The art of pop dance is all about jerking your body parts to create movement in time with the music. This style of dancing is usually danced to funk and disco but has recently seen its rise in popularity with people popping to a variety of different genres including dubstep. A person that dances popping is called a ‘Popper’ and there are many different techniques that can be used to create different movements such as the famous forearm hits, chest pops, neck pops, strutting and the iconic Spiderman style.
The most popular technique is the dime stop, a type of transitioning move that stops abruptly on the beat, which gives the illusion that you are floating above the floor. Other techniques include air posing where the dancer makes shapes with their hands and legs to create different poses that look like they’re falling. Another technique is the strobing, where a dancer moves their arms and legs in the shape of a strobe light to give off an effect.
Popping originally entered the national consciousness through a series of mid-1980s Hollywood breakdancing films known as ‘Breaksploitation’, such as Beat Street and Breakin’, but the kinetic genealogy of this style of dance actually extends back to Fresno, California. It was here that a group of youths who wanted to emulate the looks and movements of gangsters in their communities created their own version of hip hop, which came to be known as popping.
