Elemental Studios Community Blog

  Commercial Pop as a dance style is a high-energy, bold, versatile, performance-focused style that has truly changed the game for dancers across the world with how it's both fluid and expressive, and how it connects dancers to the inner star that they didn't know that they had. It combines the dance elements of jazz funk, street dance, contemporary, heels, and other dance styles to create choreography that makes you feel ready to perform and showcase yourself in a new way.  The rise of commercial dance as a style originated and grew out of theatrical jazz, vaudeville, and street dance traditions. It has spanned over decades, starting as early as the late 1800s-1950s when early precursors grew out of vaudeville, minstrel shows, and nightclubs.  Some of the great pioneers of commercial dance, such as Jack Cole, who is known as the father of theatrical jazz dance, shaped the slick and energetic style that was used in early Hollywood and stage performances. Another great pio...

  Jazz Funk, also known as street jazz, is a dance style that is a combination of hip-hop and jazz dance techniques. This style originated and started in the early 1980s, and grew during the emergence of hip-hop, borrowing a lot of moves from many other dance styles. From ballet to modern hip-hop and lyrical, it has taken bits and pieces of those genres and has made a unique style that is both fun and expressive in many ways.  As an individual dance genre, the style came to the forefront in mainstream media on the sketch comedy show, "Living in Color," in the early 1990s. The choreographer Rosie Perez directed the "Fly Girls," which at the time included Jennifer Lopez and blended jazz techniques with hip-hop grooves. In the early 2000s, choreographers such as Brian Friedman, Kevin Maher, and Bobby Newberry really made this style a staple in dance culture. With the addition of hip-hop attitudes and the leaps, turns, and modern, dramatic expression of modern jazz, it ...

  K-pop, as both a music genre and dance style originated in South Korea during the early 1990s with its roots in "rap fusion" which became popularized by the very first K-pop group Seo Taiji and Boys in 1992.  This group modernized and experimented with the South Korean music scene and they became the leading force into creating a bigger space for K-pop in different musical aspects outside of the contemporary music style at the time. Seo Taiji and Boys' popularity with teenagers made the music industry focus on this age demographic. Lee Soo-man of SM Entertainment developed the 1st Korean idol system in the later 1990s, which made iconic K-pop groups like H.O.T and S.E.S, which were 2 of many groups out of the 1st generation of K-pop which ranges from the years 1990-2002.  The idol system in the many different K-pop companies is a structured "star factory" where aspiring artists known as trainees go through intense training in singing, rapping, danc...

  Hip-Hop Dance has developed and evolved from a variety of different street styles that we know today, and were created from the styles that came from the 1970s and became popular by dance crews in the United States. Some of the first films and shows that showcased hip-hop dance culture was the show "Soul Train" and the 1980s films "Breakin'", "Beat Street", and "Wild Style", which showcased these hip-hop crews and dance styles in their early development stages, which then, have hip-hop dance and culture more exposure in the mainstream media space.  When hip-hop was introduced to the commercial studio dance space, it was introduced as "new style", and a hip-hop-influenced style of jazz called "jazz funk". Highly trained dancers developed these different studio styles to create choreography from the hip-hop dance styles that were performed on the streets.  The commercialization of hip-hop expanded even more in the 1990s an...

  Twerk is a dance style that originated from the bounce music scene of New Orleans in 1990. It has a broader origin with many other dance styles that are found among the African diaspora that comes from Bantu-speaking Africans of Central Africa. This style is a larger set of moves that are specific to the New Orleans style of hip-hop known as "bounce". The moves of  "mixing", "exercising", the "bend over", the "shoulder hustle", "clapping", "booty clapping", "the sleeper", and "the wild wood", which were all recognized as booty shaking or bounce.  The tradition of this dance style shaped social clubs, pleasure clubs, block parties, and parades, which created a historical rise to sissy bounce with bounce music that was performed by artists from the New Orleans African-American community, which led to a rising popularity after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. This style expanded and created a widespread ...

  Brazilian Funk is a dance style that showcases the culture, attitude, sensuality, and soul of Brazil's infectious urban music scene.  This genre of dance is often referred to as Funk Carioca, baile funk, Brazilian Funk, or simply funk, as a Brazilian hip-hop influenced music genre from Rio de Janeiro. Brazilian music has a very vibrant and diverse history, influenced by a variety of cultural and musical traditions. From the rhythmic beats of Afro-Brazilian instrumental music to the smooth melodies of bossa nova, Brazilian music has transformed and developed into a dynamic style that has showcased the nature of the country's landscape.  The dance style developed under the name "Funk Carioca" or, as we all know, Brazilian Funk. This style rose to popularity in the late 1970s and drew from a variety of different international music genres, such as gangsta rap, Miami Bass, Afrobeat, samba, EDM subgenres like freestyle and electro, along with African and Brazilian folk a...

  Reggaeton is a free, energetic, and vibrant rhythmic-based style that is rooted in Latin, Hip-Hop, and Caribbean dance influences. It focuses on fluid body isolation, like the chest, hips, shoulders, and the head,  which create very smooth and sensual movements by moving one section of the body while keeping others steady. This style also focuses on hip movements like rolls and pops, and grounded steps with individual flair, often using bent knees that emphasize the movement, with attitude and confidence, and energetic bounce. This style encourages freestyle and personal expression to make choreography more playful and fun.  The music style blends elements of Puerto Rican and Panamanian music, along with Hip-Hop, Reggae, and Latin influences, exploring a charismatic, playful, and confident personality that makes the music style so unique and diverse in the music space. It has a specific and syncopated beat that is infectious, bringing a fiery passion to the dancers who ...

  Hip-Hop Foundations are the essential, original dance movements and techniques that form the center of Hip-Hop Dance. The moves originated in the streets of the Bronx, New York City, in the 1970s, and over time, these moves have become recognized and appreciated in hip-hop culture.  Some key foundational moves include the Two Step, the Reebok, Running Man, the Cabbage Patch, Robocop, the Bart Simpson, Happy Feet, Brooklyn Bounce, and many more moves. These dances were often referred to as "party dances" as many of them were social dances created in parties and clubs. Learning Foundational moves has many purposes, such as groove, which encourages students to learn the bounce and rhythm of hip-hop music. Musicality which helps students understand how to connect with beats, basslines, and lyrics. Building character, which shows students how to carry personality, history, and the core attitude of hip-hop, and finally, building blocks that are used in more complex choreography a...