Fascinating Facts About Electro Dance History and Style

Electro dance is currently the newest dance style, with the idea for a new street style born in 2000. The dance took a long time to gain traction, and initially didn't even have a name, but now everyone knows and dances it.

Since the dance is social and all movements are free, it is often performed by random people who don't even realize they are doing a famous club style. Electro dance developed in two directions simultaneously: street and club, which makes it appealing to any modern audience.

The main quality of electro dance is rhythm and precision of movements. And it actually has two names. The rise and development of the dance coincided with the launch of the new brand Tektonik. Therefore, soon all events happening under that brand's wave began to be called by its name.

The dance fell under this trend and became known in club society as Tektonik, like the rest of that period. Dancers seeking freedom and their own style didn't like the idea of turning the dance into part of a popular brand, so it was soon successfully renamed to electro dance, after the electro house music to which the dance is performed.

Actually, the name electro dance originated on the street, and in clubs the dance was called Tektonik for quite a long time. Only after professional dancers took the big stage did the dance officially become known as electro dance.

A unique feature of the dance is its commitment to a single music style – electro house. Usually street dances are performed to anything as long as there's a clear beat. It's often said that the more popular the music, the more popular the dance danced to it will become. However, electro dance's popularity grew while the music remained unchanged, and to this day the dance is performed exclusively to electro house.

The development of this new dance direction incorporated many elements from other dances. Electro dance has its roots in Belgian club dances, while all other movements are analogues of hip-hop, popping, techno, and locking. The characteristic bounce in the dance is a prototype of hip-hop bounce, waves are taken from popping, and wrist and foot rotations from flexing. Electro dance also includes movements from parkour and all other street styles.

Additionally, electro dance also distinguished itself in clothing style. Often street dances are performed in loose clothing, wide pants, tunics, or hoodies, sometimes more sporty attire. But electro dance is a more stylish dance, not without reason originating from clubs.

Electro dance is performed exclusively in fashionable clothing: jeans or black tapered pants, sneakers, tight tops and tank tops, wristbands, and various headbands. This style maintained strict dress code requirements for quite a long time, but by 2010, due to audience expansion, the attitude towards dancers' costumes became more democratic; now it's common to see dancers with bare torsos.

Despite the variety of directions, electro dance is considered easy to learn. All movements can be learned at home via videos, and you're unlikely to make mistakes. There are known cases of dancers making a splash after just two weeks of learning from scratch.

Although the dance is quite simple for beginners, it has many complexities for professionals. To become a pro, you need to study all the movements of hip-hop, popping, techno, and locking, and learn to properly combine, mix them while keeping to the beat.

Almost all movements in the dance need to be invented and refined. Electro dance is built on improvisation. The more vivid and unusual the dancer's imagination, the more interesting their dance is for the audience.

Usually, the structure of the dance reveals the talent of the performer. Beginners use hip-hop movements as a base and add a few moves from other styles; professionals base themselves on more complex popping or flexing and improvise additional movements and connections.

Many who hear the name think the dance is somehow related to electricity, imagining jerky movements or fine trembling. Actually, the name comes from electro house music, where the main instrument is the electric guitar.

Also, initially the movements corresponded to the name and were, if not jerky, then sharp. But later movements became smoother, and it was considered the height of skill if a dancer performed smoothly while fitting into the fast tempo of the music.