[4] Hiplet is notable for its combination of ballet-style movement, which is ethnographically Eurocentric and primarily white, and hip-hop, which is rooted in and grown out of African dance and rich urban culture from communities of color.
[4] Hiplet's origins can be traced to Homer Hans Bryant's 1992 "Rap Ballet,"[1] but precedents for similar dance fusions extend back much further than the 1990s.
“Breaking, Ballet, and the Representation of Race and Gender,” from Hip Hop on Film, provides background on multiple dance styles in both a cultural and performance context.
[5] This piece provides earlier examples of artists attempting new types of movement by contending with racialized and gendered histories of different dance styles, stretching back to the mid-twentieth century, setting a precedent for hiplet to form.
Dance’s digital archive interacts with the cultural context of its origins and viewing, providing room for new interpretations of work.