The Potential of Krump in Hong Kong Theatre
Hoax
In his text Afrikan Dancers as Embodied Archives: Contemporary Movements as Evolving Archives Dodzi K Aveh states: “Afro Buck is about them creating an identity in the Krump space and should not be seen as a pollution of Krump or a change of its narrative because at the heart of Krump he sees the dance movement as having roots in traditional West African dances.” I agree with him so much.
Krump is revolutionary, it’s different in different countries and is always shaped by our environment. We are building our own Krump signature in Hong Kong, a city that blends East and West and embraces both Chinese culture and Western education. Flexibility, diversity, and inclusiveness are our hallmarks and this is a dance evolution. It isn't a corruption or pollution of Krump, but a way for us to strive for excellence and express our innermost feelings.
The (and My) History of Krump in Hong Kong
Krump is a relatively new street dance style in Hong Kong. Since the release of the documentary Rize twenty years ago, Krump has set off a craze around the world, but this trend did not immediately arouse much interest in Hong Kong. Due to geography, culture, and information dissemination, the pace of Krump's development locally has been relatively slow and it was only a decade ago that Krump really gained its own place in Hong Kong.
It was first introduced to Hong Kong by Lil Yin, a veteran dancer from Hong Kong. Lil Yin started Krump under the influence of Rize and at that time, the only other dancer alongside Lil Yin who was active in cyphers and showcases from 2006-2008 was Kargo. In 2006, Lil Yin brought krump to a inter-university dance competition, IVDC, and this first introduced Krump into the theatre. However, he didn’t continue to promote it and momentum slowed down. It was not until 2010-2013 that another promoter, Cow, actively promoted Krump via sessions and showcases and as the Internet grew in popularity, he began to actively shoot videos (like this one in 2011) to promote the dance. During this time, Killer Squad had been holding small sessions at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, which is considered the birthplace of Hong Kong Krump culture.
In 2013, two other key figures in Krump, Badrulez and Bonnie, began to regularly hold sessions at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University following a Krump workshop held by Taiwanese dancer Xiao Lu (小陸) in Hong Kong. Prior to this, Badrulez and Bonnie had studied Krump in South Korea and Australia and thanks to their continuous promotion, they have become recognised as the OGs of Hong Kong Krump. Together with Lock Kei, they formed Classy Madness, and created sessions and showcases as their main activities.
Inspired by a friend, I enrolled in Badrulez's Krump class at So Dance studio in 2014 and was invited to join their OG group, Classy Madness, for So Dance Studio's eighth anniversary summer showcase. This marked the beginning of my Krump journey, which continues to this day. I asked Badrulez if I could join their Wednesday Krump sessions at Polytechnic University and I became a regular and gradually became part of the wider community. This was my first engagement in the Krump community, beyond learning choreography in the studio, and it was there that I first experienced the power and freedom inherent in this dance form.
A wave of Krump popularity in Hong Kong came along in 2020, when the street dance TV show Street Dance of China featured the artist Lay Zhang (Zhang Yixing), who brought Krump to the television and inspired many young people to learn the style. But the wave did not sustain for long, we (Rush and I) continued to host sessions and events and seek out performance opportunities in major street dance competitions. As a result, the number of committed Krump learners continued to grow steadily from 1 or 2 per year to 4 or 5 from 2022–2023.
Since 2022–2023, Krump has also gained exposure via a new platform—the university dance societies in Hong Kong. Many university students have become interested in learning and engaging with Krump culture, which is also contributing to the development of the Krump community.
Our group has persevered and continued the traditional formats of Krump activities, including sessions, battles, showcases, choreography, videography, and performances. We hold regular sessions on the campus of Hong Kong Baptist University and organise 2-3 major events annually.
Krump in Hong Kong is steadily rising amongst the younger generation. From that original group of 2-3 people just over a decade ago it has grown into a community of up to 20 active participants. At some events, it reaches 30 dancers who dance together and when you add close friends and supporters, attendances can reach up to 50 people.
1
Freedom
The first and foremost feeling in Krump is freedom. Compared to older street dance styles like hip hop, popping or locking, Krump relies on four basic steps: chest pop, stomp, jab, and arm swing. This limited set of foundational moves requires the dancer to unleash their creativity, discover their own style and, most importantly, create their own character.
A single movement doesn't have any meaning, the key lies in how we assign meaning to it. Who are we? Why do we do this movement? This process of reflection brings me endless joy and makes me realise that dancing is more than just performing different combinations of movements. Throughout my Krump journey I have had many doubts and questions, but in the process of finding these answers, I gained a deeper understanding of myself, my preferences, and how to express my feelings.
Krump is a release for me. It prioritises my own feelings. As the dancers in Rize describe, it’s a way for them to express themselves and the energy of Krump is part of its appeal. Dancers express their emotions and feelings through this intense movement, feeling their most present state and using the energy emanating from their bodies to communicate with the world. It's authentic and unadorned. You can observe how we enter this state, through our changing facial expressions and how we exert our limbs. We feel the energy of each swing, throw, and punch, and our expressions reflect it authentically. We release all emotions (including negative ones) through Krump, making it a necessary societal outlet. Krump isn't just a dance form, it's a spiritual practice.
Krump’s Creative Space, Character Construction and Performance Potential
2
The foundations of Krump are simple, chest pop, stomp, jab and arm swing. The chest pop is the rhythm, it moves us like a heartbeat and plays a crucial role in the dance. We experience energy bursting from our chest through it, driving our entire body. The stomp is the root, it’s closely tied to our stance and because Krump's movements are heavily focused on the upper body, we must maintain a firm footing to more effectively release that energy. The jab and arm swing release the body's kinetic energy and our emotions are present through our arms. Each movement is more than a technique, when combined they’re an outlet for emotion and a display of pure power. Because our foundational movements are limited, that means we have more room for creation. The jab as a movement may not have a clear meaning, but when a dancer is performing this movement, what they think and what they want to convey is the part that gives meaning to the movement. The jab can be a conversation with another dancer, a voice, a resistance or a response to one's own state of mind.
Krump's emphasis on the creation of characters is similar to how characters are constructed in theatre. Every Krump dancer develops their own character, which in turn affects our dancing state, decision-making, energy expression and body language.
According to one of the founders of Krump, Tight Eyez, “a truly powerful character should come from the real self, be extracted from the inner character and experience, and then draw inspiration from the outside world to name and construct it.”
This way of character construction is both realistic and fantastical. Dancers can draw materials from their own life experiences, as well as gain inspiration from movies, animation, and novels. Crush mentioned in the What the Krump series that he drew inspiration from the character Whitebeard from the Japanese comic One Piece and imagined himself holding a spear and performing jab attacks while dancing.
More abstract creative methods also exist in Krump, for example, invisible props. This is a conceptual idea of creating spheres or spaces in the air with our hands and is used by The Jokerz Company in their work La Gracia De La Soledad to good effect. This technique does not require any physical objects, but gives dancers endless creative possibilities and reflects Krump's imagination and creativity in performance.
There’s a well-known character battle that happened in France in 2019 between Joker and Ryat. Both of them used the "Joker" prototype as their character, but from their movements, rhythm choice and props (masks, balls, pens, clothes, etc.) to the overall atmosphere, the two showed completely different interpretations. This ability to freely interpret roles demonstrates that Krump can and should be integrated with theatre even more.
If this battle was transformed into a theatrical work, Ryat could represent the primal, struggling inner self, using their pure body language and Krump steps to convey deep emotions and instinctive impulses within a bare set. His movements rely on no props and the focus is on the power and rhythm of his own body. Joker, in contrast, symbolises the outer self, employing props to enhance the visual impact of his performance. The set design incorporates party elements - large balloons, streamers, and other devices to create an atmosphere of joy and excitement - and his dance is imbued with a festive feel, in stark contrast to Ryat's primitive, solitary desolation.
My First Encounters of Krump and Theatre
I participated in a large-scale theatre project - Pasión por Danza - performed at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in 2021. I joined the project as an urban dancer, thanks to a recommendation from a senior dancer, and since I've always been open to exploring different dance forms, I wanted to try this new possibility. Krump dancers hadn't yet been selected or engaged in a theatrical production in Hong Kong before then and as one of the promoters of Krump culture, I felt a sense of responsibility to participate. Through this engagement, I had the opportunity to have in-depth exchanges and time in co-creation with contemporary dancers, which made me think how Krump can generate new interpretations in a theatrical context.
What surprised me was that there were many similarities between the creative methods of contemporary dance and Krump and both have a high emphasis on freedom. Freedom was what had initially attracted me to Krump over other street dance styles and the personal expression that Krump allows. Between 2012 and 2013, I was exposed to breaking and hip-hop freestyle and I asked my hip-hop instructor, Lokin, how I should get started with freestyle? He suggested starting with stepping. Later on I discovered Krump and began dancing with Badrulez who didn't impose a set format on me, instead encouraging me to explore freely. Whilst I felt a bit lost at first, this freedom actually made Krump more enjoyable. There were no rules restricting how I could dance and I could express myself freely, which fuelled my fascination to develop my own self and character...which is similar to the core and spirit of contemporary dance.
Differences, Overlaps and Emotional Catharsis
From my observations and discussions with many dancers, there is a clear difference in the creative thinking between Hong Kong street dancers and contemporary dancers.
Street dancers often start with the movements, which are based on the foundation of the dance(s). They combine and change them to develop new movements according to the rhythm and atmosphere of the music. This method emphasises the connection between the movement and music, celebrates the dancer's mastery of body control and acknowledges that rhythm is at the core of creation.
Contemporary dancers tend to start from concepts. Their creative inspiration can come from a feeling, a state, a relationship (such as the interaction between people, people and space, people and their bodies), or even an abstract scene. The creative process does not rely on music at all, but instead uses the body as a medium to carry emotions and concepts. This way of creation is refreshing to me, and it made me start to think, how can Krump be extended and redefined in this way?
The differences are obvious in the setting. In Hong Kong, Krump is primarily performed in a session format, with dancers and audience members very close, almost touching. In the theatre, there is often some distance between the dancers and the audience and this spatial separation influences and impacts audience expectations and viewing styles. Session audiences are mostly composed of the dancers themselves, who are familiar with the rhythmic, multi-minute, round-based dance routine - one dancer finishes, then the next one takes over. Theatre audiences, on the other hand, are accustomed to sitting and watching entire works, from 10 minutes to an hour and a half. They tend to understand the choreographer's worldview and explore the message and emotion the work aims to convey. I've been experimenting with different options, should I retain the pure energy of the session or incorporate more narrative and message? These explorations are ongoing within my own Hip Hop Theatre creation for the Flo project and I'm still searching for the answers.
Krump involves strong emotions. It’s an outlet for stress, pain, violence, and repression. I express a lot of emotions through Krump. Dancing is always my way of expressing my inner feelings. Every dance that I perform is an emotional release, a process and dialogue with myself where I try to turn the negative emotions I experience in life into positive energy. This energy that bursts out from within us is one of the things that makes Krump entertaining and visually appealing.
We often - unconsciously - enter a state when dancing. This is not only a concentration of action, but an emotional concentration. You see that our expressions are distorted, our faces are not beautified, but we are moved by the emotional energy that is present in that flow state. This is a real performance and Krump provides a way for me to express myself from the inside out.
This sense of embodied reality in Krump can be likened to the "presentness of the body" pursued in contemporary dance. In theatrical performances, audiences don’t need to passively accept a narrative, they can feel the emotional ups and downs alongside the psychological changes present in the dancers' bodies.
Krump (in) Theatre and Society
In the last decade there have been many examples of putting Krump in the theatre in Europe. Cabaret Krump by Maison de la Musique in France and Breakin’ Convention in the UK often invites Krump dancers to perform shorter theatrical works. Grichka, a French Krump dancer, is actively promoting Krump as a theatrical language, showing that this dance style is not only for the streets, but it can also shine on stage.
Hong Kong is a culturally diverse city that embraces innovation, and Krump could become a bridge between the traditional and contemporary performing arts scenes. It can convey social issues and personal emotions in a sincere and powerful way whilst also attracting younger audiences to the theatre.
After this Flo project, I want the next generation of Krump dancers to develop their thinking beyond the typical Krump session and enter different platforms - such as the theatre - to express their stories and emotions. If dancers can move beyond competition and sessioning, then the theatre can allow them to explore the broader possibilities of movement and narrative, allowing audiences to experience the power and depth of Krump in a different space.
The new generation has a chance to gain a deeper understanding and sensitivity to the interplay between Krump, dancers and space. Can we transcend the confines of sessions and battles and consider how to transmit our energy to an audience on a larger stage, making Krump a true form of resistance and communication?
Krump itself is a socially critical dance language. We express our inner discontent and repression through our movements, just like the original creators of Krump who used it as an outlet in an environment that was filled with negative energy in life and society. As the economic environment deteriorates in Hong Kong and the pressures of life continue to rise, we often find it difficult to breathe and are trapped by the high-pressure rhythm. As Dodzi says “creating an identity in the Krump space…should not be seen as a pollution of Krump” so, yes whilst Hong Kong is a city facing many social challenges by bringing Krump into the theatre and society at large, it’s not only an artistic experiment, but an invitation to a bigger social dialogue about the future of it as a culture and the identity of Hong Kong itself.
Buy a copy of Ink Cypher - In Print, an exquisitely designed, limited edition, Hip Hop dance newspaper featuring all of the texts from Ink Cypher Round 1-3 here.
This text was conceived during the Hip Hop Dance Writing Laboratory in Hong Kong in April 2025. It is part of Ink Cypher Round 4, published November 2025.
A response to Afrikan Dancers as Embodied Archives: Contemporary Movements as Evolving Archives by Dodzi K Aveh.
If you value the work we're doing and are able to contribute, then please donate.
Hoax
Hoax Tam Wai-yuen has been actively involved in Krump and is one of the founders of the Krump groups, 19 Cavalierz and Hoax Fam. In addition to participating in various local and international street dance events, he also organizes diverse activities to promote Krump and street dance culture.
This text is part of Ink Cypher Round 4 and is published in English and Chinese.
中文翻譯按此 - Chinese version, click here
Original translation: ChatGPT
Additional translation and edited: Catherine Yau
Hoax