Foundation: B-Boys, B-Girls, and Hip-Hop Culture in New York

B-boying is a form of Afro-diasporic competitive dance that developed in the Bronx, NY in the early 1970s. Widely – though incorrectly – known as “breakdancing,” it is often dismissed as a form of urban acrobatics set to music. In reality, however, b-boying is a deeply traditional and profoundly expressive art form that has been passed down from teacher to student for almost four decades. Foundation: B-boys, B-girls and Hip-Hop Culture in New York offers the first serious study of b-boying as both unique dance form and a manifestation of the most fundamental principles of hip-hop culture. Drawing on anthropological and historical research, interviews and personal experience as a student of the dance, Joseph Schloss presents a nuanced picture of b-boying and its social context. From the dance’s distinctive musical repertoire and traditional educational approaches to its complex stylistic principles and secret battle strategies, Foundation illuminates a previously unexamined thread in the complex tapestry that is contemporary hip-hop.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Author: Schloss, Joseph G.
Published: 02/01/2009
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780195334050
Pages: 176
Weight: 0.85lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.10w x 0.60d