Street dancing incorporates some of the most unique music, moves, and techniques out there. If you want to wow a crowd or immerse yourself in the fluid, intricate movements of street dance, there are a variety of styles you can learn. In this article, we’ll outline a few of the most popular street dance styles and show you how they’re done with free video lessons. Learn how to do street dance moves!
Krumping is a popular style of street dance, especially among the hip-hop crowd. We’re going to show you how to do a simple krumping move that will still leave spectators speechless, no matter your current skill level.
Watch the video lesson above to see how pro dancer Jino Fort pulls it off.
For this move, there’s a particular focus on retraction. Retraction is the fluid “bounce” motion that happens when you’re flowing from one step to the next.
In the krumping move we outlined above, this retraction comes into play between each step. In particular, it’s important to pause between steps two and three. This helps create the sense of retraction and makes the dance more believable.
In this section, we’re going to teach you how to do a pop, lock and wave move. You’re probably familiar with waving, but just in case: waving is a dance move that creates the illusion of a wave moving through your body. As you can imagine, this looks very cool, and is a great way to really feel the music.
There are three basic types of pop, lock and wave moves: straight waves, kick waves, and full body waves. Let’s take a closer look.
This is the easiest type of wave to master, especially as a beginner street dancer. We recommend that you practice this move a lot before moving onto the other ones.
Here, the “wave” starts in one of your arms, goes through your chest, and then exits through your other arm:
Kick waves are the next level up from straight waves, incorporating many of the same movements. In fact, some people like to combine the kick wave and straight wave for a more unique dance combo.
Here, instead of simply rolling the wave from arm to arm, you perform the wave in segments while kicking one of your legs. Each time you kick, you perform another segment of the wave:
Okay, now the full body wave is tricky and will take lots of practice. As you can guess from the name, this is a wave that goes all the way through your body.
Starting Position: Arms out in front of you, crooked at the elbows, and shoulders up.
It may take some time before you can pull this move off, but in the meantime, don’t be afraid to play around and experiment with pop-lock-waving. To get a better visual of how these moves play out, watch the Howcast video above!
Everyone has heard of the robot. It’s one of the most popular dance styles ever, but it takes time to get the hang of. This is because botting is stiff. Many people are used to looser, more fluid street dance moves, so restricting themselves to the stiffer, more isolated movements can be difficult at first. But it’s those very stiff, isolated movements that make botting like nothing else!
Start by doing a “robot” walk. Keep it slow, and keep it robotic. Then get botting:
While practicing this routine, remember that your body should be moving one part at a time. You pull one arm back, and then pull the other one back. This gives the robot moves the stiff, mechanical illusion.
Turfing is commonly seen in clubs, and is a popular type of street dance as well. It’s great, because you can learn a turfing routine regardless of your current skill level. Plus, it’s really versatile and you can do a variety of things with it.
Here, we’re going to outline how to do a simple two-step turf dance. Remember, it’s as straightforward as doing two moves over and over again, but adding your own flair each time to keep it interesting. Here’s the breakdown. Pay special attention to steps 7 and 8, because that’s where the real magic happens.
Starting Position: It’s best to start standing straight, with your feet together.
Easy, right? There is something you need to keep in mind, though. Your movements need to be smooth and clean, especially in steps 7 and 8. If your movements are too sloppy, the two-step just won’t work.
In this article, we covered some fun and unique street dance moves that you can take with you anywhere. For even more street dance lessons, explore the rest of the video series below!
Jino Fort
Jino Fort is a hard-working choreographer who goes through enough of the struggle to know where he wants to go in life. He has gone on tour with Nadia Ali and is currently with MSA Agency. Not only is his dance phenomenal, but his attitude, hard work, and drive match it.