You’re not trying to go there and tighten your muscles.” Even the word “popping” has mistakenly become an umbrella term for several sub-styles of West Coast street dances. “You do go into that lock position very firmly.
“People get messed up, because locking is strong,” says Rapier. “People thought it was a direct descendent of locking, so when they saw popping, they called it ‘pop-lockin.’”Īdditionally, although the styles are very different, they do have one similar element-strength. “Locking was the most popular dance, so people thought there was a connection,” says Popin Pete. They were familiar with locking, however, so they began mushing the terms together. So why are these two distinct styles sometimes referred to as the same dance? One possible reason: When Boogaloo Sam and Popin Pete first came on the scene in Long Beach, dancers had never seen their movement style before.
“With poppin’, you pop your whole body nonstop, like pop-pop-pop-pop-pop,” says Flomaster. It’s not about the circle.” Lockers often rock colorful knickers, striped socks, suspenders and big pizza hats.Īnd although the pop and the lock are both strong, jerky movements, they are performed at different speeds. If I’m at a party and I see you dancing, I come over there and we’ll feed off one another. It’s a dance that was made up to have fun, to uplift people. “Locking is not a battle dance,” says L.A.–based locking teacher and choreographer Flomaster. Meanwhile, locking is a much more playful dance, where character plays an important role. “How illusionary and unreal can I be? When you’re popping, the idea is that it’s not possible.” Traditionally, poppers wear suits to show off their clean lines. “Popping, besides the mechanics of it, is a dance to be cool,” says Groovaloos founder and dancer Bradley Rapier. Popping is grounded, sharp and smooth, a dance that looks almost hypnotizing. The two styles differ not only in movement vocabulary, but also in tone. But when they relocated to Long Beach in 1978, they reformed and refined their style, changing the name to the Electric Boogaloos.Īside from their shared geography, popping and locking don’t have much in common. You’ve got to flex your knee, flex the muscles in your arms, flex the muscles in your chest and pop the head-all to the rhythm.” Boogaloo Sam and Popin Pete first formed a locking troupe called The Electronic Boogaloo Lockers in 1977. “When I’m thinking of popping, whether it’s popping popcorn or popping your knee, it’s this snap. His brother, Timothy “Popin Pete” Solomon, was quick to catch on. Inspired by the jerk and the twist, Sam would isolate and tense muscles throughout his body, and as he did, he would say, “pop” to accentuate his movement. Meanwhile, popping started in Fresno, CA, where “Boogaloo” Sam Solomon began experimenting with a new dance style in 1975. Campbell started the Campbellock Dancers (later to be named The Lockers) in 1973, and soon other locking groups were cropping up all over, mainly performing on the club scene. These points and pauses became the foundation for the locking style, which quickly spread from L.A.’s inner city to the suburbs and then throughout California.
Soon, he began incorporating these accidental “locks” throughout his routines as audiences laughed, he would point back at them. Campbell had trouble doing the funky chicken, so he would freeze mid-move, as though trying to remember what comes next. Locking, created by Don Campbell, a club dancer with no formal training, developed in the late 1960s in L.A. Popping and locking both originated on the West Coast. So why do so many people refer to these two distinct dance forms as “pop-n-lock” and “pop-locking”? You can learn both styles, but you can’t perform them at the same time. But if you ask any popper or locker, this song and dance is pure fiction. In his chart-topping hit song, rapper Huey instructs fans to “Pop, Lock and Drop It.” The video shows dancers twisting their heels before dropping on their haunches.
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