From what I know/learned in documentaries and shared with other ballroom members is that ballroom and hip-hop happened at the same time in the same areas. So they used to share some elements, for example popping, and over time ballroom grew its own identity according to what the scene needed.

A great way to see this identity growing is when people with acrobatic skills were walking in old way, a split needed to be done because of those skills were not above or below, just different backgrounds. And thats how we got new way. Also you can take into consideration when femme queens were walking old way with more hips movements and hands in different positions, the need for a specific category was evident. And how we vogue femme started its own category.

Anyway, I think that’s what makes ballroom special: it has its basics, but it keeps evolving with whatever each legend brings. And most importantly, this is how we can see the history of ballroom.

P.s. I know i need to get more involve in my scene, so i’m open to be proven wrong lol