As hip-hop music emerged in the Bronx during the late 1960s and early 1970s, break dancing naturally evolved with it. DJ Kool Herc is credited for the evolution of this new form of dance, according to Encyclopedia Britannica. He was the first DJ to use two turn tables at once, and his creation of unique beats and extended dance breaks in songs gave performers the space and time to express themselves as the music played freely. Performers without formal dance training found movement in their bodies to match the Funk beat found in hip-hop songs at the time.
Block parties and street dancing enabled this dance style to quickly spread from the Bronx to all five boroughs of New York City and eventually throughout the US. During block parties, DJs would encourage the crowd to dance; attendees would have combinations such as hustle, uprocking, lindy hop, popping, and locking. This mixture of dance styles formulated what we know to be modern-day hip-hop dance.
