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Hiplet (pronounced ) is a newly recognized
dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire ...
style that fuses
ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form ...
with hip hop. The term was first coined in 2009, but in May 2016, dancers from the
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
Multi-Cultural Dance Center (CMDC) performing hiplet gained widespread popularity after a video of the dancers attained thousands of views on
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.
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subsequently invited the dancers to perform on a televised broadcast. The creation of this genre is attributed to Homer Hans Bryant of the CMDC. The CMDC is currently the only studio in the world that trains dancers in hiplet.


Style

Hiplet is notable for its combination of ballet-style movement, which is ethnographically Eurocentric and primarily white, and hip-hop, which is rooted in and grown out of
African dance African dance refers to the various dance styles of Sub-Saharan Africa. These dances are closely connected with the traditional rhythms and music traditions of the region. Music and dancing is an integral part of many traditional African societ ...
and rich urban culture from communities of color. With its strong roots in traditional movement, dancers train to advance to pointe through years of practice. Ballet is at the core of hiplet, and strong technical skills are imperative to being able to safely practice hiplet. The dancers usually wear traditional ballet attire, including buns, leotards, and tights. Notably, many wear tights and pointes dyed to match their skin. The dance resembles traditional ballet mixed with sharper angles and less restricted movements. Hiplet's origins can be traced to Homer Hans Bryant's 1992 "Rap Ballet," but precedents for similar dance fusions extend back much further than the 1990s. “Breaking, Ballet, and the Representation of Race and Gender,” from ''Hip Hop on Film'', provides background on multiple dance styles in both a cultural and performance context. This piece provides earlier examples of artists attempting new types of movement by contending with racialized and gendered histories of different dance styles, stretching back to the mid-twentieth century, setting a precedent for hiplet to form.


Social impact

This fusion also has a strong history in the dance world, and draws upon many prior endeavors to combine different styles. Homer Hans Bryant works with accomplished black ballerinas like
Misty Copeland Misty Danielle Copeland (born September 10, 1982) is an American ballet dancer for American Ballet Theatre (ABT), one of the three leading classical ballet companies in the United States. On June 30, 2015, Copeland became the first African Amer ...
who are proving to the world that they can be successful at traditional ballet; he is trying to help black dancers express a more contemporary and culturally reflective art form that expresses who they are and where they come from. This provides young, predominantly black, dancers of color the chance to train in an art that still largely excludes them.


Media dispersion

Hiplet is an example of performance as media consumption, with its path from Instagram, to television, and most recently, to
TEDx TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sa ...
. The dancers were invited to perform on ''
Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. ...
'' following internet notoriety. Analyzing the media that gave notoriety to hiplet reveals tensions in dance between performance and archive, and how dance resists being documented due to its temporal nature. Digital media and recordings present a revolutionary way to preserve dance history, and engage in participatory media culture. Pitfalls of widespread access to dance materials are expressed; viewing a live performance and viewing a recording are very different experiences. Dance’s digital archive interacts with the cultural context of its origins and viewing, providing room for new interpretations of work. Digitization is a means of creation, split between recalling an original and existing independently. Archiving is one of the five identified primary uses of Instagram, where hiplet first gained notoriety. It also functions under several other Instagram categories, including self-expression, social interaction, and escapism.


References

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External links


Official website of hiplet at CMDC
Dances Ballet in the United States Hip hop dance Free and improvised dance African-American dance Dance in Illinois