Following are some types

This list gives a general overview of the main hip-hop dance styles: breaking, locking, and popping. Theses styles are the oldest and most established of all the hip-hop dances. They have achieved worldwide notability, are durably archived on film, and are the most commonly exercised in international competitive hip-hop dancing.

A b-boy in an airchair freeze at Street Summit 2006 in Moscow.

[edit] Breaking/B-boying

Main article: Breaking

Breaking was created by Black Americans in the Bronx, New York during the early 1970s. It was Afrika Bambaataa that classified breaking as one of the five pillars of hip-hop culture along with MCing, DJing, graffiti writing, and knowledge.^{[58][59][60][61]} Due to this status it is considered the purest form of hip-hop dance. Breaking includes four foundational dances: toprock, footwork oriented steps performed while standing up; downrock, footwork performed on the floor using the hands to support your weight;^{[note 8]} freezes, stylish poses done on your hands;^{[note 9]} and power moves, difficult and impressive acrobatic moves.^{[note 10]} In breaking, a variation to the traditional cipher is the Apache line. Ciphers work well for one-on-one b-boy battles; however, Apache lines are more appropriate when it is crew versus crew. In contrast to a cipher, opposing crews can face each other in this line formation and execute their burns. In 1981 the Lincoln Center in New York City hosted a breaking battle between the Rock Steady Crew and The Dynamic Rockers.^[46] "This event, which was covered by the New York Times, the Village Voice, the Daily News, National Geographic, and local news stations helped b-boying gain the world’s attention."^[63]

[edit] Locking

Main article: Locking

Locking, originally called Campbellocking, was created in Los Angeles by Don Campbell and introduced to the country by his crew The Lockers. Modern locking looks similar to popping and thus gets confused with popping all the time. In locking a dancer holds their positions longer. The lock is the primary move used in locking. It is similar to a freeze or a sudden pause. A locker's dancing is characterized by consistently locking in place and after a quick pause moving again.^[26] It is incorrect to call locking pop-locking.^[26][27][44] Popping and locking are two distinct funk styles with their own histories, their own set of dance moves, and their own competition categories. A dancer can do one or the other but not both at the same time. It was only after seeing The Lockers perform on TV that a young Boogaloo Sam was inspired to create popping and electric boogaloo.^[25] The Lockers were composed of a prior smaller group of lockers and robot dancers.^[50][63] Other than Don Campbell, some of the original members were Fred "Mr. Pinguin" Berry (Rerun on the 1970s TV sitcom What's Happening!!), James "Skeeter Rabbit" Higgins, Adolpho "Shabba Doo" Quinones, Tony "Go Go" Lewis, Charles "Robot" Washington, and Toni Basil—the group's manager.^[50] In honor of her instrumental role in giving locking commercial exposure, Basil was honored at the 2009 World Hip Hop Dance Championships as the first female recipient of the Living Legend Award.^[64]

[edit] Popping

Main article: Popping

A popper dancing at Solntsevo industrial building in Moscow.

Popping was created by Sam Solomon in Fresno, California and performed by his crew the Electric Boogaloos. It is based on the technique of quickly contracting and relaxing muscles to cause a jerk in the dancer's body, referred to as a pop or a hit. Each hit should be synchronized to the rhythm and beats of the music. Popping is also used as an umbrella term to refer to a wide range of 10+ other closely related illusionary dance styles such as strobing, liquid,^[24] animation, and waving that are often integrated with standard popping to create a more varied performance. In all of these sub-genres it appears to the spectator that the body is popping hence the name. The difference between each genre is how exaggerated the popping is. In liquid the body movements look like water. The popping is so smooth that the movements do not look like popping at all; they look fluid.^[24] The opposite of this is ticking in which the movements are static, sudden, and jerky.^[65]
Popping—as an umbrella term—also includes gliding, floating, and sliding^{[24][note 11]} which are lower body dances done with the legs and feet. When done correctly a dancer looks like they are gliding across the floor as if on ice.^{[note 12]} Opposite from gliding is tutting which is an upper body dance that uses the arms, hands, and wrists to form right angles and make geometric box-like shapes. Sometimes the arms are not used at all and tutting is only done with the wrists, hands, and fingers. In both variations, the movements are intricate and always use 90° angles. When done correctly tutting looks like the characters on the art of ancient Egypt hence the name—a reference to King Tut.