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1. What is Hip Hop Lindy?
Hip Hop Lindy refers crossover attempts between the dances of Hip Hop and Lindy Hop, in dance, music, culture, and styling.
To get any more specific, it depends on what you are talking about. There are different things people are doing that fall under this umbrella: Some dancers attempt to throw specific hip hop moves into their lindy.
Then there are the Hip Hop dancers doing Lindy Hop with hip hop styling, to swing and jazz music. I think what most people consider Hip Hop Lindy is the attempt to partner dance to Hip Hop music with connection-lead improvisational moves, moves from both Lindy and Hip Hop dance, all with hip hop styling.
2. Aren't Hip Hop and Lindy hard to reconcile?
Yes, but that's the challenge. Hip Hop typically has a hard edge to it, while Lindy is typically happy-go-lucky.
Most hip hop is aggressive, and a lot of it has the attitude of trying to "one-up" the other person. In breakdance circles (similar to Lindy jam circles, only dancers go out one by one), this one-upping is known as a battle, with each dancer trying to outperform the dancer before him. In Lindy, you most often see this sort of thing in performances (eg, a lead makes fun of a follow by doing girly styling, or vice versa). Occaisionally you see also this sort of battling in Lindy jams, but not often.
Of course, understanding and having a respect for both hip hop and lindy culture is important when trying to mesh the two.
3. Is there a type of music that is "Hip Hop Lindy"?
Mostly no. There have been some crossover attempts. More details are available on the music page.
4. What kind of music is it done to then?
Most hip hop is workable. Reference the music page for recommendations. Really it depends on what you like.
5. Is there a basic step?
What most people are doing nowadays is what CTodd (the original owner of this site) described in an interview with Dance Spirit magazine:
CTodd, a hip hopper-turned-swing dancer, started thinking about how he could combine the two forms a couple of years ago. He explains that while swing jazz accents the 1, 4 and 8 beats of a musical phrase, hip hop typically accents the 3 and 7. By drawing out the accent from 3 to 4 and from 7 to 8, you can actually perform swing steps to a hip hop beat. “Hip hop has a different energy altogether,” CTodd says. “When you swing to a hip hop tune, you use a little more body wave type of flow along with some ‘popping.’ Hip hop has more of the in-your-face attitude.”
Another thing hip hop typically emphasizes that gets left out a lot in lindy dancing is the ands between counts. (This is not to say that lindy does not emphasize these, I've seen Steven Mitchell teach the basic lindy step as "1-2-3-and-4-and-5-and-6-and-7-and-8".) Depending on the music, the and counts are just as essential.
Hip Hop Lindy is like hip hop in that it is typically danced low, with bent knees, into the ground.
In my opinion, the main thing that sets hip hop lindy aside is same thing that is in any good dance: good musicality.
6. What is popping?
Popping is a form of hip hop made popular in the late 70's and early 80's. A "pop" is the rapid contraction and release of a muscle or muscle group to a specific heavy "crack" beat in music. You can see many examples on Ceech Hsu's site, nustudios.
7. How do I learn Hip Hop Lindy?
There are a few instructors who offer classes in "Hip Hop Lindy" proper, but the best way to learn to do it is by learning hip hop and lindy hop, then combining the results.
8. Who are some of the people doing it? Where can I see it done?
There are a number of people doing it. There are video clips on this site, and I only plan to post as many as I can.
9. What is Ghetto Swing?
Same thing as Hip Hop Lindy. Same thing as Lindy Hip Hop.
10. Who are some of the masters of hip hop dance?
There is an extensive list, only some of which I will name here. Popin Pete, Skeeter Rabbit, the Lockers, the Electric Boogaloos, Mr. Wiggles, Boogaloo Sam, Crazy Legs, Suga Pop, Air Force Crew, L.A. Breakers, NY City Breakers, Don Campbell, Flat Top. There are more lists here and here.
If you see somebody I left out - it's nothing personal. mail me and I'll put it up.
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