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Ink comic illustration: two rockers face off on a wet New York street at night. One raises a knee and leans back; the other lunges with an open hand high in the air. Behind them, two crews rock in silhouette beside a car with a boombox

What is Up Rock?

A battle dance from the streets of New York. Two rockers face off to funk and soul records and improvise on the music, without ever touching.

Up Rock in 20 seconds

Up Rock is a battle dance from Brooklyn, New York. Two rockers face off to funk and soul records and improvise on the music: burn or get burned.

The three moves

  • Ink comic panel: a rocker points across the floor at another in a crowded hall Freestyle Free dancing on the beat between attacks.
  • Ink comic panel: two rockers crouch low face to face, one with a hand near the floor Jerk Sudden drops and rocks of the body. The basic move.
  • Ink comic panel in red light: a rocker in a fedora and leather vest lunges and throws one arm high, the other fist at the chest Burn The rocker’s own gesture, made out of the music, to burn the other one.

How a battle runs

Ink comic illustration: an Apache Line in a dance hall, two long rows of rockers of all ages facing each other while one rocker walks down the middle with his arms open
  1. Line up One against one or crew against crew, face to face in an Apache Line.
  2. Play the record The battle lasts the whole song.
  3. Improvise There are no set turns. Each rocker improvises on the music, and every burn asks for an answer: burn or get burned.
  4. Never touch Physical contact is not allowed. A burn is a gesture, never a blow.
  5. Win it Judges watch the freestyle, the jerk and the burn. The rocker who does it all best wins: creativity and knowing the music, not throwing the most weapons or mocking the other.

Whether rockers ever touched is disputed. Some recall that early rocking was full contact, and that the crews made the no-touching rule so that battles would not end in fights.

The music

Funk and soul records, danced from the first bar to the last. Brooklyn DJs blended and mixed them rather than scratching only the break. The records are on the music page.

Up Rock or breaking?

Brooklyn veterans treat Up Rock as a dance of its own. How it differs from breaking’s toprock is on Up Rock vs toprock.

Where it started

Ink comic illustration: a 1970s Brooklyn block party at dusk, a woman points at a dancer on the wet street

Bushwick · Brooklyn

Most accounts place the start in Bushwick, Brooklyn, in 1967-68 or 1968. Another account dates it to between 1974 and 1976. One more says rock was danced all over New York City, with Bushwick as its heart.

Decades later it reached the world. There are rockers and crews today in Russia, Poland, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, among other places. Every date with its source is on the history timeline.

Rock, rocking, rock dance

Same dance, several names. Early rockers mostly said rock or rocking. In Bushwick it was also the rock dance. Outside Brooklyn people called it Brooklyn rock.

Up Rock and uprocking came later:

Mistaken as a rock & roll dance, “Rocking” became “Uprocking”. It was the same dance with a different name.

Dynasty Rockers website History of Uprock, 2002 1

When the new name took hold is disputed. Written dates run from the late sixties to 1980-81. One account ties it to the Bushwick rock contests, where kids from Ridgewood came expecting rock bands and were told this was the up rock.

  • Rock
  • Rocking
  • Rock dance
  • Brooklyn rock
  • Up Rock
  • Uprocking

Here we write Up Rock and call the dancers rockers or up rockers.

  • Ink comic illustration: one rocker in four panels, each a different move Fundamentals The freestyle, the jerk and the burn, step by step.
  • Ink comic illustration: a DJ holds up a record while two rockers dance Music The records rockers battle to.