Hip hop dancing originated in New York City amid the 1970s block parties in the Bronx. It was a subculture dominated by African-Americans that has since gone mainstream with a global following. In China, interest in the genre has exploded along with new reality show "Street Dance of China". But for those specializing in street dancing where it all began, it's still hard to make a living. Karina Huber has more.

It's the weekend in New York City's Central Park. That means showtime for a group of street dancers. This one, shows off two moves: the whip and the nae nae. 'Will the Thrill', as he's known, is from the Bronx. It's where breakdancing originated in the 1970s. He has been doing acrobatics and breaking in Central Park for ten years. He and his troop are a big hit with tourists.

ROBERT SMITH TOURIST "Coming into Central Park one of the things I wanted to see was street dancing and saw some sort of show kind of building up. So, I walked over and for sure it was street dancing and it was totally New York. It just felt like in the heart of it and yeah, really appreciate the art of it."

KARINA HUBER NEW YORK "Making a living as a street dancer in New York City isn't easy. For many dancers, they rely on putting on performances in public spaces like Central Park where they get donations from the audience. But oftentimes, dancing isn't enough to keep that audience entertained."

WILL THE THRILL STREET PERFORMER "You don't want people just sitting there watching movement all the time. You want people being part of the show as well. So, we go with the lines, we go with comedy, we got with skits and we go back and forth and feed off the energy. It's a whole fun show."

The group is one of the lucky ones. They've been able to get a permit to perform in the city's parks, which can cost close to two thousand dollars per season. Others trying to make a living often perform on the subways. But that's illegal and comes with risks.

MAI LE HO PROGRAM DIRECTOR, IT'S SHOWTIME NYC "A lot of them have been arrested, gotten tickets and so on and so forth and that could trickle down to much worse in a second here."

Mai Lê Hô runs It's Showtime NYC – a program that tries to get street dancers out of the subways and into more legitimate performance spaces. She works with a group of 28 dancers who are currently rehearsing in a space traditionally used by classical dancers. Kester Estephane, better known as Flexx, is the Artistic Associate. He says street dancing is not unlike more traditional forms of dance.

KESTER FLEXX ESTEPHANE ARTISTIC ASSOCIATE, IT'S SHOWTIME NYC "Street dancers do have a structure. We do have choreographies that we put together. We do have performances that we put together. Even though a lot of our dancing is freestyle, a lot of the stuff that we do with the freestyle is structured and put together so we can give as much of a performance as possible."

The style of dance he and many of his friends specialize in, is called 'Flexing'or 'bone breaking'. It's a genre that started in night clubs and block parties in Brooklyn in the early 2000s. It has since gone mainstream growing audiences all around the world. Flexx and the others still can't make a living off of dancing – they all have other jobs – but maybe one day soon that will change. As of September, they will be putting on weekly performances at the Metropolitan Museum of Art increasing the profile of this once underground form of dance. Karina Huber, CGTN, New York.