Turfing

Turf dance is a form of American street dance that originated in Oakland, California. An acronym for Taking Up Room on the Floor, the name was coined by L.A. born, Bay Area raised turf and mixed house dancer Jeriel Bey because the terms "having fun with it" or "hitting it" (as it was originally known) didn't seem marketable. Turf Dancing originated as a way to describe dances that different 'turfs' from Oakland performed to represent where they were from (the same as 'blocks' or 'sets'). The dance form had its earliest influences in the Oakland Boogaloo movement of the mid-1960s, later developing into a distinctive dance style.

History

Turf Dancing has its earliest origins in the Oakland Boogaloo movement of California in the 1960s, developing into a separate genre of dance in during the 1990s, and along with hyphy music came to be seen as distinctively representative of Oakland. The movement rose to prominence in 2002 following Jeriel Bey's establishment of his group, The Architeckz, and Oakland's first nationally known group, "The Architeckz" Then the Animaniakz came then after. Because the names of the two crews look the same one really came before the other. Turf Dancing was first displayed on videos from artists such as Baby Bash, Keak Da Sneak, and E-40 by innovative and influential turf dancers (and creators of the turfing Lifestyle) Jeriel Bey. Along Demetrius Zeigler , Chare' Johnson, Rawnay & Yun Shep, and Dav 2.0. Turf dance had been promoted as a means of dispute resolution within the Oakland community, and in 2005 The Architeckz built on this concept of dance battle by engaging krump dancers from Los Angeles in city-level competition. Friendly rivalries with dancers from New York and Memphis have developed as well. The artist E-40 brought international attention to the movement with his 2006 single Tell Me When to Go.

Foundation

Turf dance is an improvisational, free-flowing form of dance that is based off of the idea of pure cause and effect but focuses on storytelling, the creation of optical illusions, and the display of distinctive personal style. Dance elements include popping, locking, and miming. The genre has a relatively small base of established steps to draw from, some of which are associated with their neighborhoods of origin, such as the Brookfield, a gliding move that originated in the east Oakland neighborhood of Brookfield Village. Other foundation moves include "the two sep", "shoulder shaking", " the cliffhanger", " the stutter walk", and the "Busta", named after rapper Busta Rhymes. Gliding is heavily used in turf dance because it enables the creation of optical illusions. "Going dumb," or completely letting one's emotions loose on the dance floor, is also a distinctive part of the tradition.

Related dance styles

• Krumping
• Buckin
• Popping
• Jookin
• Jerkin'
• Hyphy

External links

• Turf Dancing
• Turf Dancing
• Turf Dancing
• Turf Dancing Honors Urban City Life - ABC News Nightline 11/29/2010