Floorwork#B-boying

File:Francesco Gabriele Frola, Caliban - Prix de Lausanne 2010.jpg variation |alt=A man, wearing only a dance belt, supporting himself off the ground on one arm and both feet while lifting a fist]]

The use of floorwork is one of the major differences between modern dance and previous Western concert dance genres.{{cite book | last=Thomas | first=Helen | title=The Body, Dance and Cultural Theory | publisher=Palgrave Macmillan | year=2003 | isbn=978-1-137-48777-3 | url=https://archive.org/details/bodydancecultura0000thom| url-access=registration | page=[https://archive.org/details/bodydancecultura0000thom/page/112 112]}} Isadora Duncan incorporated floorwork in dances as early as 1911, although credit for its introduction is more often given to her successor Martha Graham.{{cite book | last=Preston | first=C.J. | title=Modernism's Mythic Pose: Gender, Genre, Solo Performance | publisher=Oxford University Press, Incorporated| year=2014 | isbn=978-0-19-938458-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i_4TDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA158 | page=158 and note 56, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=i_4TDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA297 297]}} The concept is closely associated with Graham technique, because of Graham's extensive use of floorwork and widely imitated innovations, as well as the technique's unique repertoire of falls.{{cite book | last1=Clarke | first1=M. | last2=Vaughan | first2=D. | title=The Encyclopedia of dance & ballet | publisher=Pitman | year=1977 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0eK2AAAAIAAJ|pages=159–160| isbn=9780273010883 }} Doris Humphrey has been credited with floorwork innovations in a concert dance context.

Later movements derived from classical modern dance also used floorwork extensively.{{cite journal | last=Bannerman | first=Henrietta | title=A question of somatics the search for a common framework for twenty-first-century contemporary dance pedagogy: Graham and Release-based techniques | journal=Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices | volume=2 | issue=1 | year=2010 | pages=5–19 | doi=10.1386/jdsp.2.1.5_1}} Contemporary ballet uses the floor as an integral part of the choreography, rather than the occasional kneel or collapse to be found in older romantic ballet styles.{{cite book | last1=Scheff | first1=H. | last2=Sprague | first2=M. | last3=McGreevy-Nichols | first3=S. | title=Exploring Dance Forms and Styles: A Guide to Concert, World, Social, and Historical Dance | publisher=Human Kinetics | year=2010 | isbn=978-0-7360-8023-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=phJqR8gMWRUC&pg=PA29 | page=29}} Floorwork is essential in the postmodern genre of contact improvisation, in which the floor can even be treated as a partner.{{cite book | last=Novack | first=C.J. | title=Sharing the Dance: Contact Improvisation and American Culture | publisher=University of Wisconsin Press | year=1990 | isbn=978-0-299-12444-1 | url=https://archive.org/details/sharingdancecont00nova | url-access=registration | page=[https://archive.org/details/sharingdancecont00nova/page/150 150]}}

File:Mills.gif windmills, a floor-based power move|alt=a dancer rolls on the ground with their legs extended and whirling in the air, then tucks their legs and spins on their back]]

Floorwork in b-boying (breakdancing) includes floor-based footwork, or downrock, as well as certain more athletic power moves. Downrock is performed with the body supported on the hands and feet.{{cite book | last=Smith | first=J.C. |chapter=Break Dancing| title=Encyclopedia of African American Popular Culture | publisher=ABC-CLIO | year=2010 | isbn=978-0-313-35797-8 | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=10rEGSIItjgC&pg=PA191 | page=191}} It allows the dancer to display their proficiency with foot speed and control by performing intricate footwork combinations. The foundational move of downrock is the 6-step, although innumerable variants exist.{{cite book | last=Marylou | first=K. | title=Trends in Hip-Hop Dance | publisher=Mitchell Lane Publishers | year=2014 | isbn=978-1-61228-595-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GOqXBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA21 | page=21}} The hands, legs and knees may also be featured or support the body.

Downrock often transitions into dramatic power moves, including floor-based moves such as windmills and flares.

Downrock became common in the mid-1970s; Keith and Kevin Smith, known as the "Nigga Twinz", have been credited with popularizing it,{{cite web|last1=Miller|first1=Christopher A.|last2=Ferrell|first2=Rebecca A.|title=Hip Hop|url=https://www.danceheritage.org/treasures/hiphop_essay_miller_ferrell.pdf|publisher=Dance Heritage Coalition|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151010083744/http://www.danceheritage.org/treasures/hiphop_essay_miller_ferrell.pdf|archive-date=10 October 2015|page=1}} as has the original Rock Steady Crew.{{cite thesis |last=Jírová |first= Olga |date=2012 |title=Hip hop in American Culture |type=B. A. |publisher=Palacky University |url=http://theses.cz/id/ya207u/00162505-738794606.pdf |access-date=26 July 2016}} The emergence of floorwork was an important development in breaking, marking the end of the early or "old-school" style.

File:Belly dancer 9 (3363119354).jpg floorwork, using a sword as a prop|alt=a woman in an elaborate red costume lies on her back with her legs folded under her, her arms above her head, and a sword balanced on her torso]]

Floorwork is a feature of many kinds of belly dance, often involving the manipulation of a prop while lying on the floor and intended to showcase the dancer's control. Masha Archer, as part of an effort to change what she saw as the over-sexualized and exploitative features of belly dance, rejected floorwork because she did not want audiences to look down on her dancers.{{cite book | last=Connover |first=Georgia |chapter= Mediating the Other Through Dance: Geopolitics, Social Ordering, and Meaning-Making in American and Improvisational Tribal Style Dance |editor=Pine, A.M.| title=Geographies of Dance: Body, Movement, and Corporeal Negotiations | publisher=Lexington Books | year=2013 | isbn=978-0-7391-7185-1 | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l1FzAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA123| page=123}}

File:Alice Sheppard performs "So, I Will Wait.".JPG|alt=A woman in dark, close-fitting clothes and a wheelchair lies on her back, stabilizing herself with her arms and lifting her legs, along with the wheelchair, over her head|In a solo adaptive dance

File:Allah Garibou.jpg|alt=Two men in loose clothing on a dance floor, one lifting his leg and the other leaning back to rest on the first man's lower body|In a contemporary dance duet

File:NWFusion9.jpg|alt=Three women in black leotards, each kneeling on one leg with the other foot on the floor, leaning back to support herself on one hand, and looking at the other hand, which is raised|In a modern dance

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{{cite book | last1=Guest | first1=A.H. | last2=Kolff | first2=J. | title=Floorwork, Basic Acrobatics | publisher=Dance Books | series=Advanced Labanotation | year=2003 | isbn=978-1-85273-093-2}}

Category:Dance technique