STREET DANCE

Street dance, also called vernacular dance[1] is an umbrella term, used to describe dance styles that evolved outside of dance studios in everyday spaces such as streets, school yards and nightclubs. They are often improvisational and social in nature, encouraging interaction and contact with the spectators and the other dancers.

Street dance is also commonly used specifically for the many hip hops and funk dance styles that began appearing in the United States in the 1970s, and are still alive and evolving within hip hop culture today: such as breakdance, popping, locking, hip hop new style and house dance. These dances are popular on levels, as a form of physical exercise, an art form, and for competition, and are today practiced both at dance studios and other spaces. Some schools use street dance as a form of physical education

Dancers interpret the existing moves freely and even invent new ones to create a personal style of their own. Improvisation is the heart of most street dances, though choreography is also seen, mostly mixed with improvisation or used for prepared shows.

Generally, a street dance is based on a unique style or feel that are expressed through the dance, usually tied to a certain music genre. As new dance moves evolve based on this feel, the dance is under constant development, and if the feel starts to change it might give birth to a completely new dance form.

Today, serious street dance competitions are increasingly popular, and a number of large annual international events are taking place around the world, such as Battle of the Year, Juste Debout and House Dance International. These contests focus mainly on judged battles but also on choreographed shows.

Some of the most famous street dance styles of today, such as breakdance, popping and locking, began appearing around the 1970s, and hip hop new style and house dance around the 1980s. Though some of these styles originally evolved separately, most of them are today associated with the hip hop scene, as they share many street dance elements.

More recently, new street dance styles are emerging that are further inspired by hip hop and its music. Krumping, with its focus on highly energetic battles and movements, is an example of such a style that just recently became publicly known. It's also common to see some characteristics of street dance being mixed with other more traditional dance forms, creating styles such as street jazz, a hybrid of modern hip hop styles and jazz dance. Such styles are generally focused more on choreography and performance and less on improvisation and battles, and are not always considered pure street dances, though a popular alternative to the more traditional and classical styles of studio dancing.

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