Clowning   

Before Krumping existed, there was Clowning (which was introduced in the early 90’s). Clowning was created by Thomas Johnson, who is also known as Tommy the Clown (his stage name). A combination of different dance elements made up the creative and unique style of clowning. Before Tommy created Clowning he was in a bit of trouble with the law... He was sent to jail for five years. After getting out of jail, he vowed to never go back and used Clowning as a positive outlet. Face painting is also involved in Clowning, contributing to the name. As his dance began to grow popular with people he decided to teach it to youths and teens in need of a positive outlet. Soon he had many students and he formed his own dance crew. People called them the Hip Hop Clowns. When he had achieved a major success with Clowning, Tommy opened up an academy in Southern Central Los Angeles and Clowning started to spread to a much wider audience.

 

Source:

Experience Festival, "Krumping - History." Experience Festival 28 Jul 2008 <http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Krumping_-_History/id/5214824>.

Image Sources::

BelieveKevin, "TOMMY THE CLOWN from rize." Flickr. April 15, 2006. 28 Jul 2008 <http://flickr.com/photos/believekevin/128977550/>.-Permission to modify and use this image was granted on BelieveKevin's web page by Creative Commons License