Krumping

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Krumping is a form of dancing that originated in the African-American community of South Central Los Angeles, California and is a relatively new form of the "Urban" Black dance movement. It is free, expressive and highly energetic. Most people paint their faces in different designs to show more emotion.

Crunk/Krunk is a juking, fresh highly enrgetic and wild moves, base on movement will the legs, arm, and head

Contents 1 What is Krump? 2 Styles 3 Emergence of Krump 4 Organization 5 Clowning vs. Krumping 6 Examples in popular culture 7 External links

[edit] What is Krump?

Kingdom Radically Uplifted Mighty Praise (K.R.U.M.P) is a dance style with Christian roots. It is also referred to as getting buck or amped, and is a highly volatile, expressive and versatile dance form. It is constantly evolving and krumping is now a structured form of dance; with a variety of styles. It began as a positive release of aggression and anger and a nonviolent alternative to the street violence that is widespread in many of the areas where it is performed. Since then a movie has been released called Rize by Lions Gate Films directed by David LaChapelle, which depicts the street dance from clowning to krumping. This has given Krump plenty of exposure and since then it has risen in popularity in the hip hop dance community.

Krumping usually involves physical contact between dancers, which can often look like a fight to outsiders, and in few cases can develop into a fight, or include violent physical contact. However, the participants understand this to be part of the dance and neither condone nor advocate assault and/or violence. In this respect, there is a certain parallel with the mosh pit in punk rock.

[edit] Styles

Various styles of krumping include:

• Goofy: Pioneered by the krump practitioner "Goofy" himself. It is the least aggressive of the krump styles, usually funny and energetic.
• Rugged: containing less tricks; more of a pure essence.
• Beasty: Aggressive, beast-like and powerful. It is similar to bully but more animalistic.
• Grimey: Dirty, mistrating and "wrong".
• Flashy: Using a lot of foot movement and quick sharp, precise and showy moves.
• Cocky: Stuck up and conceited.
• Jerky Using motions that are not smooth and flowing but still artistic.
• Bully : Aggressive and powerful
• Tricks: Using a combination of moves
• Fast: Quick, fast and energetic movements
• Technical: a mix of flashy and smooth. Its more of a crowd pleasing syle.

[edit] Emergence of Krump

The founders of Krump were originally dancers for Tommy the Clown, but they were looked down upon for their rougher style and they did not fit in with the rest of the Clown movement. The three founders were Tight Eyes, Big Mijo, and J Smooth. Tight Eyes is also credited with inventing such core clown moves as the wobble. Lil C, Slayer, and other Krumpers are referred to as "fathers of Krump," but although they were prominently featured in Rize, they are not the founders. These individuals are known as the "First Generation", and those that follow make up the later generations.

Tight Eyes was a member of Cartoonz and the Shake City All-Stars before eventually founding the "Krump Kings," a tight-knit group of Krumpers who produce their own DVDs and have pushed hard to spread Krump dancing throughout the world.

[edit] Organization

Krumping has developed into a structured and organized society. The dancers are grouped into groups known as "families" or "fams," these structures being reminiscent of B-boy breakdancing crews or (some have argued) Voguing Houses. Each of the families are organized around a Krump dancer known as the "big homie," who serves as both a dance instructor and a spiritual mentor of sorts. Families such as the Filipino Rice Track, Eyes, Remnant, Hall of Fame, and others, are organized with hierarchies that defer in battle or representation to a more expert or respected Krump dancer. The big Homies take "Lil' Homies", or younger, less experienced and/or beginner practitioners of Krump under their wing, allowing them to learn from them, and represent them in battle. Both titles are terms of respect. These sort of relationships may be interpreted as mentor/apprentice arrangements, similar to those in the Middle Ages and Renaissance arts periods. However, they are more of a surrogate sibling arrangement. These relationships serve a necessary purpose, not only in the absorption and learning of the art and its technique, but also in providing an unfortunately all-too-rare positive image and example for these Lil' Homies. This social dynamic also has more modern parallels in its contemporary, b-boying (more commonly known as breakdancing), which is a more developed and older facet of hip-hop culture and the black dance movement, and more loosely so in the culture of graffiti or "writing" as it is more correctly referred to.

The lil homies take on the name of their big homie. For instance, dancing under Tight Eyes is Junior Eyes, Baby Eyes, Soldier Eyes, Young Eyes, etc. Although a general hierarchy exists in terms of how the names are given out (for instance, the title "twin" goes to the dancer on par with his or her big homie's abilities) this is really up to the discretion of the Big Homey. Some will move all their dancers up by rank at once, or others will simply replace one "junior" with another if the first one leaves the family or loses the name in a battle.

A competition structure has developed as dancers vie for status and respect in the Krump elite and this phase of the Black dance community at large. Contests like the original Tommy the Clown's Battle Zone are often organised to create viable venues for establishing a structured and defendable system of competition and recognition. Contests within the world of Krumping are also called "battles" (as they are in b-boying) and they are held at various events such as the Cages and Arenas.

[edit] Clowning vs. Krumping

Krumping (not Krunk-ing) is often confused with Clowning, but while the two are related by form and origin (and vaguely by style), differences are visible. They share the same basic speed, and a similar movement pattern: a rapid rhythmic bobbling and jerking of the body, as well as the intermittent flex of the spine and thrust-out chest, which may be called "the krump" or a "bobble bounce". Krumping, however, is a more sinister and aggressive dance form and is intended as an expression of anger or a release of pent-up emotion through violent, exaggerated, and dramatic moves. High variation, individuality, and movement are the foundations of the Krump or bobble bounce. It must be said that the current focal point of the dance as of 2006 and its differentiation from Clowning is a dance style of which where dissing or jokes are often involved. This is currently considered the taboo when Krumping, and is called "popping cakes" (cakes being the buttocks). It may also be referred to as "poppin bakes", the difference being due to the gang culture pervasive in California. In a Crip hood, "b" words (words beginning with, or often containing, the letter b) may not be said, or must be altered; and in a Blood hood, "c" words are similarly taboo. So cakes becomes bakes, and boulevard becomes coulevard (pronounced soulevard).

The belief that Krump dancers regularly engage in face-painting is also a misconception: this is a Clown practice, and as Clowning and Krumping have been mixed and misrepresented in their introduction to the public (through music videos of artists such as Missy Elliott), it has been misinterpreted as a regular Krumping practice. The confusion may be a result of the movie Rize which documented the founders and other initial practitioners during the infancy of Krump as an art form; thus, the footage was from a time when the Krump kings were actually evolving from Clowners into the Krumpers of today. The Krumpers' modified use of face paint served as a visual indication of this split. The style and cultural symbolism of this painting (used mostly during the early Krump movement, but now adopted by Clowners) has evolved from the circus clown image into ceremonial indigenous (ie tribal), war, or dance paint. This could signify the development of a third school of a darker or more aggressive nature within Clowning, but still remaining Clown-oriented. In Clowning, there are older Clowners who have styles similar to Krumping but still associate themselves with (and are loyal to) the Clown school of dance.

[edit] Examples in popular culture

Filmmaker David LaChapelle's documentary Rize, which offers an intimate portrayal of the clown dancing subculture, was featured at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. He says of the movement: "What Nirvana was to rock-and-roll in early '90s is what these kids are to hip hop. It's the alternative to the bling-bling, tie-in-with-a-designer corporate hip-hop thing. Krumping has also risen in popularity in cities such as Atlanta, Detroit and Houston. 'Krumpers' such as Willie the Kid, Hot-Lanta and Cray-G have propelled krumping into the dancing mainstream. " [1]

Krumping has had an impact on pop culture and has been seen in music videos, movies and television shows. Some examples are:

• Krump Session One DVD Instructional featuring Lil C [2]
• Missy Elliott's I'm Really Hot music video
• Madonna's Hung Up music video.
• Madonna's Sorry music video.
• The Black Eyed Peas's Hey Mama music video
• The Chemical Brothers' Galvanize music video
• Skinny Puppy
• Be Cool, the 2005 film
• Sean Paul feat. Keyshia Cole "Give It Up To Me" music video
• Chris Brown's "Gimme That" music video.
• Pussycat Dolls "Beep" Music Video
• Poked fun at in the 2006 romance film spoof Date Movie
• Daddy Yankee "Rompe"
• So You Think You Can Dance June 21, 2006
• Shake City DVD
• GET KRUMP DVD in RUSSIAN SHOP SHOP-RUSSIAN
• Golden Series of Krump DVD
• Rize (2005 film)
• America's Next Top Model, Cycle 6 April 12, 2006
• Bring It On: All or Nothing
• Kid B, the first novel to feature krumping and street dance culture (the main focus of the book is on Texas b-boy culture)
• Krumping is also featured in the 2007 hit movie Stomp the Yard
• Currency featuring Lil Wayne & Remy Ma "Where Da Cash At" music video.

Krumping was featured in the second episode of the eleventh season of MADtv. However, the scene ends with the girl clown getting choked and punched. Also, Alyson Hannigan guest-starred on an episode of MADtv where she took krumping lessons from the same two clowns and they now appear in many episodes of the show.

[edit] External links

• Lil C's Krump Instructional
• dem pembroke krumpers
• Kings of Krump
• Krump in Russia
• Krump Dancing Community Site
• Tommy the Clown's Battle Zone
• MTV News on krumping
• CBS News on krumping
• Germany´s 1st Krump & Clowning Community
• Maori Warrior Dance: Dance of Life

Street dance
Breakdancing - Hip hop dance - Krumping - Liquid dancing - Locking - Popping - Robot - Tutting - Uprock