Krumping

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Krumping is an urban street dance-form that began in South Central Los Angeles and is characterized by free, expressive, and highly energetic moves involving the arms, head, legs, chest and feet. Krumping is believed to vent anger and stress. It has become a major part of hip hop dance culture. Krumping is used frequently in hip-hop street dance battles.

[edit] History

Krumping is an urban street dance-form that began in South Central Los Angeles and is characterized by free, expressive, and highly energetic moves involving the arms, head, legs, chest and feet. Krumping is believed to vent anger and stress. It has become a major part of hip hop dance culture. Krumping is used frequently in hip-hop street dance battles. Krump is an art used to express emotions. Dance "battling," a form of dance where competitors face-off in a direct competition, it is an integral component of krump in a similar way to the earlier breakdance with heightened moments of frantic, aggressive arm (known as "arm swings") and chest movements (known as chest pops or chest hits) being extremely common. also unlike most street dances, krump promotes a healthy violence free environment. even when dancers may sometimes have what they like to call "animosity" there differences are settled with the form of dance and there is no violence. in more recent years krump has developed into a more constructive less aggresive dance with less "wild" like body movement, with many different styles such as grimey rugged, technical, tricky, etc. these styles include elements such as popping, locking, isolations and tricks performed with things like hats and shirts. Also there is a fashion side to this where some dancers often wear clothes different from the usual "urban" style such as big and baggy clothes often associated with it.

[edit] Global success

Dancers in Africa form groups called "Community Krump." The "Community of Krump" series has provided a forum in Mexico for competitions between these groups.

In Japan a nationwide krump dance tournament was conducted, with first prize being a battle against Lil' C and Miss Prissy. The event was hosted by Masaki Sumitani (Razor Ramon Hard Gay).

Lil' C is featured in the David Michalek Exhibit Slow dancing, which was exhibited in New York City, Los Angeles, California, and London. It has been profiled by Apple, and radio station KCRW.

[edit] Krumping in popular culture

David LaChapelle's 2005 documentary Rize, is an intimate portrayal of the clown dancing subculture, and was featured at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. He says of the movement: "What Nirvana was to rock-and-roll in early '90s is what these kids are to hip hop. It's the alternative to the bling-bling, tie-in-with-a-designer corporate hip-hop thing. Krumping has also risen in popularity in places such as Brazil, Detroit, Houston, Clanton and Boston. 'Krumpers' such as Tight Eyez, Big Mijo the origanal starters of krump dancing, Royal, Loyal, Phanatik, Gutta, Skust, and Knockout Kid have propelled krumping into the dancing mainstream."^[1] This has given Krump plenty of exposure and since then it has risen in popularity in the hip hop dance community.
Clowning was featured in the second episode of the eleventh season of MADtv. Also, Alyson Hannigan guest-starred on an episode of MADtv where she took clowning lessons from the same two clowns and they now appear in many episodes of the show. She guest-starred to promote Date Movie, in which her character, Julia Jones starts krumping (with face paint) in front of Hitch, played by Tony Cox.
Clowning was featured on episode 7 of America's Next Top Model, Cycle 6.
Krumping is also featured in the Chemical Brothers music video Galvanize after the youths enter the club.
There is a small segment on krumping in the movie Bring It On: All or Nothing. Britney (Hayden Panettiere) wants to add the style to a dance routine for the squad to give them more diversity in their performance.
Krumping was a featured style of dance on the Fox reality show So You Think You Can Dance in episode #311 (originally aired June 27, 2007). Dancers Sara and Jesus performed a krumping routine choreographed by Lil' C.^[2] Additionally, on an episode that originally aired August 1, 2007, Dominic Sandoval and Lauren Gottlieb also performed a krumping routine choreographed by Lil' C who was a choreographer for Bring It On: All or Nothing.^{[citation needed]}
The Simpsons featured Krumping in Little Orphan Millie: Bart attempted dance moves to win back his classmates' love. When that failed to work, Marge joined in with him.
The movie Stomp the Yard features Krumping in the beginning of the film.
In the Passions of Girls Aloud, singer Cheryl Cole (March 14, 2008) learns a form of Krumping in Compton with Tommy the Clown.