Jumpstyle

Jumpstyle is an EDM dance style and hard dance music genre popular in Eastern Europe, as well as certain parts of Australia and the United States. The word originates from a movement of hard dance music followers, and especially those devoted to its post-2007.

Jumpstyling is often referred to as "Jumpen": a combination of the English word 'Jump' and the Dutch & German suffix '-en' (meaning "to jump" or "jumping").[1]

It originated in 1997 in Belgium[2] but gathered bigger popularity in their neighboring country the Netherlands in the 2000s.

History

Jumpstyle, originally known simply as jump, was created in Belgium and started in 1997. It was a short-lived small genre that didn't gain popularity in its original form. However, it came back to the public during the turn of the century and fandom began increasing throughout Europe after undergoing significant changes in Germany in early 2003.

Popularity

After acquiring its current name, jumpstyle was reintroduced in Europe and in 2005 saw artists and groups producing and releasing its music.

The first key stage of its popularity came between 2007 and 2008 due to the success of music videos such as Scooter's 'The Question Is What Is The Question' and 'Jumping all over the World' which led to their 13th studio album reaching #1 in the UK charts.

However, there are still some radio stations left, broadcasting Jump in its traditional form. The oldest Jump radio was founded in 2005 and still exists today under the name of JumpStation.FM.[3]

The style has also been fused with other genres, for example, Major Lazer & The Partysquad mixed a unique jumpstyle track with a jungle vocal sample in the track "Original Don" and Joel Fletcher's remix of Savage's 2005 single "Swing" which uses jumpstyle influences.

Performance and dance

The modern dance associated with Jump, has evolved from skiën (lit. "skiing"). Performance by more than one person is the most popular. The legs are the most important part of the body in jumpstyle. It is performed by a series of forward and backward swings of the legs on the rhythm of the music.

Styles

Jumpstyle has various styles, but while all of these styles vary quite a bit, they still fall under the category of jumpstyle. In the descriptions below, suggestions to how the styles are performed will be made. However, the styles are not necessarily limited to these suggestions.

Old School Basis This is the simplest form of jump that almost all jumpers will learn when starting out. It is something anyone can pick up, which is what makes jumpstyle so accessible to the masses. It is made from 5 basics steps.

Hardjump Basis The emphasis in this type of dance is put on the 6-step HardJump basics, make it necessary to aggressively preload with full leg stunts are of secondary importance.

Sidejump Basis Its roots subspecies Sidejump takes from ownstyle. Sidejump is a kind of style, running with multiple rotations, the combinations protivohoda. Sidejump distinguish from other subgenres jump Style is not so difficult. It has a lot of tangles with elements such as wheel (i.e. the rotation of the knee joint), Spin (air, ground). As for the hard emission feet, then Sidejump such bundles are optional, but you can still use them at the discretion of the dancer. There is another distinctive feature in Sidejump. Most of the tricks, in particular element of wheel you will not be able to make clear to the beat, and so it seems that the dancer does not fall to the rhythm of music and dancing too fast. For Sidejump-a characteristic of the music with a fast barrel, in order to attend the dance effect "Yule".

Freestyle A style that uses a lot of tricks and bundles of them, but it is forbidden rotation leg at the knee at various turns (from the English. "Wheel" ).

Ownstyle This style originated around 2007-2009 and has been the most popular form of Jumpstyle in recent years. It is practiced internationally, particularly in Russia and Ukraine. What makes Ownstyle distinct from the other styles are its remnants of ballet and kicks that are executed well above the waist line. Ownstyle founders were prominent Polish dancers Danniel, Iceman, Rumun, Noiz, and Fantom. Dancers from other countries began to develop, not copy, Polish ownstyle, in the direction of the dance. This subspecies of Jumpstyle is the most interesting style, but also, the most difficult.

Tekstyle As we know, as an interesting area, very unlike the other JumpStyle. It is danced to the music of TekStyle JumpStyle (Industrial Jump). Most dance is different in that the dancer often uses movement and their hands may touch their feet.

Starstyle Starstyle is very similar to TekStyle, but the movements in the dance are more smooth.

Duojump Any type of JumpStyle can dance in pairs. However, it is necessary to agree in advance on the sequence of movements that you will use and do synchronized with a partner. TrioJump - the same rules as in Duojump, but on the three dancers. GroupJump - also all dancers participating in the group requires synchronization of actions, which is reached after prolonged exercise. Usually danced in a group of more than 4 people.

Tournaments and leagues

There are various jumpstyle leagues across the world; mostly in the form of online video submissions and internet competitions. However, in Belgium there have been staged tournaments such as the European Jump Masters.

The UK was the first to officially establish online leagues to an international level with the FIJL (First International Jumpstyle League) but unfortunately support was lacking and many competitors pulled out leaving much confusion.

On the upside this sparked several International Leagues in countries such as Australia, Russia, Germany and Spain.[4]

Some of the most popular ones in recent years are Russian and Polish-based.

Notable dancers and producers

This is an incomplete list that may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

Similar dance styles

There are numerous dance styles connected or partnered with jumpstyle; whether because of its similarities in origin (underground dances that gain notoriety online) or due to its community within the rave and hard dance scene. An example of these are Melbourne shuffle, Melbourne bounce, tecktonik (electro dance), freestep, drum & bass step, dubstep dance and tekstyle (fusion/variation).

Music

Jumpstyle music is an offspring of tech-trance, hardstyle, gabber and mákina. Its tempo is usually between 140 and 150 BPM. However, it cannot be seen as merely a slowed down version of gabber. It is characterized by a 909 kick drum used in a four on the floor beat. It also has influences from hard house and electro house. Starting around 2012-13, jumpstyle music begins to gain influence from hardstyle sound, such as pitched basslines set at a melody, more complex, multiband distortion, and synthesizers utilizing square waveforms.[5]

Related genres

Melbourne bounce

Melbourne bounce is a subgenre of jumpstyle, mainly utilising a kick drum, off-beat bass shot and a lead melody of some kind played using a synthesiser or vocal sample.[6][7][8] Related artists include: Will Sparks, The Blackout Crew, Deorro and Joel Fletcher.

References

  1. ↑ "Jumpstyle Info". USA Jumpstyle. Retrieved 7 September 2008.
  2. ↑ "What Is It? Jumpstyle". XLR8R. 2008-01-29. Retrieved 2014-02-01.
  3. ↑ "First French Tek / Hardtechno / Jump Radio". JumpStation.FM. 2011-08-28. Retrieved 2014-02-01.
  4. ↑ "International Jumpstyle Leagues" (in Dutch). Jumpstylers.ru. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  5. ↑ "Over Jumpen (about Jump)" (in Dutch). Jumpisthestyle.com. Retrieved 2 November 2008.
  6. ↑ Christopher Kevin (October 27, 2014). "Will Sparks and Joel Fletcher on the state of the Melbourne bounce". Inthemix. Joel Fletcher "It’s completely changed from what it was. It used to be very basic and really minimal, like what Joel said before. It works, bro, basically. It’s so different these days, but it’s still staying underground. That’s what I love about it."
  7. ↑ Wow (July 30, 2013). "What Is Melbourne Sound?". Stoney Roads. Retrieved 2014-05-22.
  8. ↑ Cirillo, Amanda (April 25, 2014). "Start Dancing to Melbourne-Born Bangers". Le Clubz. Retrieved 2014-05-22.