Don't blame yourself, blame Hip Hop!

I went to my first hip hop class here in Singapore yesterday. It was almost 2 hours long, fun, tiring, and did I mention fun? I'll write about it later, but a quick recap of hip hop culture is listed below. A lot of us are aware of hip hop, but don't really know the basic history of it. I've listed a few short bullets, but obviously there's way more.

1. "Hip hop is a cultural movement which developed in New York City in the early 1970s primarily among African Americans and Latin Americans[1][2]. Hip hop's four main elements are MCing (often called rapping), DJing, graffiti writing, and breakdancing. Other elements include beatboxing, hip hop fashion, and slang. Since first emerging in the Bronx, the lifestyle of hip hop culture has spread around the world.[3]" - wikipedia


2. "Jamaican born DJ Clive "Kool Herc" Campbell is credited as being highly influential in the pioneering stage of hip hop music[9], in the Bronx, New York, after moving to New York at the age of thirteen. Herc created the blueprint for hip hop music and culture by building upon the Jamaican tradition of toasting, or boasting impromptu poetry and sayings over music, which he witnessed as a youth in Jamaica.[" - wikipedia

The first one gives an idea of where Hip hop comes from and the second one is important because due respect must be given to pioneers!

Hip Hop DANCE came from hip hop culture:

"The dance style primarily associated with hip hop is breaking, which appeared in New York City during the early 1970s and came to be popularly classified as one of the four primary "elements" of hip-hop (along with rapping, DJing, and graffiti). Funk styles, such as popping and locking, evolved separately in California in the 1960-70s, but were also integrated into hip hop when the culture reached the West Coast of the United States." - wikipedia

Obviously, Hip hop dance is varied, and has many different styles, and is open to interpretation from a choreographer's standpoint. Hip hop dancing is really fun, but it's not that easy for me. I have to really work at it to make it look right and even then I know I don't have that natural "swag"

So I went to this class taught by a friend of a friend. It was pretty full with about 25ish dancers. The style of dance was more soul hip hop. There was a lot of choreography. I haven't learned a hip hop routine in a very long time so that definitely slowed my progress. It takes me a lot longer to learn an entire routine because I haven't practiced learning a lot in an hour. So I got some moves, and not others and kind of danced along until the end when they split everyone into groups to perform. This was by far my least favorite part because I SCREWED up and looked like a fool. YAY.

I really like hip hop but DAMN it can be hard. No worries. I shall persevere and get better at it.

My favorite choreographer!