Electric boogaloo (dance)

Last updated

Electric boogaloo (sometimes referred to as electric boogie on the East Coast) is a dance style closely related to the earlier Boogaloo street dance performed in Oakland and popping; it combines modern popping techniques and earlier boogaloo forms. [1] [2] It became the signature style of the mid-1970s dance group, the Electric Boogaloos and also performed by the bush. Along with electric boogaloo, they also popularized popping and many of its related styles.

Contents

It is characterized as a fluid leg-oriented style danced to funk music, utilizing rolls of the hips, knees, legs, and head, which was later combined with popping. [3]

Dance steps

Creepin
A foundational step of Boogaloo done in Oakland inspired by cartoon's Goofy, typically done as an entry and exit step with arms out, legs extended. Sometimes the Creep can be combined with a physical pointing hand gesture to challenge an opponent. [4]
Crazy legs
A footwalk that was created by Poppin Pete. He invented "Crazy Legs" by watching a boy called Crazy Legs dancing and changed what he saw into a popping move.
The Slot (ex. Fresno)
This foundation originates in Oakland's Boogaloo generation, created by John Murphy. [5]

Basic movement between body, arm, and foot. Previously referred to earlier Boogaloo dancers in Oakland as "The Slot", it was a side to side movement ending in a hard pose or a "hit" to help keep dancers in rhythm or "put him in the slot", to imitate a pinball slot machine.

It was adapted later by Boogaloo Sam and used to refer to a whole routine called "The Fresno". The adapted Electric Boogaloo move is a fundamental move in Popping. The Slot can be performed in various ways as only the following requirements exist. In a fresno or the slot, the dancer moves side-to-side doing a hit on each turn with the leg and arm of the side the dancer has moved to; it can be done backward and forwards.
Neck-o-flex
The neck twix between the body and the neck.
Old man
A type of boogaloo style was created by Boogaloo Sam. Boogaloo Sam invented this move by watching an old man walking across the street.
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. Non-twisting parts should remain absolutely still. The effect resembles a Rubik's Cube moving, or somewhat a clay figure being modeled. It can be further refined by using hands to "push" or "pull" the body parts around.
Walk-out
A footwalk that took you from point A to point B.

See also

Notes

  1. Higa, B. & Wiggins, C. (1996) "Electric Kingdom" The history of popping and locking, from the people who made it happen. Rap Pages. Sep. 1996: 52-67. Print.
  2. Guzman-Sanchez, T. (2012) "Oakland Funk Boogaloos to Popping". Underground Dance Masters: Final History of a Forgotten Era. Praeger.
  3. The Electric Boogaloos. "The Birth of Popping and Boogaloo Style". "Funk Styles" History & Knowledge. Archived from the original on April 18, 2006. Retrieved 2006-04-28.
  4. Guzman-Sanchez, T. (2012) "1965 & Soul Boogaloo & "The Oakland Funk Boogaloo Generation". Underground Dance Masters: Final History of a Forgotten Era. Praeger.
  5. Hill, B. (2015) Interview, "Oakland Boogaloo - An Intro to Basic Movements with Chuck Powell"

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Funk</span> 1960s music genre

Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the mid-20th century. It deemphasizes melody and chord progressions and focuses on a strong rhythmic groove of a bassline played by an electric bassist and a drum part played by a percussionist, often at slower tempos than other popular music. Funk typically consists of a complex percussive groove with rhythm instruments playing interlocking grooves that create a "hypnotic" and "danceable" feel. It uses the same richly colored extended chords found in bebop jazz, such as minor chords with added sevenths and elevenths, and dominant seventh chords with altered ninths and thirteenths.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slapping (music)</span> Musical technique

Slapping and popping are ways to produce percussive sounds on a stringed instrument. They are primarily used on the double bass or bass guitar. Slapping on bass guitar involves using the edge of one's knuckle, where it is particularly bony, to quickly strike the string against the fretboard. On bass guitars, this is commonly done with the thumb, while on double bass, the edge of the hand or index finger may be used. Popping refers to pulling the string away from the fretboard and quickly releasing it so it snaps back against the fretboard. On bass guitar, the two techniques are commonly used together in alternation, though either may be used separately.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Popping</span> Street dance style

Popping is a street dance adapted out of the earlier boogaloo cultural movement in Oakland, California. As boogaloo spread, it would be referred to as "robottin'" in Richmond, California; strutting movements in San Francisco and San Jose; and the Strikin' dances of the Oak Park community in Sacramento, which were popular through the mid-1960s to the 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Street dance</span> Vernacular dance in an urban context

Street dance is an umbrella term for a large number of social dance styles such as: breakdancing, popping, locking, house dance, waacking, voguing etc. Social dance styles have many accompanying steps and foundations, created organically from a culture, a moment in time, a way of life, influenced by natural social interaction. A street dance is a vernacular dance in an urban context. Vernacular dances are often improvisational and social in nature, encouraging interaction and contact with spectators and other dancers. These dances are a part of the vernacular culture of the geographical area that they come from.

This is a list of dance terms that are not names of dances or types of dances. See List of dances and List of dance style categories for those.

Professional wrestling holds include a number of set moves and pins used by performers to immobilize their opponents or lead to a submission. This article covers the various pins, stretches and transition holds used in the ring. Some wrestlers use these holds as their finishing maneuvers, often nicknaming them to reflect their character or persona. Moves are listed under general categories whenever possible.

Boogaloo or bugalú is a genre of Latin music and dance which was popular in the United States in the 1960s. Boogaloo originated in New York City mainly by stateside Puerto Ricans with African American music influences. The style was a fusion of popular African American rhythm and blues (R&B) and soul music with mambo and son montuno, with songs in both English and Spanish. The American Bandstand television program introduced the dance and the music to the mainstream American audience. Pete Rodríguez's "I Like It like That" was a famous boogaloo song.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hip hop dance</span> Street dance styles primarily performed to hip hop music

Hip hop dance is a range of street dance styles primarily performed to hip hop music or that have evolved as part of hip hop culture. It is influenced by a wide range of styles that were created in the 1970s and made popular by dance crews in the United States. The television show Soul Train and the 1980s films Breakin', Beat Street, and Wild Style showcased these crews and dance styles in their early stages; therefore, giving hip-hop dance mainstream exposure.

<i>Breakin</i> 1984 film by Joel Silberg

Breakin' is a 1984 American breakdancing-themed musical film directed by Joel Silberg and written by Charles Parker and Allen DeBevoise based on a story by Parker, DeBevoise and Gerald Scaife.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mr. Wiggles</span> American street dancer

Steffan "Mr. Wiggles" Clemente is a street dancer, noted for his popping skills. He is a member of the Rock Steady Crew, The Electric Boogaloos, Tribal Click, Zulu Nation, and TC5, also known as The Cool Five or The Crazy Five. Wiggles has been active as a dancer, actor, choreographer, dance instructor, music producer and graffiti artist.

An armlock in grappling is a single or double joint lock that hyperextends, hyperflexes or hyperrotates the elbow joint or shoulder joint. An armpit lock is very useful, it will immobilize your opponent and pin them on the ground. An armlock that hyper-extends the elbow is known as an armbar, and it includes the traditional armbar, the shoulder triangle armbar, and the shotgun armbar. An armlock that hyper-rotates the arm is known as an armcoil, and includes the americana, kimura, and omaplata. Depending on the joint flexibility of a person, armcoils can either hyper-rotate only the shoulder joint, only the elbow joint, or both the elbow joint and shoulder joint.

Locking is a style of funk dance. The name is based on the concept of locking movements, which means freezing from a fast movement and "locking" in a certain position, holding that position for a short while and then continuing at the same speed as before. It relies on fast and distinct arm and hand movements combined with more relaxed hips and legs. The movements are generally large and exaggerated, and often very rhythmic and tightly synced with the music. Locking is performance oriented, often interacting with the audience by smiling or giving them a high five, and some moves are quite comical.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anatomical terms of motion</span> Terms describing animal motion

Motion, the process of movement, is described using specific anatomical terms. Motion includes movement of organs, joints, limbs, and specific sections of the body. The terminology used describes this motion according to its direction relative to the anatomical position of the body parts involved. Anatomists and others use a unified set of terms to describe most of the movements, although other, more specialized terms are necessary for describing unique movements such as those of the hands, feet, and eyes.

The Electric Boogaloos are a street dance crew responsible for the spread of popping and electric boogaloo. The name "Boogaloo" came from a song called "Do a Boogaloo" by James Brown, which was also adapted as a Boogaloo street dance done from Oakland, CA. They were founded by Boogaloo Sam in Fresno, California in 1977. Their original name was the Electronic Boogaloo Lockers but "Lockers" was dropped the following year.

Old school jazz dance refers to the improvised dancing style that originated in the UK in the 1970s. The style grew in clubs in the UK, mainly in London and in northern cities, with the sounds of bebop, Afro-Cuban jazz, fusion, swing and other Latin-influenced jazz and funk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turfing</span>

Turfing is a form of street dance that originated in Oakland, California, United States, characterized by rhythmic movement combined with waving, floor moves, gliding, flexing and cortortioning. It was developed by youth from West Oakland and organized by dancer Jeriel Bey, who coined the name "turf dancing," or "Turfin" and named his Organization The Architeckz™. Bey named the dance form as an acronym for "Taking Up Room on the Floor." The style was originally known by the terms "having fun with it" or "hitting it", but these names didn't seem marketable. However, another claim for the nomenclature considers the acronym as a backronym and that turf dancing originated as a way to describe dances that different "turfs" from Oakland performed to represent where they were from. The dance form had its earliest influences in the Boogaloo movement of the mid-1960s, but it developed into a distinctive dance style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of hip hop dance</span> Aspect of the history of dance

The history of hip-hop dances encompasses the people and events since the late 1960s that have contributed to the development of early hip-hop dance styles, such as uprock, breaking, locking, roboting, boogaloo, and popping. African Americans created uprock and breaking in New York City. African Americans in California created locking, roboting, boogaloo, and popping—collectively referred to as the funk styles. All of these dance styles are different stylistically. They share common ground in their street origins and in their improvisational nature of hip hop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Popin' Pete</span> American dancer and choreographer

Timothy Earl Solomon, known as Popin' Pete, is an American dancer and choreographer who popularized the "popping" dance style and member of the Electric Boogaloos. Pete’s career has spanned over forty years since the emergence of popping dance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boogaloo (funk dance)</span> Improvisational American street dance movement

Boogaloo is a freestyle, improvisational street dance, closely related to popping dance and turfing. It's best known for the dance move known as the Robot; it is also related to the later electric boogaloo dance.