Basic Hip Hop Moves for Beginners

Groove

The groove involves alternating between bent and extended knees, in time with the beat. When you bend your knees and swing down, it accentuates the forward tilt of your body. By swinging up and extending your knees, you align yourself as if pushing off and create a slight tilt backwards.

The movement should be done expressively, with muscle tension, but the viewer should see a relaxed dancer. Performing groove, you will feel the music and rhythm. Then the groove can be varied by swinging movements of the hands and light tilting of the body to the sides.

Try to make a groove to different music with different tempo and rhythms. The better you do it, the faster you can choose faster music.

You can make a groove with an accent downwards – then the initial position will be with even legs. Or you can do a groove with an accent upwards, in which case you can start with bent knees.

Tone wop

It’s a basic movement taught to beginners in hip-hop. It needs to be studied to a degree of automation. During Tone Wop, the dancer takes small steps and “closes” and “opens” the feet.

You can take a step in any direction you want – backward, to the side or you can walk all the time just forward. But for starters, we recommend moving only in one direction to understand the structure of the movement.

Rhythm: on the score “once” we make a step, on the score “and” – “close” the stops, on the score “two” – “open”.

When you feel confident in this movement, try to add a variety of hand and body movements.

Brooklyn Bounce

– is a swing with crossed legs. Let’s start with Bounce. You can practice it as follows: jump up slightly and, once you land, bend your knees gently. Do it a few times – you should feel like you’re jumping like a ball, only smoothly and gently.

Next, try to learn how to work your legs:

Criss Cross

It’s a movement in which the legs cross in a jump with a groove. It may seem that the movement is very simple, but it is worth remembering that it is performed at a very fast pace and in conjunction with other elements, so the clarity of execution must be honed in the first class.

Salsa Rock

A little cardio – low jumps in place. The movement consists of throwing one leg forward while making a small jump backward with the support leg. Then the same movement must be done on the second leg. The body and arms are directed towards the jump (most likely this part will be obtained by inertia).

Sham Rock

– is a bailiff system with a twist and a final jump. Professional dancers beautifully capture each phase of the movement and place accents on the shoulders.

Dougie

The fashion movement Dougie looks cool to any music. These are legs with the foot turned inside out and hands walking beautifully in the opposite direction. The width of the step, the degree of bending of the knees, the waving of hands, and the general mood of the performance – all make this element into a full dance.

FAQ

What are the basic movements of hip hop?

The very first thing to start studying hip-hop is groove.
A list of basic movements:

• Groove:
• Tone wop;
• Brooklyn Bounce;
• Criss Cross;
• Sham Rock;
• Dougie

How do you do basic hip hop moves?

First, it is necessary to study the technique of execution of this or that movement, then – to bring the execution of the movement to automatism. After that, add the groove and freedom in your movements with your hands.

How can I learn hip hop?

It’s best to learn to hip-hop in a specialized dance studio. Under the guidance of the coach, classes will be held as productively as possible. If this is not possible, you can start with video lessons on YouTube. Watch more videos of cool professional dancers dancing – it will help you “catch” style and technique.