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Home , Crazy Legs (dancer), Lindy hop

Hip-Hop

Anthony H ovington

Hip-hop culture sprang from the hearts of the ground, comes back up to his feet, and young Mrican Americans and Latinos as a way to then lowers himself again while maintaining his express themselves in the inner cities of New spin. Although there is structure to their rou­ York. Beginning around 1973, it became a pow­ tines, many times the best performances are the erful influence on popular culture across the ones that happen instantaneously in a moment globe. of creativity. To put the dancing being done today in per­ There is a tradition involved with hip-hop spective, I interviewed members of the Rock dancing. Older generations continuously pass Steady Crew, one of the first b-boy crews to on what they've learned to younger genera­ emerge with hip-hop. The term "b-boy" was tions. Almost all the dancers agreed that they coined by DJ Kool Here. It means break-boy. The learned to dance by going to parties or by get­ dance was done to the "break" of the record, the ting together with peers when they were funkiest part, the part that was mostly a hard-dri­ younger. Little kids learn by watching their ving beat. An example of a "break" would be a elders dance then going home to practice. Pee­ drum solo in a record. The Rock Wee Dance studies styles that are similar but Steady Crew still performs and aspires to make came before, namely buck dancing and the hip-hop dancing an accepted art form, like Lindy Hop. He frequents the Schomburg Cen­ and tap dancing. ter in to research and to keep his "Crazy Legs," of the in mind focused on the tradition of hip-hop danc­ New York, said that hip-hop dancing started as a ing. This style of dancing dates back to Mrica way out of violence. It kept young people out of because there is one common thread - the trouble. Due to the influence of hip-hop, gang music. The music is percussive. It is based on members began to settle their differences by the beat. Mrican communities used the drum dancing rather than fighting. as a primary form of communication and mod­ Opinions vary on the importance of names ern-day dancers rely on the beat as well. in hip-hop dancing. Pee-Wee Dance of the Rock Hip-hop dancing needs to be nurtured and Steady Crew says the crew is named that because accepted by those within the communities that "we steady be rockin." Crazy Legs got his name hip-hop comes from, places like New York, because he is quite bowlegged and does some Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Detroit, and unique things with those legs. Pee-Wee Dance is Miami, that have large concentrations of named for his diminutive stature. Also, he is 32 Mrican Americans. As inner city youth strive for years old, so he is called "the dance that won't something to call their own, hip-hop dancing is die." one way to provide them with the means to Some dancers name their moves as well. control their own energies and to display them Break dancing gave us the "continuous back­ at will. Therefore, hip-hop culture and its spin," "," and the "whirl." Crazy Legs will continue to influence popular cul­ invented the continuous backspin while Pee-Wee ture in the years to come. Dance invented the whirl. The continuous back­ spin was a method of using one's legs to contin­ Anthony Hovington received his B.A. in African American ue spinning when the dancer would otherwise Studies from Duke University. He works as a Database Man­ have come to a stop. Pee-Wee Dance describes ager at the National Endowment for the Arts. He is Vice-Pres­ the whirl as a move where he spins while low to ident of the Washington Chapter of the Zulu Nation.

AMERICAN 73