Campbellocking was the name given to locking by its inventor, Don Campbell. Campbell was a dancer who appeared on numerous shows in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but he may have been inspired by artists such as James Brown, who used similar techniques in performing his music. Locking is commonly associated with break dancing today, but it predates many of today’s hip hop styles. It’s still popular, and unlike some forms of hip hop, it’s more likely to be performed to funk or pop music rather than rap.
After some fast dancing movements, the basic locking form is to hold a movement that is usually well coordinated with music. Before continuing to dance, the dancer is locked in place for a few seconds. Dancers often put in a lot of effort to sync these movements with music and sudden freezes that emphasize form, isolation, and music. As a result, the dance form can be described as extremely musically aware.
There are a variety of lock steps that are frequently used in conjunction with popping. In fact, popping is frequently thought to have been inspired by locking. A dancer uses a pop and lock to isolate a muscle movement with a hard hit. Consider hitting a brick wall, which halts your progress. Popping acts as an invisible wall, allowing muscle isolation to pop or hit. Based on the inflections in the music used, this movement can then be locked or frozen for a few seconds.
Although pop and lock emerged around the same time in dance history in the 1970s, some dancers argue that they are two distinct styles. A pop is a serious dance, whereas locking is more lighthearted, celebratory, and playful. Furthermore, most forms of popping consist of a series of pops that are performed one after the other. It’s been compared to a series of freeze frame photographs by some. A lock usually happens in the middle of a dance as isolated stops amongst a variety of fluid and sometimes frenetic movements. Some argue that the two forms should coexist, while others argue that they should exist separately.
There are many different lock steps, and many of them involve collapsing the body in some way before locking in place. After that, the dancer emerges from the collapse into a lock. Splits are another feature of locking; look at James Brown and Prince’s performances for examples of these types of lock steps. Landing on one’s knees and holding a variety of other positions, some of which are derived from mime, are also common.