Street Dance
Street dance is a broad category of popular dance that includes many dance styles including hip hop, popping, locking, breaking, house dance, c-walk, waving, liquid and other dance styles.
When beginning street dance its important to know what style of dance you want to learn. You can do this by visiting a dance studio or dance school and seeing what classes they offer.
Or you can also look easily at vidoes of the different dance styles and see which ones that you like.
For most of the people that want to learn street dance, they want to learn street dance routines and so a street dance class or a hip hop dance class will be just fine.
If they want to learn something more specific like how to break or how to lock then they will have to go to a breaking class or a locking class as these dance styles have very different techniques and methods from the dance routines you typically see on TV.
If unsure it's best to ask the dance class or studio that you're interested in what type of dance they do or if they have any videos you can watch.
You may even be interested in learning more than one dance style, in which case you'll need to do your research and find a good dance studio with lots of different dance classes running.
Each dance style does have its own techniques but if you then learn a street dance routine that draws from moves from different dance styles, you will be better prepared if you have some understanding of each of the individual dance styles.
You may also need to get some appropriate clothing if you don't have some already. The most important thing is to be comfortable when you're learning, but it doesn't hurt to look hip either!
You'll usually need some decent trainers and some clothes that allow you to dance, i.e. not too tight in the trouser department as there can be wide stances in street and hip hop.
Just watch some street dancers if you want to get an idea of what sort of clothing is suitable. Ballet costumes or jazz pants aren't essential when you're doing street or hip hop!