Jumpstyle

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Jumpstyle is a dance and music genre mainly practiced in Europe, specifically the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and northern France. The dance is also called Jumpen (English word Jump + the Dutch suffix -en, meaning "to jump" or "jumping"). Jumpstyle also refers to a style of music to which Jumpstyle can be performed.^[1]. Jumpstyle originated in 1997 in Belgium. The main mistake that traditional media makes is saying that Jumpstyle is an off-shoot of the Gabber music and dance scene.^[2]

[edit] Performance

The modern dance associated with Jump, is evolved from skiën (lit. "skiing"). Performance by more than one person is the most popular. The legs are the most important part of the body in jumpstyle. It is performed by a series of forward and backward swings of the legs on the rhythm of the music. The most simple form of jumpstyle (OldSchool jump) can be done as follows:^[3]

Jumpstyle being performed by "Jumpers", the name given to those who Jump

• The dance can be started with two small jumps that match the beat or stomping the left foot twice, to the beat.
• The dancer swings his/her right leg forward twice. His/her foot would be at the same height his/her knee.
• The dancer would then raise his/her left leg.
• The dancer then swings his/her left leg backwards. Similar to the original step, the foot would be level with the knee.
• The left leg would be put onto the ground, in front of the right foot.
• The dancer then swings his/her right leg back, knee level, to prepare for the initial first step.
• The dancer would repeat this.

More difficult paces include those with turns, twists and so on. Jumpstyle moves differ, and the dance itself is generally improvised, using the moves learned. Other moves include the "hi-tic", which is a straight up jump into the air, where the heels meet during the jump. There are variants to Jumpstyle as well.

There are several variants to Jumpstyle as well. Freestyle jump styles such as Ownstyle and Sidejump have grown in Eastern Europe, in countries such as the Czech Republic, Poland, and Russia, Lithuania. These styles are generally improvised, and involve very fast movements.

[edit] Music

The music which accompanies Jumpstyle is an offspring of Happy Hardcore and Gabber. Its tempo is usually between 140 and 150 BPM. However, it cannot be seen as merely a slowed down version of gabber. It is characterized by a 909 kick drum used in a four on the floor beat. It also has influences from Hard House.^[4] Because of the big hype around the dance and music style itself in 2007 and 2008, it suffers from image-problems especially in the Netherlands. Because of this, the euphoric/melodic Jump like it was made between 2006 and 2008 is not being released anymore these days. However, there are still some radio stations left, broadcasting Jump in its traditional form. The oldest Jump radio was founded in 2005 and still exists today under the name of JumpStation.FM^[5].

[edit] References