Krumping

Krumping is a relatively new form of dance within the "urban" and street dance movements, and is characterized by free, expressive and highly energetic moves. The form is attributed as having originated in the community of South Los Angeles.

Styles

Krumping may be graded by level of difficulty, including Krump, Buckness or Getting Buck, and Ampness or Amped. In recent years, the still evolving dance has been codified into stylistic subcategories:

• Beasty: Aggressive, beast-like and powerful. It is similar to bully but more animalistic. Believed to have originated with the Slayer family,
• Bully: Aggressive and powerful.
• Caddy: Arrogant and conceited.
• Cocky: Conceited and stuck up.
• Fast: Quick, energetic movements.
• Flashy: Using a lot of quick foot movement and sharp, precise, showy moves.
• Goofy: Pioneered by the krump practitioner "Goofy" himself. It is the least aggressive of the krump styles, usually funny and energetic.
• Grimey: Dirty, mistreating, and "wrong".
• Jerk: Using motions that are not smooth and flowing but still artistic.
• Rugged: containing fewer tricks; more of a pure essence
• Technical: a mix of flashy and smooth. It's more of a crowd pleasing style.
• Tricks: Using a combination of moves

Getting "Buck" is the newest version of krump dancing. It is a more difficult, artistic style of dancing. Throughout the cities of Southern California there are dance gatherings called "buck sessions." These sessions take place from as far as Victorville, CA to New York City. The most popular place where you can view and/or learn how to do this style of krumping you can attend the following events that are held every few months "Dunamis" (doo-na-miss), Krump Arena, Call of Buck, Armagaeddon, The Realm, and Blicc. The official websites is "thasession.com" or "krumpkings.com" (New Styles of Krump) Sexy-Combination of Cocky,Tricky and Flashy General Style-Warlike usage of army moves, really really Rugged

Krump Society

Krumping has developed into a structured and organized society. The dancers form groups known as "families" or "fams," which are reminiscent of B-boy breakdancing crews. Each of the families is organized around a krump dancer known as the Big Homie, who serves as both a dance instructor and a spiritual mentor of sorts. The internal structure of a family is hierarchical, with rank based on the expertise or respect of each dancer.

The families also function in a mentor/apprentice arrangements, similar to those in the Middle Ages and Renaissance arts periods. 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. The actual relationship may actually resemble 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 a positive image and example for these Lil' Homies that might otherwise be lacking in his or her life. This social dynamic also has more modern parallels in its contemporary, Rose G B-more style (more commonly known as throw down), b-boy (more commonly known as breakdancing), the black dance movement, and more loosely so in the culture of graffiti.

The Lil’ Homies often take on the name of their Big Homie. For instance, Lil’ Homies dancing under Tight Eyez include jr. Eyez, Lil Eyez, Soulja Eyez, Young Eyez, 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), the naming is at the discretion of the Big Homie. 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. The ranks are: jr., lil, young, boy, kid, baby, child, tiny, infant, twin, prince. These ranks are usually ranked differently in each fam, but usually jr. is right after the Big Homie.

A competition structure has developed as dancers vie for status and respect in the Krump elite and this phase of the dance community at large. 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.

Krump Slang

• Kill off: A move to end the session or a battle. A combination of Tricks make a Kill off
• Buck: an acronym meaning Believers Upholding Christ's Kingdom. Not meaning something "cool", though some use it as such.
• Amped: Used to describe a person who's really into the spirit of krump

International Success

Dancers in Europe form groups called "Kommunity Krump." The "Monster of Krump" series has provided a forum in Europe for competitions between these groups. On a promotional tour of France, dancers Lil “C” and Missy Prissy were allowed to “krump” in front of the Eiffel tower. A nationwide dance tournament was conducted in Japan. The prize was a battle against Lil “C”, Missy prissy. The event was hosted by Masaki Sumitani, better known as Razor Ramon Hard Gay. Lil |“C” is featured in the David Michalek Exhibit “slow dancing,” which is described as “series of 43 larger-than-life, hyper-slow-motion video portraits of dancers and choreographers from around the world, displayed on multiple screens. Each subject's movement (approximately 5 seconds long) was shot on a specially constructed set using a high-speed, high-definition camera recording at 1,000 frames per second (standard film captures 30 frames per second). The result is approximately 10 minutes of extreme slow motion.” The exhibit was featured in New York City, Los Angeles California, and now London. It has been profiled by Apple, and radio station KCRW.

Krumping was featured in Bring It On: All or Nothing, which has started a revival of the dance within the Caucasian community. There has been a great increase specifically in areas like Mesa Arizona and Provo Utah.

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 including a rapid rhythmic bobbling and arms swinging, as well as the intermittent flex of the spine and thrust-out chest, which is called a "chest-pop." Krumping, however, is a more aggressive dance form and is intended as an expression of anger or a release of pent-up emotion from the struggles of life 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. “Sick” movements, such as snaking, grimey or any sort of action that has any kind of sexual relation are often highly regarded.

The belief that Krump dancers regularly engage in face-painting is also a misconception: this is a Clown practice, and as Clowning and Krumping has 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. Some of 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 or 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. Krump is the main form of dance out of the two to this present day

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." This has given Krump plenty of exposure and since then it has risen in popularity in the hip hop dance community.

Krumping has had an impact on pop culture and has been seen in music videos, movies and television shows. Although often confused by the untrained eye; Clowning was featured in the second episode of the eleventh season of MADtv. Also, Alyson Hannigan guest-starred on an episode of MADtv where she took clowning lessons from the same two clowns and they now appear in many episodes of the show.

Clowning was also featured on episode 7 of America's Next Top Model, Cycle 6.

There is also a large segment on Krumping in the movie Bring It On: All or Nothing. Britney (Hayden Panettiere) wants to add the style to a dance routine for the squad to give them more diversity in their performance. It can also be seen in the beginning scene of the movie Stomp the Yard.

Krumping was a featured style of dance on the Fox reality show So You Think You Can Dance in episode #311 (originally aired June 27, 2007). Dancers Sara and Jesus performed a krumping routine choreographed by Lil' C. Additionally, on an episode that originally aired August 1, 2007, Dominic Sandoval and Lauren Gottlieb also performed a krumping routine choreographed by Lil' C who was a choreographer for Bring It On: All or Nothing.

Krumping was featured on a 19th season episode of The Simpsons in which Bart Krumped in order to make himself look "cooler than Milhouse." When his classmates didn't respond favorably, Marge offered to Krump with Bart to cheer him up.

Notable Krumpists

Ceasare' L. Willis - Founder and Godfather of Krumping; AKA Tight Eyez AKA Young Truth
Jo'Artis Ratti - Founder and Godfather of Krumping; AKA Big Mijo
Jason Green - Co-Founder of Krumping; AKA Slayer
Christian Smith - Co-Founder of Krumping; AKA Baby C
Robert Jones - AKA Phoolish; one of the original members of The Cartoonz
Christoper A. Toler - Co-Founder Of Krumping; AKA Lil' C

See also

• Pop-locking

External links

• Rize on Londondance.com
• MTV News on krumping
• CBS News on krumping