A dance style also associated with hip hop. The name of this style came from the English "lock" (castle), as they began to call the combination of fast movements and freezing in improvisational positions for a short time, and then continuing to move at the same speed. This style is based on quick and clear hand movements and softer movements of the hips and legs. The movements are amplitude, very rhythmic and are always closely tied to music. Locking is focused on performance: the dancer tries to interact with the audience, smiles, greets everyone, and sometimes, behaves quite comically. Dancers of this style are called lockers.  Lockers adhere to a special style of clothing, like bright striped clothes and suspenders.

Locking originally danced to funky music, for example, the music of James Brown. Funk is still the main style of music that lockers dance to, and is used in many international dance competitions such as Juste Debout in France. Everything in the lock is based on the contrast of many fast movements and, conversely, smooth and slow movements, complemented by mime-style performances and an audience game. Locking includes quite a few acrobatic and physically complex elements, such as landing on one knee or split.

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History

The history of locking began with one person named Don Campbell. In the late 1960s, he staged a dance, mixing several styles and, when performing, added his own movement, which is now known as “lock”. This movement was created by accident: every time Don Campbell could not make the movement "The Funky Chicken", he stopped at a certain point, moving his hands down. He could not perform the dance quickly, because he did not remember what kind of movement went on. Even the interaction with the public was invented spontaneously: when people began to laugh at his unusual movements, he began to point his finger at them (now this movement is known as a “point”). Don added all these movements to his performances, and they soon became popular. The resulting dance was called Campbellocking, and later reduced to "Locking." In the early 1970s. this marked the beginning of the creation of lockers dance groupsin particular, the Campbell team, "The Lockers". Lockers: Jimmy Scooby Doo Foster, Greg Campbell Jr. Pope, Tony Go-Go Lewis, Fred Penguin Berry, Leo Fluke Luke Williamson, Damita Joe Freeman and others also helped create a dance base and clothing style of dancers.

The clothes combine bright striped socks, pants to the knees with suspenders, bright colorful satin shirts with large collars, large colorful butterflies, giant caps and white gloves.

The main movements of locking

Locking can be danced solo, in a duet or in a team with several dancers. The locker can smile while performing to emphasize the comic nature of the dance; but sometimes the seriousness of the dancer will be emphasized by his emphasis on technique. Other important features of the style: waves with hands, points ("point"), glides, when the legs slide on the floor, changing and crossing, raising a rotating cap or hat from the floor. Don Campbell invented all these fading, focusing on his unique rhythm, and added original movements, such as dots and pops. Other dancers also use this style, creating new movements.

Locking is inherently a dance improvisation, which nevertheless consists of a set of specific movements. However, many lockers change or mix them with other movements and create their own style options. In general, the main distinguishing feature of locking is a short pause and continued movement to the second or fourth bit in a row.

Alpha Invented by Alpha Anderson. Throw one leg forward from a bent position, while the upper body is tilted back. You can keep your hands on your belt, you can do it without hands.
   Break down / Rocksteady Squatting down, move the pelvis to the side, then back. Stand up, then sit down again and repeat the same thing in the opposite direction.
   Jazz split Half-split - done with one bent leg, which allows the dancer to stand up again in one quick motion.
   Whichaway Throw your legs from side to side. One leg pushes the other like a pendulum. Keep your upper body straight and straight.
   Kick Kick fast and high, standing on one leg. Knee Drop With your knees turned inward, sit on them and touch the floor with them. Leo Walk First, a step is taken in a certain direction, and then another leg slides along the floor, catching up with the first.
   Lock / Double Lock Lean forward slightly, arms in front of you, as if lifting something heavy.

Pose with arms raised above shoulder level. The dancer usually freezes in this position for a few seconds. Pacing A quick kick to the side, but with a relaxed wrist, the main thing is that the brush does not open. The hand drops in between strokes.
   Pimp Walk First, a small kick with one foot, then the other foot catches up with the first, and the knees are brought to the sides.
Stop and Go Invented by Jimmy Scooby Doo Foster; First uplock, then step back with one leg, transferring the weight of your body onto it, then turn to the side to this leg. In the same sequence, return to the starting position. Stomp the cockroach Get on one knee and clap your hand on the ground. Scoo B Doo Invented by Jimmy Scooby Doo Foster; first uplock, then two successive quick kick kicks in the jump. Scoo B Doo walk Invented by Jimmy Scooby Doo Foster; Step forward, then lift your leg in the knee up and tilt the upper part of the body to the knee. Scoobot Invented by Jimmy Scooby Doo Foster; alternating lunges to the side, when the leg is put on the heel, hands at this time do Wrist Twirl, Point or Clap. Scoobot hop Jump and kick with change of legs. The beating foot is carried forward. Floor Sweeper A foot slides across the floor (from foot to foot), takes a step, and repeats the same with the other foot. The Skeeter Rabbit / Skeeter Rabbit Around the World Invented by James Skeeter Rebit Higgins; first kick, then jump on the same foot. Funky Guitar With our hands we seem to play the guitar, and at the same time move from side to side, swinging the body back and forth. Point You quickly point your finger in any direction, usually freezes in this position for a few seconds. Wrist Twirl Twist your wrist up and down. Hitch Hike Point with your thumb at yourself, then cross your arms in front of you and swap hands.
  at the Red Bull BC One, a competition in 2005 in Berlin.

Lock  Is a whole subculture dance art. This is one of the most positive funky dance styles. It differs in a comic - comic manner of performance, pantomime and facial expressions play a large role in it. Locking is full of emotions, dynamic and clear movements.

The basis of the whole dance is the locking position of the locks, from these movements the style name was formed - Locking from the word “Lock” lock.

The style of Locking is also called Campbellocking, because the story of the creation of this form of dance art comes from one person named Don Campbell.

He was born in 50 years in the United States, in the state of Missouri, childhood and most of his life passed in Los Angeles. Since childhood, Don was considered a little eccentric. He was a very inquisitive and creative kid. He constantly carried paper and pencil with him, watched and made constant sketches of nature, people, events. He did not leave his hobby even when he was quite an adult. On the contrary, he even made money by sketching portraits of people in a Los Angeles cafe. There he watched the dancing children, dreaming of learning to dance himself, and even better - to open his own dance style.

Knowing such a desire, Don’s friends helped him learn movements from different styles, taught him to dance. And on one of the wonderful evenings, grateful Campbell decided to demonstrate to everyone what he had learned. This happened at a student disco. He went into a circle and began to reproduce all the movements in a row from all the styles that he remembered. If he forgot what kind of movement was following another, he stopped, stopped, recalled, and continued on. It was then that the best college dancer came up to him and called Don Campbell Lok, which means “castle”, “stopper”. Don was not at all embarrassed; on the contrary, he was enraged, and he continued to continue dancing in the same manner. Even then, he decided that all the shortcomings of his dance should be turned into his strengths, to make it a style.

So comic and ridiculous movements became the basic elements of locking. His main idea was a huge positive, constant improvisation, comic costumes, funny poses, and most importantly - these are all recognizable stops “castles”, from which, in fact, the development of this dance art began. This was in the early 70s of the last century.

Don is constantly developing his art, regularly participating in dance competitions, television shows, festivals, shows. Over time, he began to have many followers and students, thanks to whom locking became widely known to a very wide audience.

In the process of his creative growth, Don Campbell organized several of his creative groups with which he performed and toured the country. One of them is The Lockers, which brought together the best dancers - improvisers of this genre, and became the most dynamic, vibrant, and influential group in history. contemporary dance. Years passed, the popularity of locks in America grew or died out, the group periodically updated, generations changed, the composition of the participants changed, but it was thanks to its new generation of participants that the whole world learned about locking as a dance phenomenon.

In the 80s, Japan found out about locking, in 90-2000, a disease called "locking" swept France, followed by all of Europe, Korea and the CIS countries.
  Locking became not just a dance, but a lifestyle, a way of moving, talking. Lockers have their own special style of clothing - berets, pants with suspenders, bright ties, striped socks, white gloves.

Distinctive features of locking: various chips with throwing hands, sudden movements, various jumps, loops with hands, chips with swaying legs and arms, etc.

The main movements of locking, which are its base :

• Lock - “castle” - the main movement of the dance;
• Pace - a specific, characteristic for locking, folding hands in the form of binoculars;
• Point - a locker points to someone with a finger;
• Wrist roll - twisting movements up - down wrists.

There are many more basic locking movements, for example, such: Double lock; Stop and go; Scooby doo; Skeeter Rabbit; Wich-a-way; Funky chicken; The watergate; Funky Broadway; Sco box.

Although the dancer is a fan of improvisation, he is always based on basic movements. The mastery of the dancer is primarily determined by the quality of performance of the basic elements. Elements invented for themselves by the dancer are called “style”, but the dancer should perform the “style” only in symbiosis with the basic movements. These are the rules.

The locker should be able to assemble from many small details (basic movements), a large structure called "dance". The more interesting and harmonious this design will be, the more professional the dancer. Locker's skill is also determined by the ability to improvise to any music playing at one time or another, and the skill quickly becomes a “castle” if the music accidentally breaks off.

The most important thing about locking is the mood. After all, this dance is an absolute positive, it is explosive energy, it is a desire to live and enjoy all manifestations of life.

Don Campbell from St. Louis for the time being had nothing to do with dance. He loved to draw: as a child he spent hours at the table, surprising his family, and when he entered Los Angeles College, he reproduced his comrades on paper and even made money from portraits. In college, Don got carried away athletics, and a little later, watching the dancers, tried his hand in this art. And not to say that it was successful: the movements were difficult to remember, in the middle of the dance I had to stop, remembering what happened next, and there were falls. Don was watched by his friends, and one of the best dancers of the school once jokingly called his dance breaks lock - stopper, lock. Encouraged by the idea of \u200b\u200ba new direction, Don Campbell continued to perform his dance, called “Locking,” and flew around the entire west coast with lightning speed.

Locking, like a mosaic, consisted of elements of various styles. Initially, its author performed in principle everything that he had ever seen and knew, turning this mixture into his vision of dance. He diluted the movements with humorous notes, established interaction with the audience through smiles and gestures, and the rest relied on his instinct, not memorizing the dance, but improvising in its process. Obvious cons turned into features of the new style. But no matter how good the dance, they would not have known about it outside of Los Angeles and the surrounding territories, if not for the Soul Train program, which specialized in promoting new dance stylesforming in the streets. After participating in this show about Don Campbell everyone started talking. True, for some time he did not agree to share his brainchild with others and was angry when he saw that his dance was performed on the streets. However, he soon realized: for a dance to live, people must know it.

At times sharp, with hand-throws, loops and jumps, the Campbellocking dance or just Locking includes sudden stops, smooth movements of the legs and hips. The movements of the hands and hands, on the contrary, are clear and fast. In general, the movements are tightly synchronized with the music, wide and very rhythmic. Following the music, its rhythm is the main condition for real locking. It is performed both solo and in a team, while the team dance shown on battles is usually based on synchronous movements. Nowadays, elements of this style can be seen in clips and at concerts of pop stars.

The ability to correctly lock is measured, first of all, in the skillful mastery of the basic elements and the quality of their reproduction. Of course, no one forbids the dancer to show imagination and introduce his own peculiarities into the dance, but in competitions such a performer automatically loses to the one who conquered the lock base. It is in the original combination, the wise distribution of existing movements, that the real mastery of locking lies.

For the locker, the ability to improvise is no less important. The dancer who owns freestyle and locking techniques will easily leave behind rivals and show a real dance. Do not forget about the role of physical fitness, since some acrobatic components are inherent in the locker. The dance also has its own uniform: striped socks, pants with suspenders, a beret and white gloves distinguish a real locker.

Music that is most relevant to the mood of the dance and emphasizes its positive character is usually funk. Possessing a special energy, this style perfectly matches the lock. Although some performers prefer to dance to hip-hop, but then you can already talk about another direction, called fusion.

Today, locks are spread all over the world, finding their fans in America, Europe, Asia and even Africa. In some countries, this style is already firmly rooted, while in others it is still under development, which indicates one thing: the popularity of dance has been ensured for many years.

Locking History

Locking, or Campbellocking, as he is also called, this is a form of dance art that includes improvisational positions called “locks” created by Don Campbell in Los Angeles nightclubs in the early 1970s. This dance and its subculture quickly became fashionable and pretty soon became the highlight of the new dance television show called "Soul Train". Some of the dancers showed fast “locking” and “pointing” movements along with clapping hands (slaps, claps, giving five) and splits.

Don Campbell, along with dancers such as Greg Campbellock Junior Pope, Jimmy Scooby Doo Foster, Fred Reran Berry (aka Mr. Penquin), Tony Lewis and Edwin Buddy Lombard (aka The Go- Go Brothers), James “Original Skeeter Rabbit” Higgins, Leo “Fluke Luke” Williamson, Johnny “Sambo Lock” McCloud, Charles “Robot” Washington and Bill “Slim Robot” Williams, as well as some other founders of the “old school”, could Meet in clubs like The Citadel in Hollywood, The Summit on the Hill, or Mavricks Flats, and show each other their moves.

Don laid the foundation and always attached special importance to the improvisational manner - "campbellocking". He and his partner Damita Joe Freeman toured with a team of participants in the show "Soul Train". Shortly thereafter, Don assembled a group of Locking dancers in the style of an improvisational solo (each dancer on the stage had to break down, make his own solo improvisation, and return back to the rest), which included Don Campbell himself, Fred "Reran "Berry, Charles" Robot "Washington, Slim Robot and Sambo Lock. They called themselves Campbellock Dancers. At the same time, Greg Campbellock Junior, Scooby Doo Foster, Leo Fluki Luke, Tony and The Buddy The Go-Go Brothers, as well as Original Skeeter Rabbit, created basic movements that have since been consistent. (!!! It is understood that these people created the locking base that students teach today, they recorded the movements they made in a clear and fairly strict form - approx. Transl.)

At Watts, California, the development went in the direction of group dance. In 1972, The Go-Go Brothers teamed up with Original Skeeter Rabbit and formed the first dance group in Locking in a synchronous style, and performed sketches and synchronized dance bands, both in large stadiums and on modest evenings in regular schools.

At the end of 1972 - beginning of 1973, Scooby Doo and Campbellock Junior teamed up with Go-Go Brothers and Original Skeeter Rabbit, as well as locker girls Arnetta Johnson, Fredi Maxi and Lorna Dune, formed the first mixed (both male and female ) group "Creative Generation". This group studied dance, taught dance, performed dance and toured as participants in the legendary Watts Writers Workshop (the first time I heard about it - approx. Transl.).

Later, in the summer of the same 1973, Don Campbell organized and introduced "The Lockers" (originally, however, called "The Campbellock Dancers" - just like his first group). It was one of the most dynamic and influential groups in the history of dance, uniting together the best improvisers and the best synchronizers at that time. Greg Campbellock Junior introduced synchronization choreography in the group (taking it from his experience in Creative Generation), along with Don Campbell, Slim Robot, Reran, Fluka Luke, famous choreographer Tony Basil, as well as the new talented young dancer Shabba Adolfo Do Quinons. So locking was revealed to the world.

During the existence of the group, in the 70s, other dancers of the "initial" generation, such as Tony Go-Go and Original Skeeter Rabbit, joined The Lockers and toured with them.

Also, during the period of initial formation, other "street" groups formed, such as 33RPM and Ghetto Dancers. They were composed in different variations from other dancers of the locks of the same first generation. This brought to life that dance phenomenon, which now extends from the very center of Los Angeles to its suburbs and further across the country. Other bands, promoters, dancers and managers quickly flooded the scene. Some were driven by love, craving and respect for this art. Others wanted to spit on its very foundations and only dreamed of profiting from it. Such dancers and groups in the Locking subculture were simply called "slop lockers"

Note:  almost immediately, these “trash” groups and individuals began to try to subjugate not only the art of locking, but also its entire culture and its original roots. Many of them renamed the movements, many “licked” and passed off as synchronized ones already recorded on video, many never studied the internal rules of the subculture. They never recognized, and did not even try to inquire about the fraternal relationship that magnified Locking, they only tried to make money using Locking and distorting its history.

By 1975, Locking as a form of art had finally matured. In the late 1970s, the original group The Lockers split up, transforming into a second generation in the mid-80s, including old-school dancers Alpha Anderson, Lewis Depute Green, Lionel Big Dee Douglas.

In the 1980s, Tony Go-Go founded a school that introduced the art of locking in Japan. Nowadays, this has caused a wave of interest in knowing and understanding the history and subculture of this dance phenomenon around the world.

In no case are the groups or people listed here are the only ones who have brought something to this dance and subculture (there are so many of them) that have evolved over the decades to finally form a variety of styles and subcultures of the current hip-hop world. hop dance. Many thanks to Don Campbell and many other pioneers of both the "old" school and the new one.