Hip Hop Curriculum

The Comix Method Hip Hop Dance Curriculum is a structured, full-year curriculum for dance studios and teachers who want to teach authentic Hip Hop with proper technique, terminology, history, foundational styles, and progressive lessons.

Primary Style:
Hip Hop(All Levels)

Secondary Styles:
Breaking, Locking, Popping

What is The Structure of This Hip Hop Curriculum?

Each dance studio curriculum in this series follows a blueprint that allows teachers to find optional pathways in their approach to class. Whether you want to use the curriculum as a reference tool or a step by step guide, you'll find all that you need here.

The general format of each curriculum includes sections and reads like a handbook:

Section 1 - Class Format

An overview of different class elements and how they can fit into the overall class structure.

Section 2 - Genres

This section reviews recommended ways to divide your time among street dance genres(if you are incorporating more than Hip Hop dance into your curriculum).

Section 3 - Vocabulary

Early on in the curriculum, you'll get a look at vocabulary lists. These lists are divided by subject and by level. With an early look at Hip Hop vocabulary, this becomes a reference tool for the entire curriculum. Something you can pull from any time you're ready to incorporate a lesson(e.g. a lesson might suggest you pull from Hip Hop level 1 steps for the activity). More importantly, this becomes a personal checklist for the teacher. If you don't know the vocabulary, this is a good place to work out what vocabulary you do have, and what vocabulary you'd like to learn.

Section 4 - Goals

A look into the potential focus your school year will have. This helps you understand what your dancers are working toward through this curriculum, and what skills need to be acquired in order to graduate to the next skill level in your program.

Section 5 - Warmups

This detailed section will cover the most important aspects of warmups you can include in your classroom.

Section 6 - The Month by Month Guide

This is the heart and soul of the curriculum. From September to June, you'll have a monthly guide that discusses lessons, projects, thoughts, goals, and processes for a standard school year.

Street Dance Curriculum

Beginner Hip Hop
Page Count: 58

Ideal For:

Ages 7–10: Beginner to developing dancers
Ages 10-12: Little to no prior dance experience

Description:

This curriculum is built primarily on the foundations of Hip Hop technique, with a secondary foundation in Breaking to provide students with a well-rounded introduction to Hip Hop while keeping the learning experience fun, accessible, and low-pressure. The emphasis is on early positive experiences, exploration, and developing a love for the style.

Funk styles, including Popping and Locking, are featured as optional lessons, giving students an early opportunity to explore additional Street Dance styles without making them a required part of the curriculum.

The curriculum is designed to offer flexibility and can be taught as:

Hip Hop Only - focusing entirely on Hip-Hop foundations
Hip Hop + Breaking - the recommended balance for a broader foundational experience
Hip Hop + Breaking + Funk Styles - adding Popping and Locking as an expanded introduction to Street Dance

This approach allows educators to choose the depth and variety that best fits their students, while maintaining Hip Hop as the primary foundation throughout the curriculum.

Intermediate Hip Hop
Page Count: 78

Ideal For:

Ages 10-12: All experience levels
Ages 13 & up: Little to no experience

Description:

This curriculum is built around the continued development of Hip Hop technique, with additional training in Breaking, Popping, and Locking to create a more complete and technically developed Street Dance education. The focus shifts from simply learning movements to understanding how to apply technique with greater consistency, musicality, character, and intention.

Breaking continues to develop through more complex patterns, balance, rhythm, and movement, while Popping and Locking become a more established part of training. These styles help students develop skills such as muscle control, isolations, groove, character, and movement texture while expanding their understanding of Street Dance culture. Teachers who incorporate other genres into their program(e.g. House) can interchange styles at their discretion.

Hip Hop + Breaking + Funk Styles
The recommended approach, incorporating all four styles as part of a well rounded intermediate program.

Hip Hop + Breaking + Popping
A strong alternative for programs where the teacher has limited experience with Locking.

Hip Hop + Funk Styles
A more Hip Hop focused approach that uses Popping and Locking to expand technique while maintaining Hip Hop as the primary foundation.

This approach allows schools to adjust the balance based on their students, teachers, and program while progressively raising technical standards and preparing dancers for Advanced Hip Hop training.

Advanced Hip Hop
Page Count: 106

Ideal For:

Ages 13 & up
Ages 10-12: Lengthy experience, high focus & commitment
College/Adult: Seeking professional level development

Description:

This curriculum is designed for advanced dancers who are ready to move beyond foundational training and develop greater technical refinement, creative responsibility, authenticity, and individual expression. The focus shifts toward depth, intention, musicality, texture, and the ability to apply technique across different environments.

Hip Hop remains the central focus, with Popping serving as a strong technical supplement and additional Street Dance styles providing opportunities for broader cultural and movement knowledge. The curriculum also creates space for open, abstract, fusion, and commercial work while maintaining clear distinctions between Hip Hop training and creative outcomes.

Dancers are challenged to develop their own voice through freestyle, choreography, performance, and creative exploration, while building the ability to connect movement with music, environment, and other dancers. Strong technique, authentic movement, advanced musicality, expression, and movement quality become the standard.

The curriculum also begins preparing dancers for what comes beyond the studio, including college programs, auditions, professional performance, choreography, teaching, and other opportunities within the dance community. The goal is not to create identical dancers, but capable, adaptable artists who understand both the culture and the craft.

Custom Hip Hop Curriculum

Description:

Get a curriculum built specifically for your studio, your dancers, and your goals. This service takes the Comix Method approach and adapts it to your program. The final product considers your class levels, schedule, student needs, preferred styles, and long-term objectives.

Instead of forcing your program into a preset format, we create a purpose-built Hip Hop curriculum with structured progressions, technique, choreography, freestyle, and creative development. Whether you want stronger Hip Hop foundations, deeper street dance training, competition preparation, or a pathway toward advanced and professional training, your curriculum is designed to fit your program.

Curriculums act as a blueprint and a guide. While this material offers you a detailed look at lessons, it cannot train you in how to properly execute steps. In person training & tutorials can be a huge help if you need more than lessons. For teachers who want to better understand Hip Hop and vocabulary yourself, here are the options available through this site:

Purchase a curriculum

Supporting Material

This is a new subscription teachers can take advantage of, and goes from now until the end of the 2026-2027 school year. Whether or not you own a curriculum, you'll find this webinar series useful as it tackles technique, vocabulary, and lessons that should be incorporated each and every month. Teachers also get to ask questions, whether it's pertaining to the curriculum or not. This is a companion to your entire school 26-27 school year.

This new series airs on the first Wednesday of every month for 2 hours. Every teacher who is subscribed has access to the live course and the recording, so you never have to miss it...and its only $29 per month!!!

Comix Method: Resources Members & Active Practitioners Get This For FREE!

Get more info and subscribe here.

When you go to the SHOP RESOURCES page, you'll come across a TON of individual resources for purchase(including these curriculums). Among these resources are tutorials and recordings of previous webinars where you can gather a large amount of knowledge that'll directly assist you with your currriculum. To get a boost in your vocabulary, I recommend:

Class Content Series - Popping

Class Content Series - Breaking

Webinar Series - Teaching Hip Hop

Webinar Series - Hip Hop Vocabulary

Webinar Series - Funk Styles

Webinar Series - Teaching Breaking

Another option you might love combines curriculums with select webinars and e-books in a discounted package.

Check Out Back To School Packages

For teachers who want limitless access to ongoing training, The Comix Method's central programs are the best route.

The Comix Method: Certification covers the entire "John Comix" approach to Hip Hop authenticity & true dance education. Teachers learn the highly detailed teaching method through an online course, and upon completion get one year of free access to The Comix method: Resources.

The Comix Method: Resources is an annual subscription that gives teacher access to TONS of tutorial videos and downloadable files. That's not all. Perks included in this subscription include free consultation, choreography feedback, and.....

FREE ACCESS to all webinars( Including Live Curriculum), and ongoing access to curriculums.

That's right! Subscribed teachers and active practitioners get most of what you've been reading about at NO ADDITIONAL COST!!!

Check Out The Comix Method: Certification & The Comix Method: Resources

Hip Hop Curriculum

Primary Style: Hip Hop(All Levels)

Secondary Styles: Breaking, Locking, Popping

What is The Structure of This Hip Hop Curriculum?

Street Dance Curriculum

Beginner Hip Hop Page Count: 58

Ideal For:

Ages 7–10: Beginner to developing dancers

Ages 10-12: Little to no prior dance experience

​

Description:

Purchase a curriculum

Supporting Material

Primary Style:
Hip Hop(All Levels)

Secondary Styles:
Breaking, Locking, Popping

Beginner Hip Hop
Page Count: 58