Hip Hop Foundations
What musical and vocal element is often mistaken for the entirety of hip-hop culture?
Rap
What is it called when a dancer creates movement spontaneously instead of following a predetermined routine?
Improvisation, or freestyling.
Which community's musical and dance traditions are foundational to the development of American jazz dance?
African American, or Black American, communities.
What documentary did we explore to examine jazz dance history and its cultural roots?
Uprooted.
What is the rhythmic technique of emphasizing unexpected beats or weaker parts of the beat?
Syncopation.
What is the name of the communal circle where dancers take turns expressing themselves, often through improvisation?
A cypher.
What are groups of dancers called when they share identity, community, and often a collective dance practice?
Crews.
What partner dance associated with swing music became famous at Harlem's Savoy Ballroom?
The Lindy Hop.
What energetic social dance, popular during the 1920s, became an important influence on jazz dance?
The Charleston.
hat is it called when two or more different rhythmic patterns occur simultaneously?
Polyrhythm.
Name two street dance forms commonly associated with hip-hop dance culture.
Breaking, popping, locking, or krumping. Any two.
Name one positive role hip-hop has played in communities beyond entertainment.
Building community, supporting identity, providing creative expression, creating belonging, or offering a space for connection.
What early American social dance became associated with the Cakewalk tradition and satirical performances of plantation-era manners?
The Cakewalk.
What famous Harlem ballroom became a landmark for swing dancing and helped bring dancers of different racial backgrounds together during segregation?
The Savoy Ballroom.
What dance concept involves responding to the rhythm, accents, phrasing, and feeling of the music?
Musicality.
What do we call the process of arranging and organizing movement into a dance?
Choreography.
What is the process called when hip-hop becomes packaged and sold through commercial entertainment, media, competitions, or the dance industry?
Commercialization.
What is one way enslaved Africans and their descendants maintained rhythmic musical traditions using their bodies when instruments were restricted?
Body percussion, including clapping, stomping, and rhythmic body movements.
Name one quality that can be associated with authentic jazz dance and its cultural traditions.
Improvisation, syncopation, individuality, rhythmic complexity, musical expression, or social connection. Students should explain their choice.
Name two jazz step and describe how it is performed.
Accept any correctly described step studied in class, such as a jazz square, grapevine, ball change, jazz walk, or pas de bourrée.
Why doesn't memorizing a hip-hop routine automatically mean a dancer fully understands hip-hop?
Performing a routine demonstrates movement-learning skills, but understanding hip-hop also involves its history, cultural roots, community, musicality, improvisation, and traditions of expression.
What could be lost when a studio teaches hip-hop only as memorized choreography without discussing its cultural background?
Students may miss its history, community values, cypher traditions, improvisation, individuality, and cultural significance.
Why is it important to study the history and cultural context of jazz instead of learning only the steps?
Historical context explains how the dance developed, the communities that shaped it, its relationship to music and social conditions, and whose contributions should be recognized.
Why does it matter that we know who created, taught, and popularized jazz dance?
Recognition affects whose contributions are remembered and valued, who benefits professionally, and whether the communities that shaped the form receive appropriate acknowledgment. Historical relevance and understanding ones history, community, and culture.
What is the difference between having strong dance technique and being an expressive artist?
Technique involves executing movements with skill and control. Artistry also involves musicality, improvisation, expression, intention, individuality, interpretation, and cultural understanding.