Hip Hop Classes in Centurion: What Students Learn

Hip hop is the style most new students ask for and the one most misunderstood. It is not a set of moves copied from a music video. It is a culture with a history, and the dance inside it has foundations you can learn in order.

The culture first

Hip hop rests on four elements: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti. The dance grew out of the same streets in the same years, and it carries the same attitude: invent rather than imitate.

We teach the history because a dancer who knows where a step came from holds it differently. It stops being a pose and becomes a form.

Breaking

Breaking started in the Bronx in the 1970s: footwork, freezes and power moves, with a battle structure around it. It is one of the most physically demanding dances there is, which is why we teach it as progressions with the body's limits in mind.

Students learn the six-step, toprock and the entry work that leads to windmills and freezes. Nobody is thrown into a power move before their wrists and shoulders can take it.

Popping

Popping is the hit: muscles tensed and released on the beat to make a sharp pop, while the rest of the body stays still. It came out of the West Coast in the 1970s and produced animation, robot, waving and tutting.

It is the most technical of the styles we teach and the least forgiving. A late hit is visible from across the room. Students who put in the isolation work early find the advanced material opens up on its own.

The other styles

House and amapiano carry the groove side of the curriculum, and both are danced socially in Gauteng every weekend. Krumping belongs to the same family tree and we teach its history, though it is not a class of its own here.

Which class to start in

Kidz, ages 7 to 12: Group A on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 17:00, Group B on Fridays at 16:00 and Saturdays at 10:30.

13+ Beginner: Saturdays 09:00 to 10:30, or the Friday session from 17:00.

Intermediate and Advanced are entered by evaluation, and run on Saturdays at 11:30 and 13:00.

No experience is needed for Beginner or Kidz. Bring comfortable clothes, trainers and water.

Classes are R1,000 a month with a once-off R250 registration, and drop-in for the 13+ classes is R200.

Message 082 572 9407 with your child's age and we will point you at the right group. The full timetable is on the classes page.