Clown walk
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The Clown Walk (also known as the C-Walk) refers to a modern dance style. It is a variation of the popular Crip walk dance. Clown Walking was created to distance the relationship between the dance style and the Crips gang. This was done in many public schools to stop the use of gang paraphenillia, but not ban the dance.
Difference between cripping and clowning
Usually confused with one another, the Crip Walk is different from Clown Walking. Since both Clown Walking and Crip Walking both start with the letter "C", they are both referred to as C-Walking. Although this creates some confusion, there are major differences on how they are performed.
Clown Walking, as opposed to Crip Walking, is a form of dance that "evolved" from the Crip Walk. It is usually faster than Crip Walking (although not always the case). It takes the foundational moves of the Crip Walk, such as the shuffle and V's and expanding them to become flashier and more entertaining. This form of dance has no gang relations and is meant to be done for fun, rather than gang rituals. It is basically freestyle footwork, but has had some moves taken from Crip walking. Some of these moves would include the basic V and shuffle, but they've evolved into Clown Walking moves through variations walkers make.
What truly separates Clown Walking from Crip Walking is that while Clowning, you don't flash gang signs and other gang-related gestures or spell anything to represent a gang with your feet. In the end, the Clown Walk is simply a dance that has been adopted into hip hop culture.
Clown Walk moves consist of basic V, Shuffle, Heeltoe, Snake heeltoe, xhop. Dancers who utilize this particular form of dance often customize their own moves to make it unique. You can customize just about any moves, including nC and many others.
Moves
The basic moves in clown walking are the shuffle, v's, and heel toes. Some of the more advanced move will include: The snake heel toe, the heel toe combo and the knee drop. On youtube moves that the more advanced clown walkers perform are much harder to tell than the beginners because as the dancers start getting better at clown walking they starting forming their own moves. For example: Thunderbutt a clown walker from [c-walk-world] created his own move called the 'Thunderglide'. It is up to the creator's choice to share their moves in a tutorial or not, but on the net the most common ones are the basic moves which are listed above.
Learning Clown Walking
Some hesitate to learn the crip walk, but for the clown walk which is non-gang-related and seems to be an even more dazzling and impressive footwork, more and more young people (especially males) are beginning to learn c-walking from the internet. A good site for anyone to learn c-walking right away is [c-walk-world]. There is a detailed step-by-step guide for all beginners that helps them learn all the basic moves and more. This type of guide however is not seen else where on youtube or other c-walk sites.
Shoes for clown walking
Since clown walking requires mainly nimble, fast and complex footwork, the shoes the performer wearers are the most important. One thing on youtube that the clown walking community has disagreed upon is to never wear socks when doing a c-walk video.
The most popular shoes right now is the Nike Cortez. Many clown walkers seem to flavor this model for their comfort, and sole design that makes moves on the heel and toe easier to execute. However there is one brand coming out with a new model seem to have the ideal c-walking design. The Vestige brand seemed to have c-walkers in mind, although early announcements made have confirmed it as a casual shoe, it was also said to be designed specifically for c-walking, but still has the style of an everyday casual shoe. The first model prototype has been out, and mass productions has been announced however these shoes are not yet released to the public for sale.
Reference Sites
[c-walk-world] [pimpmywalk] [thecwalks]