User:Housefootwork

Housefootwork- a.k.a. " House Dance " footwork.

This refers specifically to a way of doing footwork in a style called, " HOUSE DANCE "; which was created in NYC. This dance, was created through a culture of people in NYC that were going to the NY clubs in the time of the mid to late 80s. Their influences being Hip-hop culture. Never forgetting that Hip-hop cultures' influence, especially musically, being samples of music before it; hybrids. Jazz, Blues, Funk, Disco, and more, are all used it Hip-hop music samples. So, in the dance, there are steps that the culture has taken ideas from. Ideas from, not actually fully studied, but DEFINITELY took ideas from.

Like any dance style, we will see things that it took from in other dance styles, and then we will see marks of what it innovated. HOUSE FOOTWORK, refers to the specific steps in HOUSE DANCE that is innovative and different from other dance styles in whole body appearance; along with the footwork ( obviously). From steps like the GALLOP, CHASE, LOOSE LEGS, HURDLE, and more. We get to see the innovative footwork that comes from this dance style. The dance style has been in the clubs of NY starting in the mid-80s; before it gained a name in the late 80s. In the later 80s, certain dancers started to get noticed, and also were asked to travel beginning in the late 80s through early 90s; until now. Raymond " Voodooo Ray " Ultarte, Ejoe Wilson, Caleaf Sellers, and Peter Paul were the early ones going out dancing behind artists such as Ce Ce Peniston, 2 In A Room, Crystal Waters, and more. In those same short years, two documentaries were filmed named HOUSE OF TRE' and WRECKIN SHOP, which featured Mop Tops/Wise guys ( Shannon " Which Way " Sha, Buddha Stretch, Caleaf Sellers, Ramir Sellers, Flex ( the comedian), and Peter Paul), MISFITS ( Peekaboo, Marquest, Rubberband, China Boy ( kito ), and Prancer ( from ZHIGGE), Marjory " Larj Marj/Lotus " Smarth, Voodoo Ray, and Ejoe Wilson. Though in HOUSE OF TRE', there was also voguers in the documentary, like late great WILLY NINJA, and still here and teaching Mr. Ceasar Valentino. The Japanese and more, seemed to gravitate to the Hip-hop dancers in the documentaries. With all that being said, the Japanese came to NYC still in those years, during the documentaries being filmed, and brought a popular singing group from Japan named, ZOO. ZOO,filmed a long docu-music video, that featured all the names above, and added with those names in that video were Byron, Big Les, and Brian Green ( a.k.a. " Footwork " ).

All those names were SOME of the forefront of NY's history in the appearance of Hip-hop and House dance on music videos, and stage shows. In the time of late 80s through the late 90s, these people were on stage shows, music videos, movies, and more; the world may not have known their names fully......but the faces they knew. Bare in mind, there were other people known in the media doing Hip-hop, House, and club styles as well.....but these were the known faces.

So, they started to be asked to move out and showcase those skills; even teach or choreograph. And what they formalized through the years of looking at the dance, the culture, and dissecting the movements the culture was doing...........was HOUSE DANCE. The CODIFICATION idea, was a bit of just the regular applauses or disses that come from the culture, Brian " Footwork " Green's training in other styles of dance to be able to show what is innovative and not, and also, EF ( Elite Force ) and DF ( Dance Fusions) take on how they saw what they were doing in the clubs at the time. Here are two examples of both of their work:

ELITE FORCE/DANCE FUSION video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2Mp2jQMuiU Brian " Footwork " Green's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxIxc-tKtsM

There are other ways to dance to HOUSE MUSIC, and there are other forms of HOUSE MUSIC. This history of this dance style, refers to a specific form of a dance style in the HOUSE CULTURE MOVEMENT. In the HOUSE CULTURE MOVEMENT, many dance styles have been innovated, for example, SKATING ( NY ), The Jit ( Detroit), Footworking/Perculaor/Jacking ( Chicago ), and Baltimore Footworking.

HOUSE DANCE ( NY ), comes from specifically the ( NY ) Hip-hop entrance into the Club scene of NY; the House music club scene, which was already very vibrant since the mid-80s. These dancers were around the 2nd generation to come in, and they brought their hip-hop steps with them, meshing them with other steps they were seeing. THEY are not the creators of all these steps, but they are the FOREFRONT runners of the spread of this amazing dance style, that has CHANGED and still is CHANGING THE WORLD OF DANCE.