Rock Dance InternationalUp Rock history: where the dance began
Up Rock was born on the streets of Bushwick, Brooklyn, in the late 1960s. Most accounts place its birth there around 1968. This timeline follows the main line of the story, from the first street corners to the rockers of Russia, Poland and Japan.
The people who were there do not always agree on dates. Where they differ, the entry gives more than one.
The roots: late 1960s
Before there were dance crews, the dance lived with the street gangs.
Late 1960s Gangs burn to music
Veterans recall that gang members rocked, or burned, to music: they faced off and mimed attacks on each other. They also recall that gangs in other places learned it through their Brooklyn chapters.
1967–1968 Born in Bushwick
The accounts date the birth of the dance to Bushwick, Brooklyn, between 1967 and 1968, and most of them give 1968.
By one account it then crossed the Williamsburg Bridge to the streets of the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
1968–1970 A first generation
A first generation of rockers was active around 1968-70. Brooklyn already had well-known DJs.
The 1970s: crews, contests and the jerk
In the 1970s the dance got its crews, its contests and its signature move, the jerk. Crews battled on Bushwick’s streets and in its church halls. Dates in this decade are the most disputed, so most entries give more than one.
1971–1973 Learning on the corner
A rocker of the second generation, new to Bushwick in 1969, got hooked watching members of a local gang rock on a street corner.
1973 A contest in a church
By one account the first rock contest was held in 1973 at St. Barbara’s Church in Bushwick. The account is secondhand, passed down from older rockers.
1973–1977 Names on the back
Crews began wearing their name and the word “Rockers” on their shirts, although colors were a gang matter and could bring trouble. One crew’s own accounts date its first lettering to 1973 or to 1976.
1974–1976 The jerk appears
The jerk, a sharp drop toward the floor on an accent of the music, arrives in these years. The rockers who were there date it differently: one first saw it in October 1974, another saw no jerking in 1975 or 1976.
1976–1979 Crews multiply
By one count there were more than a hundred crews in Bushwick alone by 1976-77, and some contests had Apache lines of more than 50 rockers.
Late in the decade the name “uprock” took over. One account ties it to confusion with rock fans at jams. Another ties it to the Bushwick step spreading to other boroughs.
1979 Into breaking
One rocker first saw breaking in 1979 at a roller rink in Queens, and a breaking crew in Williamsburg dates its founding to the same year. How the two dances differ is the subject of Up Rock vs toprock.
The 1980s: beyond New York, and the fade
The early 1980s brought the first signs of the dance outside New York. By the middle of the decade breaking had taken over the contests, and rocking almost disappeared.
1981 Contests and the Bronx
Rock contests came in two kinds: one-on-one burning and routines with a partner. That year a Bronx club flyer advertised a rock dance contest, and one history dates the arrival of the uprock step in the Bronx to 1981.
Early 1980s Beyond New York
Dancers recall the dance in Hartford, Connecticut, where it was called outlawing, and in Florida, where by 1983 people simply called it Brooklyn.
1983–1985 The fade
By one rocker’s account, after 1983 the contests were all breaking contests, and his generation came to an end around 1985. A 1984 breakdancing manual gave uprock a section of its own and noted that more and more dancers did it solo, without an opponent.
The 1990s: looking for the originals
In the 1990s rockers went looking for the original dancers of the 1970s and began to teach again. Who started the return is told in different ways. Some rockers call it the rebirth.
1993–1994 The first Dollar Jams
Dollar Jams, monthly jams with a one-dollar entry, began in 1993 or 1994, with free classes alongside them.
1995 A new generation
In early 1995 a breaker who had rocked was drawn back to rocking, and from then on he taught it to a new generation.
1999 Ridgewood
In the gym of I.S. 93 in Ridgewood, Queens, up to 100 people aged 6 to 30 practiced while original dancers taught them the foundation and the history of the form.
The 2000s: Folk Feet and trips abroad
In the 2000s Up Rock got a place in a Brooklyn folk dance program and reached Europe.
2002 Las Vegas, Florida, Switzerland
By 2002 a Brooklyn crew listed members in Las Vegas, Florida and Switzerland.
2003–2009 Folk Feet
The Brooklyn Arts Council’s Folk Feet project documented and presented Brooklyn’s traditional dances from 2003 to 2009, uprocking among them.
2005–2007 France and Poland
In 2005 a French rocker joined a Brooklyn crew. Dancers in Poland saw it on video around 2006, and in 2007 that French rocker taught a two-day workshop in Poland for about 50 dancers.
2010 to 2019: Russia, Poland and Asia
From about 2010 Brooklyn rockers visited Russia and Poland, and crews there and in Asia grew their own scenes.
2013 Tver
Russian TV covered a rock contest in Tver, held by what the presenter called the only rock crew in the country at the time.
About 2018 A line of 150
By one account an anniversary event in Russia gathered 150 rockers in an Apache line.
2019 St. Petersburg
In an interview recorded at a festival in St. Petersburg, one of the original rockers said the best rockers now live in Russia, with Poland, China and Korea also at a good level.
Today
The original rockers are still telling their story, and the dance now has crews on several continents.
2020 For The Record
Bushwick veterans met for “For The Record,” a round table on Vitamin Vision TV, so the first generation could tell its story. They disagreed openly on dates. That year one rocker said that New York, and even the United States, could not gather 20 solid rockers for a contest, while lines of 15 to 50 formed in Russia, Korea or Japan.
2021–2022 A magazine in Japan
From November 1, 2021, to November 21, 2022, a Japanese group published “Weekly UPROCK MAG” on note.com: 58 articles on uprock, including translated interviews with original rockers.
2027 Rock Dance International
Rockers from several countries will meet in Spain on Saturday, November 20, 2027, at Rock Dance International 2027.