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Funk styles Locking Street dance

Liquid dancing (or liquiding) is a form of gestural, interpretive dance that sometimes involves pantomime. The term invokes the word liquid to describe the fluid-like motion of the dancer's body and appendages. It is primarily the dancer's arms and hands which are the focus, though more advanced dancers work in a full range of body movements. Liquid dancing has many moves in common with popping, born out of 80s b-boy and funk style dance movements.

Origins

The root origin of liquiding is a point of contention between those who practice liquid dancing. Some argue that the dance evolved spontaneously from combining elements in the rave culture. While rave later stagnated, liquid dancing has become a standing part of club- and street dancing.

B-boys and funk stylists generally contend that liquid dancing is a development of waving, a technique in popping. Liquid dancing covers many of the same fundamentals as popping and it is fully possible (and common) for dancers to combine the styles, further blurring the distinction between the two. The defining difference is liquid dancing concentrating on smooth movements while popping is characterized by pops (hits) and contractions.

Techniques and styles

Hand flow

Hand Flow demonstration Hand Flow is the most commonly used technique in Liquid dancing and simultaneously the easiest to grasp. Hand Flow technique can vary depending on the dancers approach to liquid, as there is no definitive way hand flow has to be done, as long as a fluid illusion is maintained between the hands. This Illusion needs to be maintained rhythmically or else it can not be considered dancing. A Liquid dancer's personal style is defined by his or her individual approach to hand flow, and how it fits into their dance as a whole.

Rails

See also: Tutting

Waves

Main article: Waving (dance move)

Waves are an attempt to maintain the illusion that a wave is passing through one's body by the isolation and alternating tensing and relaxing of one part of the body at a time at a steady speed in a constant direction.

Traces

Traces are a technique where one's hand follows the path of a wave going through one's body. The hand moves at the same speed and in the same direction as the wave.

Threads

This style maintains the illusion that one is pulling parts of their body through holes created by the positioning of ones arms. An example of this would be holding one's shoulder to create a closed loop which the other arm goes through. These are performed at the same speed as the flow of the liquid and waves to maintain an illusion of continuity.

Contours

This technique entails the hands following exactly the outline of an object, real or imaginary. Most commonly the hands follow the outline of one's own body.

Splits

This technique is characterized by the hands moving independently of each other while maintaining the illusion of a fluid relationship between each other. One way of achieving this illusion is by having one hand in front of the other and each hand reflecting the motion of the other.

Builds

Builds identified by the manipulation of imaginary objects in a manner similar to pantomiming. The movements are carried out at the same speed as the flow of the liquid to maintain an illusion of continuity. These moves can be combined with video editing to show the imaginary object being manipulated as the person dances.

Gear

Some liquid practitioners commonly accentuate their dance with light emitting gear. Typically the gear will consist of either glowsticks, very bright LED keychain lights called photons or even white gloves. When a dancer specializes in glowsticks, the dance often ceases to resemble liquid and is then referred to as glowsticking.

External links

• Floasis - Current Liquid Dance Community[May2007]. Forums and tutorial/exhibition videos can be found.
• Reflective - Liquid Dance Community Forums

Video clips

• Liquid Pop Collective Eric's arcade clip (YouTube Macromedia Flash)
• Phedhex Virtual Boxes video (YouTube Macromedia Flash)
• Cut from "Return of the Liquid" (YouTube Macromedia Flash)

See also

• Glowsticking
• Popping (dance)
• Rave party

Street dance
Breakdancing - Hip hop dance - Krumping - Liquid dancing - Locking - Popping - Robot - Tutting - Uprock