Jumpstyle

Jumpstyle is an electronic dance style and music genre popular in Western Europe, originally in Belgium. However, it gained broader popularity in its neighboring country, the Netherlands during the 2000s.^[1]

Jumpstyle
Stylistic origins	Mákina gabber hardstyle hardcore hard house tech trance industrial techno
Cultural origins	Late 1990s—2000s in Belgium and Netherlands
Fusion genres
Melbourne bounce
Regional scenes
Belgium Netherlands Ireland Germany United Kingdom Russia Poland France Denmark Australia Luxembourg
Other topics
Electronic musical instrument computer music

Jumpstyling is often referred to as "Jumpen": a combination of the English word 'Jump' and the Dutch and German suffix '-en' (meaning "to jump", or "jumping").^[2]

The dance is characterized by high jumps along with fast kicks and/or rotations. Dancers maintain a stiff upper body and let the emotions be expressed by the legs and the arms.^[3]

There are many other variants of Jumpstyle, commonly (but not limited to): oldschool, hardjump, ownstyle, freestyle. A dance that involves two dancers is often referred to as a "duojump".^[3]

Dancers are often referred to as "jumpers", or a combination of their name and the word "jumpen" or "jumper", for example, Patrick Jumpen.

History

Jumpstyle originated in Chicago where it was simply known as "hard house". It would eventually make its way to Belgium in 1998 with the artist Da Boy Tommy, where it was given the name "jumpstyle". It was a short-lived small genre that did not gain popularity in its original form. However, it came back to the public during the turn of the century, and fandom began increasing throughout Europe after undergoing significant changes in Germany in early 2003. After acquiring its current name, jumpstyle was reintroduced in Europe and in 2005 saw artists and groups producing and releasing its music.^[4][5]

The first key stage of its popularity came between 2006 & 2007 when DJs Ruthless & Vorwerk under the name Jeckyll & Hyde released "Frozen Flame" & "Freefall", which both became hits in the Netherlands. Patrick Jumpen would also hit the scene with the hits "The Secret" & "Holiday". German rave band Scooter would be a major driving force in the genre's popularity with hits like "The Question Is What Is The Question?" and "Jumping All Over the World". Scooter frontman H.P Baxxter claimed in an interview that he had found the genre & dance online via YouTube videos and it inspired him to make the music himself. Their 2007 album "Jumping All Over The World" would go #1 on the UK Album Charts. This also caused a major jumpstyle boom in Germany, with many hands up artists & groups like Jens O. and Bangbros experimenting with the genre. A producer named Megastylez would become known for combining the two genres. A jumpstyle & hands up compilation series called "Jumpstylemania" would also come out around this time by Club Tools with 5 editions coming out between 2007 & 2008. The genre would remain popular, but would die off in a commercial sense. However, there are still some radio stations left, broadcasting jump in its traditional form. The oldest jumpstyle radio was founded in 2005 and remained active until 2016 under the name of JumpStation.FM.^[6] The style has also been fused with other genres, for example, Major Lazer and The Partysquad mixed a unique track with a jungle vocal sample in the track "Original Don", with jumpstyle/hardstyle influences. Also, Joel Fletcher's remix of Savage's 2005 single "Swing" uses jumpstyle influences.

In the early 2020s, the style made a resurgence online when Lithuanian internet rap artist Yabujin started experimenting with the genre under his alias DJ Gyrotta Zao. This style would later become known as "yabujincore" and popularized on TikTok.^[7]

Tournaments and leagues

There are various jumpstyle leagues across the world; mostly in the form of online video submissions and internet competitions. However, in Belgium there have been staged tournaments such as the European Jump Masters.

Music

Jumpstyle music is an offspring of tech-trance, hardstyle, gabber and mákina. Its tempo is usually between 140 and 150 BPM. However, it cannot be seen as merely a slowed down version of gabber. It is characterised by a 909 kick drum used in a four on the floor beat. It also has influences from hard house and electro house. Starting around 2002–03, jumpstyle began to gain influence from hardstyle sound, such as pitched basslines set at a melody, more complex, multiband distortion, and synthesizers utilising square waveforms.^[8]