Hiphop Dance

Soultree said:

Hm, that's a tough one to answer concisely.

In short, it's an "urban" culture.
The defined elements of it are DJing(playing/mixing music with certain types of rhythm/beats), Bboying(dancing, but this has evolved into many different subgenres), Grafitting (it's more than just destroying public properties, i promise!), and MC (rapping).
It's essentially open themed in the sense that the general message is to embrace who you are and refine your own set of skills to express. Some of the more popular themes covered both in dance and music are struggles from poverty, racial tensions, loneliness, and etc..
There are messages of violence too, but I view them more as expressions of rage and anger and not take the words literally. I also emphasize that it does not remotely cover even the tiniest bit of what Hiphop is in its entirety.

If you're interested, I believe the following artists may be a good place to start:

The Roots
Talib Kweli
Common
Mos Def
Tupac
Biggie
Nas
Eminem

And dance teams such as:

Choreo Cookies
Jabbawockeez
Gamblers Crew

I guess that wasn't short at all ..
I hope I've at least interested you in finding out more :]

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Soultree said:

I recently did learn that through my research!
The idea of feeling sound vibrations and building rhythm into your muscle memory fascinates me. To be quite honest, as a dancer, I myself cannot keep a rhythm for the life of me, and this is actually how I overcame that problem - Drilling rhythm into my muscles through memory.

I'm not so sure how many would be interested in HIPHOP specifically, as we are a subculture within society and are struggling to grow and share our art in general.

Either way, thank you so much for your response!

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Bottesini said:

Do you understand they aren't accessible to many of us? Glennie is pure percussion, and Sean Forbes signs everything he does.

It's really for deaf people.

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ricas27 said:

I interesting not only HipHOp.

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Soultree said:

I respectfully disagree.

I believe each individual experiences music/art/culture in his or her own way.
Lyrics, rhythms, breaks, expressions, colors, staging, setting, lighting, .
These are just few layers of a dance performance specifically, and I don't think a difficulty understanding one layer of it will hinder the artists from inspiring the imagination of their audience.
I also think it's faulty to assume that the hearing can appreciate art on every level.
We each have our own unique perspective, and that includes our personal struggles.

To give you a better idea, here are two amazing deaf dancers in our hiphop community:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6yMCUeXEVY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw1MAe_LSy0

And this guy who inspires me everyday to persevere:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCvLeCIltXg


So, there isn't a single way to enjoy hiphop or music, and art cannot be defined.

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