Jumpstyle

Jumpstyle is a dance that began in Belgium and the Netherlands and which is performed to music of the same name. The music is distinctive with a hard beat and playful melodies. The hard beat is generally created with a distorted kick drum and a four on the floor beat. Often, the melodies have a happy feel, while the overall music resembles trance.

The dance is performed by kicking your feet forward and backward on the bass line of the music while moving your body in the opposite direction. To indicate a break in the beat, you lift one foot much higher than the other. The dance is fairly easy to perform if you have a good sense of bass rhythm.

The dance originated in 1994, but was rather unpopular in comparison to the widely popular Hardstyle in the Netherlands. For the next ten years, it was performed by the French and Germans, but failed to become widely popular. Suddenly, in 2004, it became extremely popular in Belgium and the Netherlands and its popularity has continued to accelerate.

Initially, Jumpstyle was considered just a variant of Hardcore Techno but has since established itself as its own genre of dance. Several sub-genres exist, including: Oldskool Jump, Tekstyle, Starstyle, Hardjump, Freestlyle, and Duojump.

Often, Jumpstyle is referred to as “happy hardcore”.

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Also known as

Jumpen, Jumping

Region of origin:

Holland & Belgium

Popularized by:

Techno