History of Hip-Hop

Hip hop is a broad conglomerate of artistic forms that originated within a marginalized
subculture in the South Bronx and Harlem in New York City among black and Latino youth
during the 1970s.[1][2][3][4][5][6] It is characterized by four distinct elements, all of which
represent the different manifestations of the culture: rap music (oral), turntablism or "DJing"
(aural), breaking (physical) and graffiti art (visual). Despite their contrasting methods of
execution, they find unity in their common association to the poverty and violence underlying
the historical context that birthed the culture. It was as a means of providing a reactionary
outlet from such urban hardship that "hip hop" initially functioned, a form of self-expression
that could reflect upon, proclaim an alternative to, try to challenge or merely evoke the mood
of the circumstances of such an environment. Even while it continues in contemporary history
to develop globally in a flourishing myriad of diverse styles, these foundational elements
provide stability and coherence to the culture.[1] The term is frequently used mistakenly to
refer in a confining fashion to the mere practice of rap music.
The origin of the culture stems from the block parties of the Ghetto Brothers when they
plugged the amps for their instruments and speakers into the lampposts on 163rd Street and
Prospect Avenue, and from DJ Kool Herc at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, where Herc mixed
samples of existing records with his own shouts to the crowd and dancers. Kool Herc is
credited as the "father" of hip hop. DJ Afrika Bambaataa of the hip hop collective Zulu
Nation outlined the pillars of hip hop culture, to which he coined the terms: MCing or
"Emceein", DJing or "Deejayin", B-boying and graffiti writing or "Aerosol Writin".[7][8][9]
[10][11]
Since its evolution throughout the South Bronx, hip hop culture has spread to both urban and
suburban communities throughout the world.[12] Hip hop music first emerged with Kool
Herc and contemporary disc jockeys and imitators creating rhythmic beats by looping breaks
(small portions of songs emphasizing a percussive pattern) on two turntables. This was later
accompanied by "rap", a rhythmic style of chanting or poetry often presented in 16-bar
measures or time frames, and beatboxing, a vocal technique mainly used to provide percussive
elements of music and various technical effects of hip hop DJs. An original form of dancing
and particular styles of dress arose among fans of this new music. These elements experienced
considerable adaptation and development over the course of the history of the culture.

History of Cha-Cha
The cha-cha-cha, or simply cha-cha, is the name of a dance of
Cuban origin. It is danced to the music of the same name
introduced by Cuban composer and violinist Enrique Jorrn in
1953. This rhythm was developed from the danzn by a
syncopation of the fourth beat. The name is onomatopoeic,
derived from the rhythm of the giro (scraper) and the
shuffling of the dancers' feet.
The ballroom style of dancing the cha-cha-ch comes from
studies made by dance teacher Monsieur Pierre (Pierre
Zurcher-Margolle), who partnered Doris Lavelle.[5]
Pierre, then from London, visited Cuba in 1952 to find out
how and what Cubans were dancing at the time. He noted that
this new dance had a split fourth beat, and to dance it one
started on the second beat, not the first. He brought this dance
idea to England and eventually created what is now known as
ballroom cha-cha-cha.[6]
The validity of his analysis is well established for that time,
and some forms of evidence exist today. First, there is in
existence film of Orquesta Jorrin playing to a cha-cha-cha
dance contest in Cuba; second, the rhythm of the Benny More

classic Santa Isabel de las Lajas written and recorded at about

the same time is quite clearly syncopated on the fourth beat.
Also, note that the slower bolero-son ("rumba") was always
danced on the second beat.

History of Rumba
Rumba is a dance term with two quite different meanings. In some
contexts, "rumba" is used as shorthand for Afro-Cuban rumba, a
group of dances related to the rumba genre of Afro-Cuban music. The
most common Afro-Cuban rumba is the guaguanc.[1] The other
Afro-Cuban rumbas are Yambu and Columbia.
In other contexts, "rumba" refers to ballroom-rumba, one of the
ballroom dances which occurs in social dance and in international
competitions. In this sense, rumba is the slowest of the five competitive
International Latin dances: the paso doble, the samba, the cha-chacha and the jive being the others. This ballroom rumba was derived
from a Cuban rhythm and dance called the bolero-son; the
international style was derived from studies of dance in Cuba in the
pre-revolutionary period.
The ballroom rumba derives its movements and music from the son,
just as do the salsa and mambo. The Peanut Vendor was the first
recording of Cuban music to become an international hit:[4] it was

incorrectly described on the label as a rumba, perhaps because the

word son would not be understood in English. The label stuck, and a
rumba craze developed through the 1930s. This kind of rumba was
introduced into dance salons in America and Europe in the 1930s, and
was characterized by variable tempo, sometimes nearly twice as fast as
the modern ballroom rumba.

History of Jive
In Ballroom dancing, Jive is a dance style in 4/4 time that originated in the United States from
African-Americans in the early 1930s. It was originally presented to the public as 'Jive' in
1934 by Cab Calloway. It is a lively and uninhibited variation of the Jitterbug, a form of
Swing dance. Glenn Miller introduced his own jive dance in 1938 with the song "Doin' the
Jive" which never caught on.
Jive is one of the five International Latin dances. In competition it is danced at a speed of 176
beats per minute, although in some cases this is reduced to between 128 and 160 beats per
minute.
Many of its basic patterns are similar to these of the East Coast Swing with the major
difference of highly syncopated rhythm of the Triple Steps (Chasses), which use straight
eighths in ECS and hard swing in Jive. To the players of swing music in the 1930s and 1940s
"Jive" was an expression denoting glib or foolish talk.[1] Or derived from the earlier generics
for giouba of the African dance Juba dance verbal tradition.
American soldiers brought Lindy Hop/Jitterbug to Europe around 1942, where this dance
swiftly found a following among the young. In the United States the term Swing became the
most common word used to describe the dance.[2] In the UK variations in technique led to
styles such as Boogie-Woogie and Swing Boogie, with "Jive" gradually emerging as the
generic term. [3]

After the war, the boogie became the dominant form for popular music. It was, however, never
far from criticism as a foreign, vulgar dance. The famous ballroom dancing guru, Alex
Moore, said that he had "never seen anything uglier". English instructors developed the
elegant and lively ballroom Jive, danced to slightly slower music. In 1968 it was adopted as the
fifth Latin dance in International competitions. The modern form of ballroom jive in the
1990s-present, is a very happy and boppy dance, the lifting of knees and the bending or
rocking of the hips often occurs.

Contemporary Dance
Contemporary dance is a popular form of dance which
developed during the middle portion of the twentieth century
and has since grown to become one of the dominating
performance genres for formally trained dancers throughout
the world, with particularly strong popularity in the U.S. and
western Europe. Although originally informed by and
borrowing from classical, modern, and jazz styles, it has since
come to incorporate elements from many styles of dance, but
due to its popularity amongst trained dancers and some
overlap in movement type, it is often perceived as being closely

related to modern dance, ballet and other classical concert

dance styles.
In terms of the focus of its technique, contemporary dance
tends to utilize both the strong and controlled legwork of ballet
and modern dance's stress on the torso, and also employs
contact-release, floor work, fall and recovery, and
improvisation characteristic of modern dance. Unpredictable
changes in rhythm, speed, and direction are often used, as
well. It sometimes also incorporates elements of non-western
dance cultures such as elements from African dance including
bent knees, or movements from the Japanese contemporary
dance Butoh.