Learning hip hop requires passion, passion, and raging passion! And yeah, patience, too. This DancePoise article will tell you how to do a jig, in this dance form.
Hip-hop saved my life, man. It’s the only thing I’ve ever been even decent at. I don’t know how to do anything else.
― Eminem
The uber cool moves, the attitude, the swift and agile steps, foot tapping music and overall a great experience. Does this ring a bell in your mind? We guess, this is what hip hop is all about, and probably, this is what makes it such an awesome dance form. This form of dancing has taken the world by a storm, and many countries in the world have people dancing it.
As most of us know, this dance is an umbrella term for several styles of dancing―breaking or breakdancing or b-boying, popping and locking, street styles, funk, old school, etc. Hence, it is actually difficult to describe about it. Let’s get started with learning some of the basic yet important steps.
Hip Hop Dance Moves for Beginners
Popping
◊ Begin with putting your right hand in a flat karate chop position. It has to be below your chest, about a foot and a half away from your body.
◊ Now, the key is to slowly move a certain part of your arm. Drop your fingers till your middle knuckles, for them to form a 90 degree angle.
◊ Follow that up by dropping the rest of your fingers till your real knuckles. Avoid moving anything else.
◊ Your hand has to be dropped straight up to your wrist.
◊ At this point, your elbow should be underneath your waist, and the hand should be pointing down. This forms a slight triangle.
◊ Raise both your palms and elbow and drop the wrist.
◊ Now raise that shoulder and then the opposite shoulder.
◊ Here, by the time you raise the opposite shoulder, the arm you started with has to be straightened out.
◊ To come to the end, you are going to do the exact opposite, raise the elbow, keep the wrist down and fingers up and then switch.
◊ Follow that by rolling out the fingertips.
That was the basic popping step in hip hop dance style.
Moon Walk
◊ The first step is to get your feet in a position closer than shoulder-width apart.
◊ Get your right foot toes in line with the central part of your left foot.
◊ Lifting your right heel, put the weight on your right foot.
◊ Slide the left foot straight back, while keeping it absolutely flat on the ground. This has to be done till the toes of the left foot are in line with the middle of the right.
◊ At this stage, drop your right heel to the ground and simultaneously raise your left heel. This is the crux of the moonwalk, the switching part.
◊ Again, slide your right foot back till the toes reach the middle of the left foot. Switch, once again.
Harlem Shake
The idea behind this hip hop dance move is to first learn the rules (i.e., steps) and then, forget them and have fun.
◊ Start by standing with both your feet spread with at least a six-inch gap between them.
◊ Raise your right shoulder and move your upper torso towards your right, pushing out your left hip, thereby giving you a diagonal look!
◊ Now, repeat the same movement with your left shoulder, diagonalizing with right hips.
◊ Repeat these two steps back and forth, by jerking and grooving your body. Infuse any hand movements, as Harlem Shake is meant to be that way!
◊ The basic step calls for movements somewhat resembling the twirling of ribbon that cascades downwards.
◊ Ask your friends to join you when you go all “Do Harlem Shake!”
These are a couple of steps that characterize and are inherent to hip hop. All these dance moves were just a glimpse of what all exciting moves hip hop dancing has to offer!
Some more steps are Crip Walk, Heel Toe, Glide, Walkout, Cupid Shuffle, Soulja Boy, Sponge Bob and a few more. You can get the descriptions of these and many more by checking out online, or through free guide books.
This dance is best learned along with a proper instructor, as these are a real challenge to learn. Just describing the steps is not giving enough justice to them. It has to be done on the dance floor, with full élan and enthusiasm!
