By Ursula Kendall the Anatomy and Athleticism of a Freeze
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By Ursula Kendall Consult with a physician and/or qualified personnel before executing any training, exercise, cheer or dance movements and/or techniques. See disclaimer on page 7. The information shown is general and not complete in instruction. See qualified and credentialed guidance with any technique. For most African Americans in dance team I have witnessed competing, Heavy D, Digital Underground and other amazing artists in that era to the passion is there but technique is lacking. The technique is lacking give you more than the 3-point turns or the ‘crotch down walk’ into due to the neglect of participating in classes for hip hop technique. positions which is NOT footwork or a transition. In addition, teams Another problem is that teams are hiring or assigning coaches or should not limit their levels movement to just up and down but by inexperienced choreographers who are uneducated regarding the involving the entire space around them for movement. different forms of hip hop movements therefore unable to prepare the A great hip hop routine has leveled movements and musicality. There team for more challenging stylized movements. In my opinion, this is routine shows a beat for everything and takes advantage of utilizing the unfortunate as black music and let movement speak from Americans had a The Anatomy and Athleticism of A Freeze there. Janet Jackson is a perfect historical example for stylized arms, heads and dominance in this Use the glutes, quads and hamstring muscles for body placement. Be inspired from some form of dance genre. straight leg extensions of her earlier works in music and videos, In the art of hip hop you have Strong hip flexors come into plays for actually flexibility such as Rhythm Nation or The Pleasure be willing to get down and of movement and ending body placement Principle, to direct you in unique ways to dirty. This is not to say you create a unique but authentic overall have to gyrate or twerk, which style for your team. Remember, sloppy has become overly populated in arm movements are the first visuals noticed by the judges and mainstream performance of hip your audience. hop and discussion. This is to say Teams also need to pay attention to execution. Execution is not just that bringing in the athleticism in going through the movements and motions but really hitting and your hip hop routine with using completing the movement of each body part and placement. your performance space. As many hip hop dancers in the all star arena are also cheerleaders, the Floor work is a very important body build and athleticism of tumbling should be of an advantage. If you aspect of any hip hop routine. explore the aspects of hip hop freezes, explore the angles on the actual The movements for movement and think outside your comfort effective hip hop Obilques, abs and level, you can create the difficulty and wow floor torso muscles come factor for your performance. work into play for body For the best in your hip hop routine and could be traced alignment for strong technique. think originality in movements as back to the era of positioning well as musicality, execution, difficulty break dancing. It is (outside the box) and PERFORMANCE. quite easy to draw Strong deltoids, Give it all you’ve got! Do not offer the ‘flavor inspiration of how these b- biceps and triceps of the week or the house party moves to boys/b-girls poured certain help maximize the define your routine or technique. By the movements into their bodies to skill difficulty and end of your performance judges want to achieve the difficulty advantage in help create unique have seen you have given you all in your regards to levels. positioning research, purpose, technical elements, Simple movements from the showmanship and your unique style. house era are very popular. Technical Difficulty Elements to Add to Hip Hop Routine You may also take a look at hip hop icons like Salt N Pepa, Locking – Executing a fast movement and freezing the end of the movement. Locking movements include: (Continued on page 56) Pictured: Ursula Kendall. Courtesy of Ursula Kendall 48 | HOLLA’! 2014 Summer Edition HOLLACHEERDANCEMAGAZINE.COM Continued from page 48 the basic lock, points, throwback, wrist roll, iron horse, muscle man, Scooby Doo, stop & go, scootbot, Skeeter Rabbit, funky guitar, knee drop, Leo walk Breaking - (also referred to as b-boying or b-girling) is probably the most well-known element of hip hop dance. Breaking is very unstructured and improvisational and evolved from a style of dance known as uprock. Breaking or breakdancing, is composed of movements performed at different levels: toprock (performed while standing), downrock (performed close to the floor), power moves (acrobatics) and freeze moves (poses). Dancers who perform breakdancing are often called b-boys, b-girls or breakers. Breaking terms: Rock Steady Crew, Zulu Kings, Sal Soul, Crazy Commandos, Dynamic Rockers, New York City Breakers, Air Force Crew, Full Circle, The Bronx Boys, Seven Gems Boogaloo - is a very loose movement, mostly using the hips and legs. Boogaloo seems to give the illusion that the dancer has no bones. This style is closely related to popping, with dancers involved in rolling the hips, knees, legs and head. Boogaloo terms include: Twist-o-flex, Walk-out, Fakey, Neck-o-Flex, Cobra, Snakin', Slides Glides, Old Man, Egyptian Social Dances - '80s party dances, came about during the 1980's as popular dances at the time were transformed by club dancers. Social dance is a freestyle dance style and is the element of hip hop that is often seen in music videos. Social Dance Terms: The Wop, The Cabbage Patch, The Roger Rabbit, The Running Man, The Rooftop, The Humpty Hump, The Worm, The Kriss-cross 56 | HOLLA’! 2014 Summer Edition HOLLACHEERDANCEMAGAZINE.COM .