Yes!... Let me explain.

If you walked into a Ballet class, you'd hear the instructor say things like tendu, passé, plié, and other french words that the average American won't know how to spell (thank you, Google🙌). These words are part of Ballet technique and coincide with specific movements. HipHop has no technique.

HipHop is pure movement. When someone is doing HipHop, they move whatever body part they want in a way that looks like the music sounds (aka Musicality). There is no universally accepted HipHop terminology associated with specific HipHop movements. That is why every time I'm teaching a group of students for the first time, I tell them that HipHop is like Simon Says: "Whenever I tell you to do something, you need to do exactly what I am doing. Down to the most minute detail. If I stick my arm out, what arm am I using? What angle is it at? What are my fingers doing? Are my muscles relaxed or tense? You, as the student, need to keep all these details in mind."

HipHop is structured so that every person's way of movement can be expressed through their choreography. In order to learn that choreography, the student must climb into the head of the instructor and mimic the nuances of every movement. Thus, learning HipHop teaches students to be extremely detail oriented! There can be thousands of different unnamed movements in one piece of choreography, and the student must learn to do them exactly how the choreographer is doing them... In 30 minutes (No pressure 😨)

HipHop restructures the brain to take in all the information being given by the instructor and order it in context of the situation. For example, the word "arm," the extension of the right arm, the instruction to move on a specific beat, and the characteristic of the movement, is information to be absorbed and used to govern how the student executes the choreography.

This is a skill that can be applied to many different contexts! A child doing chores correctly. A student learning a math lesson. A parent analyzing their child's actions to see if they are actually doing as "ok" as they say they are. HipHop restructures the brain to take information and put it in context instead of learning one solution and plugging it into every situation. If Simon may have said "Lift your right arm," but did he said "Simon Says?"

Thanks for reading! Look out for the second post next week!

Live In Motion,

-Joél Casanova