Information AboutPopping |
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Popping refers to both the sudden contraction of muscles and a form of Dance that is composed of a series of those contractions that originated in the Funk era. The visual results appear as if the dancer's body is popping instead of moving more naturally. The style is closely related to Liquid Dancing . Dancers incorporated popping into both the Hip Hop and Electronica dance scenes where it stands below Breakdancing in recognition and popularity. The mainstream uses the word as an umbrella term for a host of funk style dances (including Tutting , Boxing and sometimes Locking ), old school dancers and purists prefer to use the term in its narrower definition of muscle contractions. HISTORY Popping originated in California, notably Fresno and The Bay Area in the 1970s. ''The Electric Boogaloos'' or the "E.B.'s" as they are known in short, have been long considered the originators of popping, however during the period of time in which the E.B.'s existed there already existed a thriving popping culture and Boogaloo tradition in California, and other dance groups also existed. The original Electric Boogaloos as a dance crew, had a major influence on the style of popping, creating the popping style "electric boogaloo" (prior to his time this had merely been a general term used in description of popping /boogying). The E.B.'s can also be credited with bringing some measure of fame to popping in general, when members of the Electric Boogaloos performed on '' Soul Train '', and various other television shows. The mainstream media greatly confused the naming structure of the funk style dances by calling it breakdancing. The movie '' Breakin' '' and Michael Jackson 's popularity contributed to the naming confusion as Moonwalking (known as ''backsliding'' in popping terminology) came to be associated with breakdancing instead of popping. MOVES Glides Glides, slides or airwalking give the appearance of the dancer traveling in one direction while walking in another. This can be done in all four directions, and is accordingly called forward, side and backslide. Performer Michael Jackson has made the backslide his signature move as the Moonwalk Waves Waving is composed of a series of arm and/or body movements that give an appearance that a wave is traversing through a dancer's body. The armwave is started by holding both arms out to the sides of the dancer's body, parallel to the ground. The dancer lifts then lowers adjoining sections of his arm while keeping the rest of his body at apparent rest starting with the fingertips in one arm and ending at the fingertips of the other arm. It is very important that the rest of the body appear to be motionless. One movement in the armwave that typically gives beginners trouble is lifting the elbow. When lifting the elbow and otherwise remaining stiff, the dancer also lifts the hand. Lifting multiple points of the arm is undesirable and so the dancer must actively "lower" his hand to maintain the illusion that it remains still. When the wave reaches the chest, the wave can travel either in front of the chest or along the back where the dancer can add accents such as turning his head in the direction of wave movement or inhaling as the wave reaches the chest and exhaling as it passes. With practice, the dancer can appear to have multiple waves travelling along his arms, start and end a wave at any point on his arms, and transition the wave through his body as a bodywave. There are seven and eleven point waves. The eleven point wave runs as finger knuckes-knuckles-wrist-elbow-shoulder-chest-shoulder-elbow-wrist-knucles-finger knuckles. The seven point wave begins at the wrists. The bodywave similarly gives an appearance that a wave is traveling up or down the body. It involves flexing muscles along the wave's path and bending knees and ankles. Mannequin See Also: Robot (dance) A style commonly associated with popping, this is an imitation of a dancing Robot or Mannequin . Body joints are bent in straight unnatural ways and all movements started and finished with a small Jerk to give the impression of Motors starting and stopping, or creaking Hinges . This popping style is closely connected to Mime . A variation on the robot is the "broken robot" style, where various parts of the dancer's body is shaken rapidly giving the impression that the robot is breaking down. A lock-and-release of joints can also give the appearance of supports breaking down. Twist-o-flex A technique where, as in the Mannequin, the dancer creates the impression of unnatural body joints by moving and twisting various parts in sequence. The effect somewhat resembles a clay figure being modeled. It can be further refined by using hands to "push" or "pull" the body parts around. Strobing See Also: Strobing (dance form) This technique gives the impression that the dancer is lit by a Strobe Light , by moving in a stop-and-go fashion. NOTABLE POPPERS
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