Krumplestiltskin

Posted by michaelbrush on December 2, 2011 · 1 Comment 

I’ve begun my research on krumping. After a quick google search, I decided that the best place to start was a 2005 documentary called Rize. It was directed by David LaChapelle (not to be confused with Dave Chappelle).  I’m happy I did because it really amped me up to begin krumping.  However, after watching Rize I thought it would be best to hold back my intense urge to begin poppin’ and lockin’ and do a bit more research on the subject.

Rize was enjoyable to watch, but it certainly wasn’t enough to teach me how to krump.  In fact, while most would agree with Peter Travers that the movie is a “[v]isual miracle,” it focuses mainly on ‘Tommy the Clown’ and his ‘Clowning’ form of dancing and how ‘clowning’ helps to keep young people off of the streets.

Krumping was birthed from Clowning, and in the movie, the two sides have an eventual dance-off at an event known as “Battle zone.”  While it was awesome to watch all of this happen, it didn’t teach me anything about how to krump. I mostly just learned that if I successfully learn to krump, my body will move really super fast.

So, I was in search of some more information regarding krumping, it’s history, founders, and any other information I could scrounge up from the internet, library, etc.  Basically, I wanted to know the reason anyone may ever want to begin krumping.

The majority of what I learned probably isn’t relevant to what the people reading this blog most likely want.  I mean, if I were visiting a blog that billed itself as a place where a person learned a skill in a certain amount of time, I would most likely be looking for a video.  Don’t worry. There will be video of me krumping. If however, you are interested in more krumping information, there’s some here and also here

Essentially, krump is an art form. It’s an incredibly fast-paced form of dance that allows the dancer to elicit an immense amount of frustration through stomps, punches, and chest  pops. It got its style from clowning, but sought more freedom and expression in order to release the aforementioned frustration and anger.  Over the years it has popped up in a plethora of places, and has become a major pop-culture phenomenon.

In an effort to keep from potentially being viewed as a person making fun of the krump movement, I’m issuing the following disclaimer:

There is no way I will ever be able to krump without looking ridiculous.

I’m not sure if it’s because I don’t have enough anger and frustration inside of myself to really perform it well, or if I just lack the dancing skill to make it look good (more likely), but I can say with certainty that over the 72 hours I’m giving myself to learn to krump, I am doing it earnestly and want to do it to the best of my ability.  I am in no way slighting anyone that performs a good buck.

Look for videos of me teaching myself to krump, as well as videos of me krumping within the next couple of days.

Filed under Uncategorized · Tagged with Krump, Krumplestiltskin, Rize, skills, Tommy the Clown