Pop Dance Video Series

May 16, 2023 Uncategorized

Pop dance is a style of dance inspired by popular music. It’s upbeat, fun and very energetic with a focus on rhythm and catchy lyrics. Dance pop is a mixture of both mainstream pop and electronic music. It’s influenced by everything from post disco to synthpop and new wave. Dance pop is generally more upbeat than other genres and more structured and radio friendly. Artists like Alanis Morissette, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Madonna have all had success in the genre.

In the mid 70’s a young man named Sam Solomon created a style of dance called Electric Boogaloo in Fresno California. He wanted to look tough and create a dance that made him look like gangsters from LA and Oakland. He and his friends would come up with moves and practice them before they danced them off in a dance battle or club. The dancers that were able to hit the hardest and most often were called “Poppers”. The name “popping” was a combination of Popping (jerky movements resulting from flexing muscles) and Locking (the smooth isolations of mime). In this popping dance video mini-series you will learn the basic moves for both forearm hits/popping, chest pop and strobing.

Popping is a highly stylized form of dance with a lot of attention to angles and mime style poses and faces. It is done primarily standing up but can also be seen as floating or even gravity defying. Unlike breaking where one movement towards a spot is broken down into many smaller movements popping relies heavily on air posing and the use of body language to convey emotion or attitude.