Shoulder Shakes in Intermediate Hip Hop Dancing

Series Summary

Hip hop dancing covers a large range of styles and specific moves and techniques, but the cornerstone of the style is undoubtedly break dancing. Over time, that so-called old school way of dancing and participating in hip hop culture has evolved into many different off-shoots. Funk dancing, popping and locking, jigging, freaking, krump, and hyphy are examples of types of hip hop dance, and each style contains certain moves that distinguish it from other forms. Many people take hip hop dance lessons, and although some people believe that teaching orchestrated steps is contrary to the roots of the culture and history of hip hop dance, many people benefit from taking lessons.

In this free dance video series, a professional instructor will teach you numerous intermediate hip hop dance moves and how to choreograph them. She will show you how to do shoulder shakes, brush offs, snaps with attitude, hand slaps and rave hands. You will also learn how to stomp and unwind, step and pop, wave and pound, reach and pull, and pound and slide. Finally, you will learn how to do the pancake, scarecrow, airplane pop and traveling body wave.

Video Transcript

"Hi, I' Emily Larew, and we are going to begin with our intermediate hip hop combination. We're going to start with counts 1 through 8 this time. We're going to start with our feet together. We're going to step back on our right foot. We're going to step 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6, 7 and 8. So make sure every count you are bending your knees going into a deep plie, otherwise you won't be able to tell. So ready? Let's try it again, here we go, 5, 6, 7, 8. So we've got to 1 and 2, 3 and 4, straighten and bend, straighten and bend. How many? 4 times. Then we're going to add our shoulders, so you're going to keep your hands kind of like in a snappy position and keep your elbows straight. Our shoulders are going to go: left, right, left; right, left, right; left, right, left; right, left, right; so in pairs of three. So, let's put that together really slow. Here we go, 5, 6, 7, 8. Left, right, left, right, left, right. Left, right, left, right, left, right. Good. Try it again, a little faster. Here we go, 5, 6, 7, 8. 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6, 7 and 8. Good. That was our first count of 8 for our intermediate hip hop combination."