Meaning of Style

[ceech]

I hear people use the word style in regards to dance and I see that sometimes it gets confusing because the meaning is different for some people.

dictionary.com defines style as -

a particular kind, sort, or type, as with reference to form, appearance, or character: the baroque style; The style of the house was too austere for their liking.

I hear people say this, my style of popping is like this or that, and his style of locking is like this or that. I can see how a person and can pop or lock, and look different from another person, and I understand what this person is saying. However, we have to keep in mind that Popping itself is a "style", a form of dance, just like ballet or jazz or tap, locking, etc.

I guess I just want to point out the difference in meaning when people use the word "style".

Here are some styles or forms of "Funk Styles". And I would definitely "Funk Styles" as the forms of dance that originated and associated with the Funk Era, funk music.

Locking
Popping
Boogalooing
Waving
Snaking
Tutting
Saccing
Filmore
Robotting
Ticking
Strutting
Strobing
Animation
Bopping

please help me add to this list if i miss some.

[Larry Pink]

Clinking! Squirming! Cobra! Toy Man!

[Double You Kong]

Great topic. During one of Rashaad's battles at "All the Way Live," you could hear him naming out different styles while dancing. He looked at his opponent and declared, "SNAKE," and he did it. Then stopped again and declared, "FILMORE," and he did it. He basically named out everything he was doing, which was pretty awesome, considering that it was an all styles battle.

[Funky Robotnick]

Interesting post! Although if you wanna know the real meaning of style, all you gotta do is watch me when Im dancing... haha j/k

So many styles. Then substyles to styles. Here's some more I could think of..
Stepin, creepin, scarecrow, crazy legs, isolation, boog style/ electric boogaloo, domino, oak park, bustin, finger tutts, 3-D,

Ok, so there was one point I wanted clarification on (sorry Ceech, Im not letting you off that easy :D): I'd agree with everything on that list, except for the first one-- Locking. All those other styles are part of popping, which is a DANCE, as well as a style. I would argue that popping and locking are both separate dances, not two styles to the same dance. Look at culture, character, moves, geography, history, the two really have very little in common. Not to mention, Locking has its own set of styles too. Actually Id be interested in hearing more on the different styles in locking.

Hmm, I wonder how many we can come up with here.

P.S, Rashad is a beast.

[MikeyP]

Locking is outside of funk styles, so i've been told.

and if it is a funk style, then it is the grand daddy of them all.

The styles of locking i can think up off the top of my head

Traditional (i.e. late 60's)
Valley /Chain Reation
Arm style
Statue Style
Mimelocking
Fusion/Speed Control

These are the one's ive come in contact with, or learned personally.

[MikeyP]

and in response to the origional question:

saying popping as a style, nah.

saying popping as a dance, as a medium through which your individuality can come out, yea.

Alota musicians talk about the music between the notes, the emphases put on certain parts of music vs other parts. What you do between the notes is you, your personality, your identity, your style. its how you identify yourself as an individual instead of a drone.

Thelonious monk for example. His medium for expressing himself was jazz music. Through that medium of jazz he defined himself through a style (being onbeat, but off. constantly catching up to the melody/theme/tempo/etc...) You can listen to his music and instantly know, or have damn good idea, that your listening to Monk. Because its his style to play like that.

Using that example with dancing: If you could just see a shadow of a locker shown on a blank wall where you can just see the movement but nothing else, can you identify them? Using a locker you all know, Rei from GoGo. If you could just see his shadow, you could identify him as Rei. Why? because he has a distinct STYLE of locking. The dance he is doing is locking, but he is doing it in his own way, his on flavor, his own interpritation, his own STYLE.

[Larry Pink]

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x314/darthaholic/PopLock.jpg

[Funky Robotnick]

oh yeah, poplocking, thats another style!

[Inventfmc]

I hear people use the word style in regards to dance and I see that sometimes it gets confusing because the meaning is different for some people.

dictionary.com defines style as -

a particular kind, sort, or type, as with reference to form, appearance, or character: the baroque style; The style of the house was too austere for their liking.

I hear people say this, my style of popping is like this or that, and his style of locking is like this or that. I can see how a person and can pop or lock, and look different from another person, and I understand what this person is saying. However, we have to keep in mind that Popping itself is a "style", a form of dance, just like ballet or jazz or tap, locking, etc.

I guess I just want to point out the difference in meaning when people use the word "style"

First of all... a definition doesn't ALWAYS have to come from a dictionary. But if you wanna go that route...

Honestly, how do you describe someone who pops differently from everyone else? The real individuals?
Aren't they then exhibiting THIS??? : "a particular kind, sort, or type, as with reference to form, appearance, or character"

I sure as the heck would think so!!!

And let me break down a couple of things.

First of all, on a personal level in regards to what I have learned in this dance...
I began in 2002. The word "funk styles" did not exist then. Just Popping and Locking. I was FAR away from any influences but wanted to learn as much as I could. I would visit Mr. Wiggles forum and the soulseek chat rooms when I wanted information. When I heard about a particular SUB-STYLE of popping, I would go on either of those and I would ask for a one sentence, bare bones description of that style.

I would not ask how to do it or what moves. Just WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF EACH INDIVIDUAL SUB-STYLE.
For example: Q:"What is waving?" A:"A style that makes it look like waves are going through your body." or Q:"What is scarecrow?" A:"A boogaloo sub-style in which you dance like a scarecrow."

I would take these simple ideas and work on them. I would create my OWN foundations and MY OWN movements to build off of. Does this mean I am not a popper because I don't have a poppers foundational move sets? Or does it mean I have my OWN STYLE OF POPPING?

If you ask me, I believe I have my own style of popping. My own foundation. My own way of using movements. My own way of getting down. I am an individual in this art form that is different from everyone else because I BUILT AND CREATED WHAT I USE. How many here can say the same?

Second, I don't like calling this stuff "Funk Styles."
Each one of the popping sub styles, when done properly, is it's OWN STYLE and it's OWN DANCE. This is a new term that is only 3 years old and somehow it's become the standard.

The way cats danced their popping to FUNK in the 70's is VASTLY DIFFERENT from how they danced to ELECTRO in the 80's. Both are different from how cats get down to the same music today.
The cats that started tutting, waving, animating, ticking and really GLIDING, were mainly the PopLockers. And guess what they danced to? ELECTRO!!!
So I guess we can narrow down the "funk styles" list and just call about 65% of what you listed Electro Styles. Because it was styles originally danced to Electro Music.

And let's be honest with the whole funk styles label... You can't really say that people "Boogaloo". That is Boogaloo Sam's PERSONAL STYLE. And he even says there's two people that can do it... him and Jazzy J. NO ONE ELSE. So the name had to be changed... Boogaloo was too exclusive... then came the term "boog" and now "boog style". You young cats need to realize the labels you put on yourselves too... When you say you do "boog", that means you use boogaloo elements mixed with popping elements... it's acknowledging that you don't really know boogaloo. In my most honest view of it all, saying you do "funk styles" is the same thing... It's saying you don't know what you do so you have to let someone else define it for you.

Funk may be the original music, but seriously... no one knows how to get down to it.

Why?

Because all people listen to (and dance to) is the BEAT!!! They don't listen to the music...
And that is actually another post all together... lemme not get too far off topic.

It may all be personal opinion, but that opinion shouldn't deny the fact that there is no such thing as a person STYLE of popping. Because if there wasn't would mean everyone would have the same foundation, the same moves, and the same feeling in their dance.

To steal something from MikeyP, Dance is an art, and art is ALWAYS personal. When you make it personal, you find yourself and you find how you express yourself best. When you learn how to express yourself you start changing things to best suit you and what you need to get across.

You can't deny someone of their art.

[MikeyP]

Because all people listen to (and dance to) is the BEAT!!! They don't listen to the music...
And that is actually another post all together... lemme not get too far off topic.



start a thread about this. Its a good discussion point methinks:cool:

[Funky Robotnick]

Ok, on the topic of funkstyles-- It was a term created and coined by the EBs, for the dances that they teach. The thing is, there were many terms that worked in similar ways before we ever heard the word funkstyles, which is why a lot of other ogs and pioneers in the game reject the term. Therefore, by letting people define themselves, "funkstyles" becomes a term directly related to the EBs, and nothing else.

Its for this reason that locking isn't a funkstyle. So, if you're gonna use the argument that locking was done to funk music, therefore its a funkstyle, then the same could be said for B-boying and Rocking, which were also being done to funk. All these dances had a big influence from James Brown's music, which is funk, yet only what the EBs do is considered funkstyles.

This is my main problem with the term, it limits the mindset of dancers, instead of opening peoples perceptions. Why not incorporate elements of other dances into your dance?

That's another thing about this whole "style" thing, I think that on a conceptual level its good to be able to separate these styles, but by mixing them people develop their own flavor, their own funk, their own style. These styles should always be mixed.

[Funky Robotnick]

And let's be honest with the whole funk styles label... You can't really say that people "Boogaloo". That is Boogaloo Sam's PERSONAL STYLE. And he even says there's two people that can do it... him and Jazzy J. NO ONE ELSE. So the name had to be changed... Boogaloo was too exclusive... then came the term "boog" and now "boog style". You young cats need to realize the labels you put on yourselves too... When you say you do "boog", that means you use boogaloo elements mixed with popping elements... it's acknowledging that you don't really know boogaloo. In my most honest view of it all, saying you do "funk styles" is the same thing... It's saying you don't know what you do so you have to let someone else define it for you.

Its true that the EBs draw a distinction between "Boogaloo" and "Boog Style," "Boog Style" being the dance that they teach. Boogaloo as a term, dance and style is much older, which they acknowledge through the creation of this new term. Please remember that a lot of these styles were being done in Oakland way before the EBs started dancing, and a lot of what they clam to have invented actually comes from Oakland. Boogaloo as a term and dance is one of these things. Many OGs I've talked to who saw the original Boogaloos in Oakland say all say the same thing, that the EB style of Boogaloo is just an updated version of what fools were doing in Oakland in the late 60s/ 70s.

In Oakland, Boogaloo was a dance, as well as the umbrella term for all the styles being done, which is how the EBs use the term as well. Boog Style is what the majority of these poppers out there are doing when they say they're doing Boogaloo. Thats why I added "Boog" to the list of styles in my first post lol

[AsiatiC.GroovMekanex]

Damn this topic is a cluster f*** or a Charlie Foxtrot as we used to say in the army. HEY YALL IMMMM BAAAACCCKKKK! i guess i'll show my age in this one....
I would like add my 2 cents to these topics. FUNK STYLES- i think the term should PRECISELY be connected(coined) to the EB's as it is PERCEIVED the 'popping' culture in THEIR eyes. They have influenced the world,ergo, they are going to have there 'own' terms because it helps people understand what THEY are talking about. It is language. Also, as you have a 'business' in teaching people how to dance 'your' way (the electric boogaloo) you MUST have your own terms as your business starts to institutionalize its philsophy. i think the thing to do is to say in conversation is 'hey poppin in FUNKSTYLE is.....' Then dancers will know that the term 'funkstyle' is an EB term and will refer the conversation accordingly. If i say 'hey you know that fastfoward style..blazay blah', i do not think you will be thinking about the EB. Then we can all move the hell on. Because, when YOU tell ME 70's funkstyle, i'm thinkin 70's dances like the 'doggy', the hustle, the broken leg (which might have one of the biggest influences in A move in popping and lockin) and NOT JUST poppin'. This supports Invent's general statement of how people in different eras dance to the SAME music.
The depressing thing about most of us is that we are so caught up on names that the triviality becomes frivolous and people CANNOT see past the name and the images. JUST STOP(shrugs shoulders). Keep your mind open and do not judge unless you can take being judged. Names help us recall a specific 'thing' in a precise manner. That is luvly BUT it should not hinder your mind to the point of restriction. As a teacher and a dancer, i need names but i rather just show you and copy me to 'feel' how i'm doin a move. i would like to translate and you interpret...to connect. So funk the dumbshish...don't get caught up on names and become a Name Pro and talk like you finally got a certification. I get tired because new heads forget that without the people doing their own thing back then which they most likely had no names for their moves (unless they foresaw themselves as dance teachers) just did their thing and just danced. i'm thinking all of us probably do these moves that maybe had no name but rock the hell out of a move that has probably been modified by some unknown but is better than the original move...has anyone heard of that dude Don somethin?