Krumping is a type of street dance made popular in the United States that has characters free, expressive, exaggerated, and highly energetic movement involving the arms, head, legs, chest, and feet. The root word "Krump" is a backronym for Kingdom Radically Uplifted Mighty Praise. The youths who started krumping saw the dance as a way for them to escape gang life and "to release anger, aggression and frustration positively, in a non-violent way." Krumping has become a major part of hip-hop dance. CBS news has compared the intensity within krumping to what rockers experience in a mosh pit.
Krumping originated in Los Angeles, CA during the 1990s. There are three primary moves: arm swings, chest pops, and stomps. Krumping is rarely choreographed; it is almost entirely freestyle (improvisational) and is danced most frequently in battles or sessions rather than on a stage. Krumping is different stylistically from other hip-hop dance styles such as b-boying and turfing. Krumping is very aggressive and is danced upright to upbeat and fast-paced music
KRUMPING TERMS:
# Battle: when competitors face-off in a direct dance competition where the use of arm swings and chest movements known as flares and bucks are extremely common.
# Session: when a group of krump dancers form a circle, or cipher in hip-hop context, and one-by-one go into the middle and freestyle.
# Buck: an expression used by krumpers to describe dancing that is both difficult to execute and impressive/striking.
# Labbin: when krump dancers get together to create new moves and/or adapt their style.
# Kill Off: when a krumper performs a move that excites the crowd to the point where the battle is over and the crowd surrounds said krumper; the opponent is "killed off
