Early Progression

• Hip-hop dance emerged in 1973 or 1974. In "The Joint! The Hip-Hop Studies Reader," hip-hop dance is categorized into its progression from waack dance to breakdancing then finally to hip-hop dance. Waack contains moves such as the robot and contains more acrobatics and freezes. These moves developed into breaking, which was highly competitive. Hip-hop dance was a response to the athleticism required for breaking and was a more calculated form of dance.
  
  

Qualities

• Hip-hop dance borrows competitiveness and athleticism from African-American dance traditions such as the Lindy Hop. Early hip-hop dancers exhibited strength and altheticism in the acrobatics of head spins and backspins and increasingly did so into the 1980s. Other African-American qualities of dance carried into hip-hop dance include: unpredictable movements, angularity, asymmetry, polyrhythmic sensitivity, segmentation, delineation of body parts, percussive performance and apart dancing. Zulu Nation's DJ Jazzy Jay is quoted in "Can't Stop, Won't Stop," saying, "You could be dancing with your girl and spin away from her, hit the ground, come back up. It was all about 'smooth'," elaborating on the influence of soul dancers seen on TV. Challenging others in battle form was not so much a part of traditional African-American dancing, rather that element arose from social experiences at the time.
  
  

Competition

• Poor, black boys, alienated from mainstream white society, often turned to gangs, so many dance crews originated from gangs, which would have dance-offs to determine where a rumble would be held. The uprock dance style of battle dancing occurred when rivals lined up to face one another and acted out attacking one another. B-boying looked, and still does even in an environment without the threat of violence, like two dancers making gestures and performing through dance what they would do to the other in battle.
  
  

Zulu Nation

• The Zulu Nation formed as "The Organization," an alternative to gangs in the Bronx in 1976. The group put together "the Zulu Kings" dance crew in 1977. The crew would travel the area, challenging other crews to dance battles. The Zulu Queens brought female breakers into the scene. Whereas the boys improvised unpredictable battle dances, girl breakers focused more on synchronized, choreographed dances that can be seen as pioneering routines to popular video and performance choreography today. In 1977, "The Freak" became popularized, where two or more men would dance with a girl. This kind of dancing soon replaced breakdancing in some circles. At the same time, groups of Puerto Rican dancers began hitting the breakdancing scene and competing against serious crews such as the Zulu Kings.
  
  

Expansion

• By the 1984 Olympics, breaking was a featured entertainment, meaning mainstream society already had begun using hip-hop dance to market music and other products. With the entertainment value increasing, hip-hop dance required more acrobatics. Hip-hop dance has been much more inclusive of female dancers, especially in the arenas of breaking and acrobatics. Dance competitions on TV and in movies, as well as choreography in music videos, now almost always contains elements of hip-hop dance.