In this article
- Your first class
- Origins and community
- Movement to notice
- Listen to the music
- Choosing a class
- Approaches and next steps
01
Your first class
Start with the point, pace, up lock, lock, and wrist roll. Keep the groove and combine a few foundations in fresh ways.
Record short attempts and seek a live community. A credible teacher corrects foundations, explains funk music, and stops humour from becoming a random collection of gestures.
Try one short phrase: move with the funk pulse, stop cleanly, point in a direction and return to the rhythm. Play the same track again and change only where you stop. The timing itself can carry the humour.
02
Origins and community
Locking formed in late-1960s Los Angeles. Don Campbell turned accidental stops into the language of Campbellocking, while The Lockers gave it a vivid group identity on television and stage.
Damita Jo Freeman, Tony Go Go Lewis, and others show a history wider than one name. Teachers and family lineages later carried the form to Japan, Europe, and beyond.
The Campbell family timeline of Campbellocking follows the dance in Los Angeles and its travel through television and group performance. A teacher's lock comes with people and places; ask whose version you are learning.
Culture and community
Juste Debout shows an international stage. In a local circle, practise supporting other dancers and responding to an audience.
Watch how a dancer addresses an audience before and after a movement. Locking can use silence, a sudden stop or a playful reply to someone in the circle. Practise that exchange as deliberately as the arm technique.
03
Movement to notice
The contrast of a lock
A sharp stop works when free groove comes before it; keep the groove alive between poses.
Tony GoGo — WDC 2017 judge demo
In Tony GoGo’s performance, watch the contrast between loose groove and a sudden lock.
nekomon1Open the original source ↗Go Go Family — Tony GoGo, Rei and Yuu
In this judge demo, notice how a stop becomes a rhythmic idea.
TeamSKIPtvOpen the original source ↗Go Go Brothers Guestshow
The Go Go Brothers show how shared timing and individual character can coexist.
Jay_7o2Open the original source ↗04
Listen to the music
A funk accent gives a sudden stop its point. Loose groove gives each lock energy.
05
Choosing a class
Questions to ask
- How do you teach a sudden lock after a loose groove?
- Which funk recording will help us hear the accent and pause?
- Where can students practise safely after class and learn more about this style's music and community?
06
Approaches and next steps
Locking stops broad movement in a clear pose and often addresses the audience. Popping uses brief muscular contractions, isolation, and illusion.
A Hip-Hop class may include many later groove and choreography practices. Locking is a specific Los Angeles funk tradition with names, music, and its own vocabulary.
