Have you ever wondered what the easiest hip hop dance moves and steps to learn for beginners are? Because we have.
Here at Insider Monkey, we kind of love to dance. While all styles are great, and freestyle seems to win over most days, it’s hip-hop that really becomes the life of the party. Some of us here have a bit of a background in dance, have taken some classes, or at the very least have watched a few hip-hop dance moves step by step videos to get by, so we were pretty curious to see what the world had to say about this topic. Naturally, we searched for hip-hop dance learning videos for beginners, because as much as names on a sheet of paper will take us, it’s still better when you have some visual help and actual instructions on how to best perform certain moves. Thankfully, YouTube is full of dance tutorials, including those basic hip-hop dance steps for beginners.
The hip-hop style started back in the late 60s as a combination of breaking, locking, roboting, popping, and more, with each style being born in different parts of the United States, whether New York or California. There are a few things they have in common, of course, such as the tendency to improvise and the street element. Even now, after all these years, new styles are still being born and if you watch shows like “So You Think You Can Dance” which is at its 14th season right now, you’re bound to notice dancers talking about these styles during the audition rounds. It’s mesmerizing to learn all about it, the influences they have and how the dance came to be. Some, of course, are nicer than others, but as long as one does what they love, that’s enough.
Pixabay/ Public Domain
You can also check out these Easiest Ballroom Dances to Learn For Weddings if you want to expand your dance vocabulary. If you’re strictly interested in street dance, however, you can check out these Most Awesome Hip-Hop Documentaries.
So how to learn to dance at home step by step? In order to create our list today, we checked out dozens of easy hip-hop dance moves on YouTube, and picked out the steps that repeated themselves the most. It’s tough to tell which steps really are the easiest, because some dancers will consider some easier than others, while the next dancers will have issues catching on with the simplest, while performing more difficult choreography easily.
In the end, we created a list of easiest hip hop dance moves and steps to learn for beginners, trying to help you out a bit. So here it goes – these are the easiest hip-hop dance moves and steps to learn for beginners:
10. The robot
When it comes to doing the robot, we’re pretty much in the animation corner of hip-hop, but that’s ok, because this isn’t an overly complicated move, much like other animation steps are.
The secret is to make sure to separate each and every step you make, as if you were a machine, maybe even add a little wobble move at the end there as if you’re stabilizing yourself. The robot has a lot of forms, but the most common form of it involves a lot of arm movements. Whether you’re crossing your arms, holding your elbows at a 90-degree angle, or moving them up and down to the side, you’re pretty much doing the robot. Interesting start of our list of easiest hip hop dance moves and steps to learn for beginners, don’t you think?
What you have to remember, is to make sure your moves are “robotic” – that they won’t flow like a normal human movement.
9. Happy Feet
Move number nine on the list of easiest hip hop dance moves and steps to learn for beginners is also known as “heel toe,” the happy feet dance move is one of the easiest to recognize. To get this done successfully you’ll have to make sure your body stays in the same location, but your feet do all the work.
So, when you twist your right foot on the toes inward, you’re going to twist your left foot on your heel outward. Then, you return to your original position, and mirror the position. If you’re feeling adventurous you can switch from toes to heel and heel to toes rapidly and keep advancing in any direction you want, before returning.
As you get the hang of it, you should be able to speed things up and adjust the steps to any rhythm you want to show off too.
8. Kick and Step
You need a bit of more coordination to get this move right, but it’s not too difficult and you should get the hang of it pretty quick.
The Kick and Step, just as the name suggests, is made out of two parts. You’re going to want to kick your left leg forth, while doing a little jump so you can slide your right leg back. Then, you’ll step on your left foot and jump on your right foot back, left foot again and then you’ll just slide your left foot back while kicking your right leg forward, effectively switching things up.
Make sure you bend your knees while doing this step and, as you get better at it, you’ll be able to speed it up and match the music rhythm.
7. The Slide Step
This is a pretty easy step to learn and you won’t have to be any type of dance wiz to get it done. You’ll have to start off by putting your left foot forward and sliding it slowly back. When you reach the original position, you’ll want to quickly rise your other foot on your toes, before moving it forward too and repeating the motion.
If you repeat it enough times you’ll get to have a really nice flow and the step will only look better and better. If you start using your hands in this combination, then that’s even better. So, what do you think, does this move deserves a place on the list of easiest hip hop dance moves and steps to learn for beginners.
6. Feet Shuffle
Now, this is a move that requires a lot of speed once you get the hang of it. Shuffling isn’t necessarily very difficult to do, but you’ll need great coordination.
You’ll start by raising your left knee up and, as you’re putting the foot back down, you’re going to do a little jump, pushing your right leg backward. Then, as you raise the right knee up, you’re going to bring your left foot back a bit through a slide, so you have it straight under you and you don’t fall down.
If you want to get more adventurous, you can do this move to the sides too.
5. Nae Nae
Back in 2015, Silentó released his hit song called Watch Me (Whip/ Nae Nae), whose video featured a rather catchy rhythm and some dance moves everyone wanted to learn. Since then, the moves have been danced all over the world, becoming a phenomenon.
The moves are easy, and they start by you loosening up and exercising your balance. You’ll want to spread your legs a bit, bend your knees and spread your arms – one upwards and one downwards, laterally away from your body. You’ll be doing this while swinging from your left hip to your right hip. And there you go, now you can nae nae to the song with the one of the easiest hip hop dance moves and steps to learn for beginners.
4. The Doughie
The Doughie is perhaps one of the oldest hip-hop moves and it is so famous it is featured by name in countless songs.
The dance move involves moving from one foot to the other, dipping a bit as you get there, while rolling your upper body to the direction you’re moving to. Involving your arms into the move and applying the same rolling movement, will give your dancing more flow.
3. Chest pop
Of course, popping is a whole monster of a separate dance style, but, in hip-hop, you can incorporate some of the movements, such as chest popping that is among three easiest hip hop dance moves and steps to learn for beginners.
What you’ll want to do is, while standing straight, to push your chest forward in a sudden movement – a pop, if you will. You’ll also want to slightly push your shoulders backwards a tiny bit, so emphasize the movement, but don’t do it too much, because you’ll just ruin the step completely.
2. Hip Pull
This is one of the simplest hip-hop dance moves and steps to learn and even a toddler can probably learn it in a few minutes. What you’ll want to do to get this right is move your hips from left to right.
At the same time, you’ll want to involve your arms by pulling your elbows to the same direction. So, your hips are going left, so is your left elbow, which you’ll pull in a line at chest level. Then, you’ll repeat the motion in the other direciton, moving your other arm.
You’ll want to keep in mind that this is a hip hop step, so you don’t want to roll your hips when moving them, just to shift from one another. Otherwise, you’re turning this into ballroom.
1. Step touch
If you can’t get this step down, you’re better off just sitting on the couch. However, we think anyone can do it, because it’s just that simple. What you’ll want to do is step with your left foot to the side, making sure to follow the song’s rhythm. Then, you’ll bring your right foot close. You’ll then move your right foot back, and follow with the left foot, making sure your shoes are touching. You’ll have to add a bit of a bounce, bending your knees a bit, to make sure you’re following the music.
Then, you’ll just repeat this step over and over and it will help you through pretty much any dance night and any song. Once you learn all these steps, you can try to become more adventurous and mix things up a bit.
That being said, these have been the easiest hip hop dance moves and steps to learn for beginners.
