FlexN, also spelled as Flexing, is a style of

street dance Street dance is an umbrella term for a large number of social dance styles such as: breakdancing, popping, Locking (dance), locking, house dance, waacking etc. Social dance styles have many accompanying steps and foundations, created organically ...

from

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

that is characterized by rhythmic

contortionist Contortion (sometimes contortionism) is a performance art in which performers called contortionists showcase their skills of extreme physical flexibility. Contortion acts often accompany acrobatics, circus acts, street performers and other li ...

perform shirtless and incorporate hat tricks in their performance for showmanship, as also used in turf dancing.

Origins

Before FlexN gained mainstream exposure, it started out at the home of a couple called Rocky and Sandra Cummings. In 1992, the couple created a talent show and a local cable TV show in New York City, called 'Flex N Brooklyn'. The dance roots are traced back to

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use the ...

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Ro ...

, and "...a chopped-up instrumental called the 'Volume' riddim". The producers of the new genre refer to it as FDM, Flex Dance Music. Unlike other street dance styles originating in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, FlexN did not come from hip-hop dance, funk music, or

hip-hop culture Hip hop or hip-hop is a culture and art movement that was created by African Americans, Latino Americans and Caribbean Americans in the Bronx, New York City. Hip hop culture is characterized by four key elements: rapping, DJing and turntabli ...

. It evolved from a

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispan ...

n style of street dance called bruk-up. In a 2009 interview with ''

WireTap Telephone tapping (also wire tapping or wiretapping in American English) is the monitoring of telephone and Internet-based conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitorin ...

'' magazine, dancer Stefan " Mr. Wiggles" Clemente described bruk-up as a "reggae style of animation."

Variations

FlexN is represented by 8 movement styles, with flexers often mixing the styles. * Bone-breaking is characterized by rhythmic

movement. * Bruk Up, “broken” in

Jamaican Patois Jamaican Patois (; locally rendered Patwah and called Jamaican Creole by linguists) is an English-based creole language with West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines West ...

, is a style that resembles movement of broken limbs. * Connecting (K'nect'N), is often compared to tutting, but is of different origins than

popping Popping is a street dance adapted out of the earlier Boogaloo (funk dance) cultural movement in Oakland, California. As Boogaloo spread, it would be referred to as Robottin in Richmond, California, Strutting movements in San Francisco and San ...

. * Get Lo integrates movements on the floor and the levels in between. * Grooving is the foundation of the flow of FlexN with roots in Jamaincan

, characterized by rhythmic movements that can be subtle or aggressive. * Gliding is a style of illusion of air walking, sliding, and floating, using hand placements, body movement, and foot placement. * Hat Tricks is a style that utilizes the hat for illusions, concepts, and animations. * Pausing (Pauzn) is characterized by discrete movement similar to a movie watched frame by frame.

Exposure

FlexN has been performed on the third season of ''

America's Best Dance Crew ''America's Best Dance Crew'', often abbreviated as ''ABDC'', was an American competitive dance reality television series that features both national and international dance crews. The show was produced by singer, record producer, and former '' ...

'' (ABDC), on the second season of ''

The LXD ''The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers'', commonly called ''The LXD'', is a 2010–2011 American web series that premiered on Hulu. The series follows two groups of rival dancers: The Alliance of the Dark, who are the villains, and The Legion of E ...

'', and at the

Guggenheim Museum The Guggenheim Museums are a group of museums in different parts of the world established (or proposed to be established) by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Museums in this group include: Locations Americas * The Solomon R. Guggenhei ...

as part of the YouTube Play event. In 2011, the '' Huffington Post'' published a brief news article on flex dancers Bones the Machine and DJ Aaron. In 2013, NextLevelSquad performed FlexN at

Breakin' Convention Breakin’ Convention is an international hip-hop theatre festival based in London, England that was founded in 2004 and is produced annually by Sadler's Wells theatre. It has been under the artistic direction of playwright and dancer Jonzi D s ...

and Adedamola "Ringmaster Nugget" Orisagbemi performed FlexN at the

Vail International Dance Festival Damian Woetzel (born May 17, 1967) is an American choreographer. Woetzel was a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, where he performed from 1985 until 2008. He also frequently performed with companies like the Kirov Ballet and America ...

. The 2013 independent film ''Flex Is Kings'' documents the lives of several flexers over a two-year period leading up to a dance competition called BattleFest. ''Flex Is Kings'' was screened at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. Tribeca was ...

. FlexN was also the subject of a French online dance show called "Puma the Quest". In 2014, ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issue ...

'' published a seven-page article about flex dancer Saalim " Storyboard P" Muslim.

Origins

Variations

Exposure

Notable FDM Producers

References

External links