Popping dance originated in the 1950s, when young people in the UK grew frustrated with the limitations of ballet and other styles of ballet dancing. The music and the dance gave dancers an identity and family. The dance is often associated with “hitting,” or abruptly tensing muscles. The term ‘popping’ was influenced by the Dynamation films of Ray Harryhausen, whose unique style involved simulated frame-by-frame movement of the character with a series of abrupt tensing of muscles. The style was further popularized by the Robots of the 1950s, which incorporate isolated circular rolls of body parts.
Pop dance evolved into a popular, upbeat style, which was eventually incorporated into other types of dancing. Poppers often dance to electronic, hi-hop, and dubstep music, with beats between 90-120 beats per minute. Dancers often use the music’s repetitive nature to combine different dance styles. Despite being a popular style for decades, poppers are still dedicated to the art form and are constantly updating their moves to meet the latest trends in music.
The style is also known as dance pop, and the music that falls within it is generally considered popular in the mainstream. Dance pop music fuses elements of club culture with the structures and sounds of popular songs. During the 1980s Top-40 reign, some of the biggest artists in the genre were in this style. Despite the lack of clear distinctions between dance pop and regular pop, the music is often difficult to label. So how can we know what pop dance is?
