Beginning Hip-Hop Dance

Beginning Hip-Hop Dance is a part of Human Kinetics’ Interactive Dance Series. The series includes resources for ballet, modern, tap, jazz, musical theater, and hip-hop dance that support introductory dance technique courses taught through dance, physical education, and fine arts departments. Each student-friendly text includes a web resource offering video clips of dance instruction, assignments, and activities. The Interactive Dance Series offers students a collection of guides to learning, performing, and viewing dance.

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Since its development in the United States in the 1970s, hip-hop has grown to become a global dance phenomenon. In Beginning Hip-Hop Dance, students gain a strong foundation and learn the fundamentals of hip-hop techniques as they venture into the exciting world of this dance genre.

Written by dance educator, historian, and scholar E. Moncell Durden, Beginning Hip-Hop Dance gives students the opportunity to

• explore hip-hop history and techniques, foundational information, and significant works and artists;
• understand the styles and aesthetics of hip-hop dance as a performing art and cultural art form; and
• learn about the forms of hip-hop dance, such as locking, waacking, popping and boogaloo, and house.

The text comes with a web resource that includes 56 video clips to support student learning and aid in the practice of the techniques. The web resource also offers

• extended learning activities and prompts for e-journaling to help students understand how the dance form relates to their overall development as a dancer;
• glossary terms with and without definitions so students can check their knowledge; and
• chapter review quizzes to help students assess their knowledge and understanding of hip-hop dance and its history, artists, styles, and aesthetics.

(The web resource is included with all new print books and some ebooks. For ebook formats that don’t provide access, the web resource is available separately.)

As students move through the book, they will learn the BEATS method of exploring hip-hop through body, emotion, action, time, and space. This method opens up the creative and expressive qualities of the movements and helps students to appreciate hip-hop as an art form. Students will also learn how to critique a dance performance and create their own personal style of movement to music.

Beginning Hip-Hop Dance is a comprehensive resource that provides beginning dance students—dance majors, minors, or general education students with an interest in dance—a solid foundation in this contemporary cultural dance genre. It intertwines visual, auditory, and kinesthetic modes of learning and offers students the techniques and knowledge to build onto the movements that are presented in the book and video clips. Beginning Hip-Hop Dance is the ideal introduction to this exciting dance genre.