The Krump Session and what you need to know
Man, I’ve been waiting to speak about the session in a bit more depth than I usually do. It’s a massive topic and I know that so many people outside of Krump wonder what it is to us, why the noise, why the rowdiness, why we look like we’re pissed off when we dance. And inside Krump the many reasons why we get together and make all the above happen.
In short, we Krump because it is a creative expression of storytelling. Just like musicians can write songs about any subject, so can dancers, whether it be deeply personal or purely for their range of movement and freedom to creatively express themselves. It’s one of those practices that is a necessity for me personally and I'm sure for many other people.
The session is a space that allows people to express their week, their day, and their year in a matter of minutes with people that are there for all of it. The session frees us from the struggles and challenges that we face in our daily lives. The pent-up frustration, sadness, confusion, joy, happiness. The whole spectrum of emotions is drawn from in the session to let it out. For some people, it was and still is an escape from violence, gang activity, and even domestic abuse, whether verbal, emotional or physical. In saying this, Krump is usually high in energy, intense movements and powerful raw emotion, hence the ugly facial expressions and explosive nature. So if it looks like we’re just a group of angry people, think again, reassess your judgement and learn to feel first and understand second by asking questions about the culture and our why.
A session is a place where we can explore and create in real-time without any prior planning of what we’re going to do; freestyle or improvised dancing. However, some people do come to the session with their fresh combos and ideas that can bring the session to a different space. It gives us the chance to follow the energy of who’s there and their input in the session.
In my personal opinion music and how people approach the music is what changes the flow and vibe of the session, for example, you can have straight storytelling sessions where each dancer approaches their round with clear ideas and concepts that people can follow which these rounds are usually longer than 2 minutes or a straight get off session where the rounds are short and sweet but jam-packed with energy, quick release and intensity or rounds specific to combos or deeply emotional if someone needs to go there. The session can truly go anywhere! The beauty of Krump is its unpredictability and its cathartic nature.
The noise that we make is in support of our fellow dancers. Krump is a give and take. You dance to give and take the hype and use it to get to higher planes of creativity and energetic output. It can get to the point where we move together without any prior planning, it’s just the feeling that takes over and we feed into the energy of the dancer and what they’re doing to vibe and experience their dance with them to take the session higher in energy, flow and an increase in depth of substance and connection to themselves.
The session also made space for callouts and battles to happen. In Krump, we battle people that we think are worthy of the exchange and our time because the session demands respect and your full attention. In turn, when you feed the session with your energy, get present with the session and increase your input in the session the respect of your peers increases. The more work you put in, the more you get out of it, just like anything else in life.
The more you deepen your understanding of your dance and the session you will enter depths of your creativity and connection to your community that is beyond your current awareness. I hope that you get to experience your local session one day.