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Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post presents an excerpt of a Wikipedia article about "Rock dancing" ["Uprock", "Burning" and showcases a YouTube video of that pre-Hip Hop/early Hip Hop dance.
The content of this post is presented for historical and cultural purposes.
Thanks to the producer of this video and all those who are featured in this video. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-history-of-break-dancing-with-focus.html for the closely related pancocojams post entitled "The History Of Break Dancing: With Focus On The Pre-Hip Hop dance called "Burning" "
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EXCERPT FROM WIKIPEDIA ARTICLE ABOUT ROCK DANCING ["UPROCK", "BURNING"]
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uprock
"Uprock, or Rocking, as it was originally referred to, also known as Rock, Rock Dance, Brooklyn Rock, Burning or Freestyle is a competitive urban street dance, performed to the beats and rhythms of soul, rock and funk music, but was mostly danced to a specific and exclusive collection of songs that contained a hard driving beat. An example of such a song is the Rock classic "It's Just Begun" by noted jazz musician Jimmy Castor. The dance consists of foot shuffles, spins, turns, drops, freestyle movements and more characteristically a four-point sudden body movement called "jerk"
"Use of gestures
Although women participated in this style of dance, it was usually danced by two men facing each other. The underlying philosophy of Rocking was to undermine the "opponent" with hand gestures called "burns". One would "burn" one's opponent with a variety of these hand gestures that would mimic an action that would be considered detrimental to the dancer's adversary. Two examples of typical and fundamental burns are the bow and arrow, and the shotgun. The "winner" of these mock battles was usually the individual who was able to choreograph and execute his or her burns creatively and even artistically to the rhythm and syncopation of the music.
In this sophisticated and rhythmic form of Rock paper scissors, one would have to dance thoughtfully as to not step forward and inadvertently get one's head "sledge hammered". Although it is common knowledge that Uprocking is supposed to be a mock battle, those who are less professional sometimes get carried away with the dance which can result in real violence.
History
Rock dance evolved in New York City circa in the late 1960s.
As Rocking/Uprocking developed, body movements called "jerks" and hand gestures called "burns" (as defined above in this article), would be added to emulate a fight against an opposing dancer. Being skillful in this new dance form, Apache (a Brooklyn dancer) would get the better of his opponents by skillfully using burns. Dancers throughout New York City in all Boroughs continued to invent new movements and gestures to create a street dance. Many gang members began to perform this dance. Rocking/Uprocking became a competitive dance that caught on very quickly."...
SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THIS EMBEDDED VIDEO'S DISCUSSION THREAD
1, Liga Breaking Oficial, 2013
"Org Style Rock Dance!!!!"
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"Org" = original
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2, Rock Dance Russia, 2013
"True Style of Rock!"
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3. GROOVY GROOVE, 2013
"Brooklyn Uprock ! nice footage"
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4, AsiaDanceScene, 2015
"The first song is Incredible Bongo Band. The second song is
Rock Creek Park- Donald Byrd and the Blackbyrds"
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5. Kevin Campble, 2017
"You must train your self by studying the beats and the body
language will tell the story all by itself!"
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REPLY
6. Bilo A.k.A Up-RoC-KiDD, 2020
"Kevin Campble this iz trueeee....🤛🏽"
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7. gr2oveSoulz Rockin', 2020
"Rockdance 4ever"
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