Free urban dance moves should be easy to get. In some cases they are, as easy as just going to the local dance jam and watching the b-boys and b-girls there. But what if you don't have the luxury of having a local hip-hop scene? Is it possible to learn urban dance moves when there's not a studio nearby?
The answer, happily, is yes.
Best Source of Free Urban Dance Moves
Like any kind of dance, the best way to learn is from a dance teacher. Normally these are fairly easy to find, with dance studios springing up even in the smallest towns in the U.S. However, just because a studio offers "hip-hop", "urban" or "street" dance lessons doesn't mean that they are teaching the actual form of dance popular in the city streets of New York, Philly, and L.A.
These classes may simply be applying dance theory from jazz and other techniques to moves they saw on a video or television show like America's Best Dance Crew. Of course, it's also possible that they know where the local dance jams happen - whether a club, the studio itself (many of which rent out their space to urban dancers during off hours), or simply in a playground with a piece of cardboard for a dance floor. A search of local community centers or even CraigsList can reveal where these groups meet.
These are the places where urban dance was born, and they still exist. While they don't exactly encourage anyone to come and dance, they also don't turn people away who are there with a genuine desire to learn. By observing the steps and moves, as well as trying them and then listening to the feedback and encouragement of the other dancers, it is possible to gain a lot of dance instruction for no cost other than time and the occasional bruise or pulled muscle.
The Web, Where Almost All Things Are Free
Of course, when someone thinks about getting any kind of information for free, they turn to the web, and it's true there is a wealth of information about urban dance styles - krumping, clowning, hip hop, breakdancing, and free dance routines - on the web.
In fact, that's part of the problem. There is so much information that it can be hard to determine what is valuable and what isn't. Just as the dance teachers have latched onto the popularity of urban dance, so have many web entrepreneurs, and an Internet search for "urban dance moves", free or otherwise, is almost certainly going to lead to many, many advertisements for videos and other forms of instruction.
However, even the sites that want you to pay usually have some kind of free samples; for example, at the Hip Hop Dance Spot they have many samples of the videos you can get from membership to their site. Looking at the dance moves, you can see a few different ones listed:
- The 4-Step Move - used in floorwork, moving in a half-circle, can usually lead into the next move:
- The 6-Step Move - simply another floorwork variation, interchangeable with the 4-step
- The Pop-Up Move - a very popular optical illusion move that resembles the dancer going from flat on the floor to "falling" upwards to a standing position.
- How to Do the Moonwalk - the step is listed, but access to it is only granted if you sign up for their free trial.
One of the nice things about the Hip Hop Dance Spot is that the instructors all give their credentials when they teach the moves. However, this is certainly not the only place to get free urban dance moves on the web. Any search on YouTube will show you thousands of home videos or competitions with fantastic choreography, but it's up to you to figure them out! Other sources include:
There's never anything as good as a qualified personal instructor. On the other hand, there's no better time than right now to start working on your own urban dance moves, and working on them by yourself will produce great satisfaction when you come up with something great.
