urban dance styles explained - what is krump dancing or clowning

WHAT IS KRUMP DANCING AND CLOWN DANCING? Krumping developed out of South Central Los Angeles' clown dancing movement. In 1992, Tommy Johnson created a dancing, hip-hop persona named Tommy the Clown, as well as a traveling entertainment crew and a clown dance academy in the African-American community of Compton. Tommy the Clown became a neighbourhood staple, providing young kids with a much-needed creative outlet. It caught on and spread to other neighbourhoods. He also re-imagined the decades-old tradition of dance battles in his creation of The Battle Zone: events and spaces where these clown groups engaged in competition, in which the community audience chose the winners. Krumping grew out of these contests, and during the last two years it has become a dance of its own.

Krumping kicks the hip-hop tradition of dance battles up a notch. It's a freestyle dance form that's full-bodied, adrenaline-driven, and confrontational. although deep-seated in hip hop, it departs from the movement vocabularies of b-boying/ b-girling. The dancers are more interactive with each other, sometimes using physical contact and weight sharing.

Krumping on the big screen: The world of clown and krump dance inspired a rousingly passionate documentary called "Rize" from director/photographer David LaChappelle which premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival and later opened around the U.S. in major theaters and critical acclaim.

Other resources for krumping www.tommytheclown.com