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
