Krumping

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Krumping ( backronym for Kingdom Radically Uplifted Mighty Praise ) is a dance style that originated in the African-American community of South Central Los Angeles . It includes in addition to freestyle dance moves and artistic face painting and is usually in a group or as a rivalry ( Battle listed). A similar dance style is "clowning", invented by Tommy the Clown , a clowning and krumping dancer from the USA.

features

Krumping is a very fast, expressive freestyle dance , which essentially consists of “stomps”, “chestpops” (let your chest go up in a flash), and “armswings” (swing your arms). There are also so-called “ground moves”, which take place on the floor, but differ greatly from breakdancing, and “puzzles” that are reminiscent of the Tutting dance style . The Krump dancers tell stories with their movements, which is also known as " Taunts ".

This aggressive way of dancing is often interpreted as a reduction in frustration caused by social grievances that are perceived as unjust. The founders of Krump themselves (Tight Eyez, Big Mijo, Lil C, and others) and most of the dancers see Krumping as a street version of prayer, so they interpret their dance as worship / praise for God. In addition, the dancers do not try to put on a show when krumping, but rather dance themselves into an emotionally charged state, which they call "buck" or "amped", and which in very rare cases resembles a trance .

Krumping is mostly danced on the street, but sometimes even in churches and is "interactive", the audience is involved in the action and encouraged to participate. There are also battles, i.e. dance competitions between different crews. These are called "clown groups" by the clowns and "fams" (families) by the Krumpers.

history

The beginnings

Clowning, a style of dance similar to krumping, originated in the poor neighborhoods of Los Angeles in the early 1990s as a result of the LA riots . Thomas Johnson, a convicted drug dealer, began performing as a hip-hop clown dancing under the name Tommy the Clown after his release from prison in 1992 . Tommy quickly became a role model in the black population of Los Angeles for teenagers and children who gathered around him and danced with him at clown performances. After a few years, Tommy founded the “Clown Dancing Academy” and took on some young people as a permanent crew, others founded their own dance groups - clowning was born.

From clowning to krumping

In 2002, Ceasare 'L. Willis, known as Tight Eyez , and buddy Christopher Toler, known on the scene as Lil C , both former members of the Clown Dancing Academy, had enough of playing entertainers for others. They longed for more and without further ado invented the crump. The term “Krumping” is an art term: “We needed a word that expresses what we are doing. It means that you are somehow crazy, turned up and full of power at the same time. "

An important element of the clowning was the face painting of the dancers, which fulfilled the function of a kind of "mask" and expressed the feelings of the dancers as well as representing the distance between the role of the dancer and the person behind the mask. The face painting had its origins in clowning, but was z. B. in the film "Rize" by David LaChapelle associated with African tribal rites. Krump dancers expressly want to differentiate themselves from clowns. There are many important differences between the two dance styles that many do not recognize. The clowning is more for entertainment and consists of dance moves (moves). With krumping, on the other hand, stories are told with aggressive movements.

Clowning vs. Krumping

When the Krumper split off from the clowns, a kind of rivalry between the dance styles also arose. While Tommy the Clown considers the movement sequences in Krumping to be “uncontrolled jerks”, most Krumpers are of the opinion that clowning is “boring entertainment”.

To find out which dance style was better, so-called battlezones were regularly held in Los Angeles , dance competitions in which krumpers and clowns competed against each other in different categories. From 2002 onwards, krumping became more and more popular, so that clowning now plays a rather secondary role. Instead, the battles are now mostly exclusively used by Krumper against each other.

music

Some music albums deal with the topic of Krump. B. "Rude Awakening" by Tight Eyez, "Krumpology" and "The Golden Series of Krump OST" by some of the most famous dancers, called Krump Kings. West Coast rapper Flii Stylz , who also provided the soundtrack for LaChapelle's film "Rize", was also successful with songs about krumping. Often there is only dancing to instrumentals, mostly by the group J-Squad. A fixed term has already emerged for this music made especially for Krumpen: Krump Music.

Krumping in the media

Krumping elements have increasingly appeared in music videos in recent years, albeit mostly in a toned-down version suitable for video clips. Examples for this are:

Krumping scenes can also be seen in music videos by Chris Brown, Christina Aguilera and The Prodigy, as well as in the film Be Cool by Gary Gray. With the film “Rize”, the photographer and music video director David LaChapelle shot the first feature-length documentary devoted to the topic of “Krump”.

In the film “ Stomp the Yard ” (2007) you can often see crumpling as well as stomping. In the film " Girls United " (Part 2, 2006) you often see the crumpling, although the film is actually about cheerleading .

Documentation

  • Bodytalk - Erotik des Tanzes (ZDF / Arte, 26 min., 2007. Episode 2 of the four-part documentary series. Directors: Jean Alexander Ntivyihabwa and Lena Goliasch; MME Me, Myself & Eye Entertainment)
  • Rize - David Lachapelle

Web links