how you can get started quickly without doing any choreography. Also, you’ll learn how exactly you can start looking natural when those hiphop jams come on.
First thing we need to understand is that unlike electronics music, hip hop music nowadays usually consists of a slower tempo and heavier bass-ier beats.
As you may know already, hiphop dance is a specific style of dance – and it’s actually broken up in to a few different sub-styles.
The more “ol-school” style is also known as the New Jack Swing – check out a video of it here:
And then there’s the more new-school style kinda like this:
and this:
And then finally, the original style of hiphop dance: Breakdancing.
Overwhelmed?
Don’t sweat, because you already know, the examples above are not really the type of dancing you see yourself doing out at social functions or weddings.
Okay, let’s dial it back to the basics,
A few things you need to first understand:
Number 1 – your focus should be LISTENING to the beat – in other words the BOOM BAP BOOM BAP of the beat.
Number 2 – The movements is likely to be BOUNCE based – meaning you would be focusing LESS on your footwork or lower body movements.
This is so because as mentioned, hip hop is more bass and heavy beat focused. Bounce based dance moves will sync much more easily to this kind of music.
If you’re totally new to dance, check out this quick tutorial that will show you how you can get started keeping pace with a beat check it out:
Okay, afterwards try doing the same exercise to a song like this one – keep in mind: listen to the “boom bap boom bap”
How did you do? Not bad right?
Okay now let’s try it to a faster beat to see how we keep up. Take a look here:
For this one, it’s more of a boomtsss boomtsss boomtss beat. Will Smith is awesome.
Next, we’re going to get in to some actual body movements.
This is the basic up and up bounce. Give it a try:
Lastly, this is the knee bounce.
Okay, and that is pretty much all. As you can tell, these movements are all very simple. With some practice you can begin to transition from one to the other. Whenever you DO get stuck, just make sure to focus on the beat of the music.
At the end of the day, these few moves and movements are all you need to know to start having some fun and let loose on the dance floor. Now get out tonight and give these a try!
If you’re looking for more information on how to become comfortable on the dance floor, start having fun and not look silly – check out the Dance Floor Confidence advance program below.
Looking to learn more moves for dancing to hip hop? Get started with the link.
