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

By Joseph G. Schloss

Book Overview

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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 019533406X
• ISBN13: 9780195334067
• Release Date: March 2009
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.67 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"