For those who lack the gift of rhythm, the Neptune residence halls aren’t exactly the safest place to be.

Those who do pass through may be lucky enough to witness the awesome and bizarre power of krumping, a form of an urban street dance crafted by blacks in South Central, Los Angeles.

Krumping consists of rapid movements such as hopping, stomping, arm-swinging and chest-popping, as well as other moves, all done in rhythmic form. When stitched together in one fluent sequence, the dance looks like a hybrid of religious worship and a solid conniption fit – and it has made its way to NIU.

In Neptune, many students have started krumping in what appears to be a showcase to display dance skills, as well as to make people laugh, seeing as the moves are sometimes so outrageous that they have acquired a comedic value.

One may experience the krumping phenomenon in a number of ways around Neptune. An individual may become part of a one-on-one battle, going head-to-head against a single opponent to see who possesses the more dominant techniques. Victory is determined by whoever incites the greatest reaction from observing spectators.

Krumpers can also find themselves in big, group battles. In Neptune Central, there have often been challenges between entire groups of people from Neptune West and Neptune North, where members of all the Neptune residence halls often encounter one another.

Some students may even find themselves the victims of a random krump attack. From what I’ve witnessed on rare occasions, krumpers will sit around nonchalantly and wait for someone to walk by, jump up and start krumping on that person. So far, people have seemed to make one of two choices: either drop everything they have and attempt to dance back in response or walk away in shameful defeat.

“I was just walking from The Trident and some dude came up to me out of nowhere and started krumping,” said sophomore nursing major Nikko Balanon. “He probably didn’t know that I could do it too, so I started krumping back like crazy. I refuse to lose.”

No matter the nature of the battle, the krumping sessions are usually spontaneous, making them all the more extraordinary. However, it’s all in good fun, and the atmosphere of ridiculousness that comes with seeing a battle actually go down is nothing short of hilarious. Dancers have even begun to wear plain white, full-face masks in reference to Jabbawockeez, the first place winners on the MTV reality series “America’s Best Dance Crew.” Does it get any more bizarre than that?

This school year at NIU has been an odd and dramatic one to say the least. It’s nice to see that some students are still in high spirits and filled with enough positive energy to get up and do something wild, even if that means spontaneous krumping.