History and Origins
Popping is a foundational street dance style that evolved from the earlier boogaloo cultural movement in Oakland, California. Its development saw it adapted from freestyle boogaloo movements in Fresno, California, during the late 1970s, notably emerging from high school gatherings such as the West Coast Relays. The dance gained widespread recognition and influence through the Fresno and Long Beach-based group, The Electric Boogaloos, founded by Boogaloo Sam in 1977. This group was instrumental in popularizing the style, specifically by integrating popping techniques with boogaloo.
The historical progression of popping, explicitly described as an adaptation from the earlier boogaloo cultural movement and subsequently popularized by a group that fused popping with boogaloo techniques, reveals a significant pattern in the evolution of street dance. Styles rarely appear in a vacuum; instead, they frequently develop through the adaptation, integration, and deliberate artistic synthesis of existing vernacular movements. This highlights a continuous process of cultural exchange and innovation, where new forms build upon and transform their predecessors.
Core Technique: Popping/Hitting
The fundamental technique of popping centers on the rapid contraction and relaxation of muscles to produce a sharp "jerk," "pop," or "hit" within the dancer's body. This action is performed continuously, synchronized with the rhythm of the music. This technique is also recognized as "posing hard," a concept derived from the boogaloo tradition. Dancers can isolate this muscular contraction to various body parts, creating distinct variations such as arm pops, leg pops, chest pops, and neck pops.
The consistent emphasis on "quickly contracting and relaxing muscles" as the defining action of popping underscores its unique technical precision. This precise physiological mechanism, applied across different body segments, fundamentally differentiates popping from other dance styles. It highlights that the style is built upon a foundation of controlled physical illusions rather than broad, sweeping movements.
Specific executions of this core technique include:
Forearm Hit: This involves contracting and relaxing the forearm muscles in time with the music, executed either as rapid hits or slower, more controlled movements to emphasize particular beats.
Chest Pop: To perform a chest pop, the dancer quickly contracts the chest inward, creating an almost jerking motion, then rapidly relaxes the tension, repeating the movement rhythmically.
Integrated Styles and Illusions
Popping often incorporates other closely related dance styles and techniques to create more diverse and dynamic performances. These include:
Boogaloo: An older umbrella term for funk dances originating in Oakland, California. It is characterized by loose, free-form movements that aim to create the impression of a body without bones, drawing inspiration from animated movies and cartoons. Boogaloo utilizes circular rolls of various body parts, such as the hips, chest, shoulders, knees, and head, a technique also known as "wormin'" or "wiggling". It also extensively uses angles, steps, and transitions. Signature movements in boogaloo include the "Dime Stop," "Hit," or "Mack Pose".
Execution (Basic Boogaloo): Dancers begin with feet shoulder-width apart and knees slightly bent. The movement initiates from the hips and legs, creating a rolling motion, with knees bending rhythmically to the music. Legs move in a circular, "going around" fashion, practiced both forward and backward. Upper body movements, such as arm gestures or head rolls, are incorporated to complement the leg work.
Waving: This technique involves fluidly moving the body or specific body parts to mimic the undulating motion of ocean waves. Key elements of waving include maintaining fluidity, executing uniform motion, and employing isolation. Variations can be achieved by altering muscle tension.
Execution (Arm Wave): To perform an arm wave, hold both arms straight out to form a "T" shape, level with the shoulders. Raise the fingers of one hand, then flex the wrist while the hand moves downward and the wrist rises. Twist the arm inward to lift the elbow, ensuring the hand remains flat. Straighten the arm while lifting the shoulder, then roll the shoulders to transfer the wave motion to the opposite arm. This can also extend to finger waves.
Tutting: This style leverages the body's capacity to form geometric positions, particularly boxes, and execute movements predominantly with right angles. Its name and movements are inspired by Ancient Egyptian art, specifically Tutankhamun (King Tut) and hieroglyphics.
Execution (Basic Tutting Move): Dancers sweep their hands up in front of the chest, palms together and fingers pointing upward. One hand slides up so its palm rests against the fingertips of the other hand. The hand then curves down to cover the back of the other hand. This hand slides across the forearm to form a box. From this box position, both arms are made to lie down, one on top of the other. The arms then slide out so that the fingertips of each hand touch. Finally, the palms return to the initial position. The technique emphasizes creating precise 90-degree angles and maintaining strong form. Tutting can also involve finger tutting and foot tutting.
The explicit inspiration of Tutting from "Ancient Egyptian art" and "hieroglyphics" highlights a surprising and profound cross-cultural artistic influence within street dance. This suggests that vernacular dance forms, while rooted in specific communities, can draw from diverse, even ancient, artistic traditions, demonstrating a sophisticated aesthetic awareness that transcends immediate cultural boundaries.
Robot/Botting: A sub-style within popping where the dancer imitates the jerky, mechanical movements of a robot or mannequin. It employs sharp movements, precise isolation, and clean "dimestops".
Execution: The robot dance primarily uses body isolations, moving one part of the body independently from the rest. It incorporates a "wobble" or "bopping" effect, where the body rocks side to side after a movement. Movements are slow, controlled, and deliberate, often with pauses for dramatic effect. Feet pivot on the heels or balls, avoiding lifting them off the ground. Robot arms are frequently held or bent at 90-degree angles.
Animation: A style and technique where the dancer mimics film characters animated by stop motion. This is achieved by moving rigidly and jerkily through muscle tension, similar to strobing and robot movements, creating the illusion that the dancer is moving frame by frame. It was heavily inspired by Ray Harryhausen's Dynamation films.
Execution: The technique relies on the abrupt tensing of muscles to create a stop-motion illusion. It demands precise control to make movements appear as if captured frame-by-frame.
The direct and acknowledged inspiration of "Animation" dance from specific stop-motion films, such as Ray Harryhausen's Dynamation, provides a compelling illustration of how visual media can directly translate into and shape dance technique. This highlights a clear connection where external artistic forms are not merely referenced but are actively deconstructed and re-embodied as new dance movements, demonstrating a unique form of interdisciplinary artistic innovation within street dance.
Gliding/Floating/Sliding: These are footwork techniques that create the illusion of smooth, effortless movement across the floor. This technique is famously associated with Michael Jackson's "moonwalk".
Execution (Side Glide): This move requires a smooth, flat surface and comfortable shoes with smooth soles. It involves pivoting one foot with the weight on the toes (heel lifted), sliding the other foot out, and then alternating the heel-up/heel-down positions while shifting body weight to the new toe. A key principle is that one foot is always flat on the ground, while the other is on its toes or the balls of the feet.
Advanced Glides: Variations include "The Usher," which involves over-rotating the hip of the pointed foot; "Booker Forte," which adds a swinging motion of the sliding foot's hip and leg; single-foot pointing; creating "boxes" by turning 90 degrees with weight shifts; and the "circle glide," which smooths out the corners of the box glide to create a continuous circular motion.
Ticking: A sequence of hits where the movement pathway is broken down into small, sharp increments, with a hit or pop occurring at each one. This creates precise, robotic-like movements that evoke the ticking of a clock. Ticking is often considered a specific form of strobing.
Execution: To perform ticking, a dancer selects a body part to isolate. This chosen part is then tensed to create a rigid position. The isolated part is moved in a small, sharp motion, as if following the tick of a clock. The dancer immediately returns to the starting position with equal sharpness, repeating this motion rhythmically to the music. It is crucial to practice maintaining stillness in the rest of the body while performing the tick.
Strobing: This technique involves moving and stopping the body quickly in steady increments, utilizing "dime stops," to create the illusion of movement under a strobe light. It is frequently integrated with pedestrian movements, such as walking.
Execution: Strobing requires the rapid execution of "dimestops" in small, jerky segments, mimicking the fast flashes of a strobe light. It also involves tensing muscles to the point where they may appear to shake.
Dime Stop: A common technique used for transitions between poses in popping, characterized by an abrupt halt to a movement, giving the impression of stopping suddenly "on a dime". A pop typically follows a dimestop.
Execution: A dime stop is executed as a fast, clean halt from one position to another.
- Neck-o-Flex: Involves using the neck to create isolated, popping movements, often used for transitions or to emphasize angles.
- Twist-o-Flex: Involves placing hands on either side of the hips, pivoting arms so the chin touches one shoulder, turning the upper torso to meet the plane of the hand placements, and then stepping forward to the base position.
Cultural Impact and Musicality
Popping's musical roots are deeply embedded in the funk and disco genres of the late 1970s, with prominent artists including Zapp, Dayton, Dazz Band, and Cameo. During the 1980s, poppers also embraced electro music, featuring artists such as Kraftwerk and Yellow Magic Orchestra. Poppers generally prefer music with a consistent and steady beat, typically ranging from 90 to 120 beats per minute, a 4/4 time signature, and a strong emphasis on the backbeat, often provided by a snare drum or drum machine. The "pops" are usually performed on every beat or on distinct backbeats.
Popping has continued to evolve, seamlessly integrating with contemporary electronic genres like dubstep. It stands as a fundamental building block of hip-hop dance, embodying the creativity and resilience of African American and Latino communities during periods of social challenge. The style emphasizes individuality, fostering creative expression and pride in cultural identity.
The ability of popping to seamlessly transition from its original funk and disco foundations to electro, and then to modern electronic genres like dubstep, demonstrates its remarkable musical adaptability. This continuous integration with contemporary music forms ensures its enduring relevance and widespread appeal. It illustrates how a dance style can evolve and remain vibrant without compromising its core technical identity.
Table 1: Popping Sub-styles and Core Techniques
Boogaloo
- Boneless fluidity, loose movements
- Circular rolls (hips, chest, shoulders, knees, head), "wormin'", "wiggling", angles, steps, transitions, Dime Stop, Hit, Mack Pose
- Cartoons, Animated Movies
Waving
- Wave-like motion through the body
- Fluid, uniform motion, isolation, changing muscle tension, arm waves, finger waves
- Ocean waves
Tutting
- Geometric shapes and movements, predominantly right angles
- Creating boxes, 90-degree angles, hand sweeps, slides, finger tutting, foot tutting
- Ancient Egyptian art, Hieroglyphics
Robot/Botting
- Mechanical imitation of a robot or mannequin
- Body isolations, wobble/bopping, slow controlled motions, dimestops, 90-degree arm angles
- Machines, Robots
Animation
- Stop-motion effect, frame-by-frame movement
- Abrupt muscle tensing, rigid and jerky movements, similar to strobing and robot
- Dynamation films (Ray Harryhausen)
Gliding/Floating/Sliding
- Smooth floor movement, weightlessness
- Pivoting on toes/heels, alternating heel-up/heel-down, weight shifts, "The Usher," "Booker Forte," "box glides," "circle glides"
- Smooth movement across surfaces (e.g., "moonwalk")
Ticking
- Segmented movement, precise, robotic-like
- Series of sharp, incremental hits, muscle tension, isolation, rhythmic repetition
- Ticking of a clock
Strobing
- Strobe light effect, rapid, jerky movement
- Rapid execution of dimestops, quick stops in steady increments, muscle tensing
- Strobe lights
Dime Stop
- Abrupt halt to a movement
- Fast, clean halt from one position to another, often followed by a pop
- Stopping "on a dime"