Animation was inspired by the Dynamation special effects of Ray Harryhausen in movies like Jason and Argnauts.

Elements of the style include strobing with small moves and ticking via quick stops. Dancers watched sci-fi movies and replicated the jerky, unnatural movements of stop-motion puppets. This is why the style is called Animation. Dancers were animating their body as if it’s a puppet being moved frame-by-frame.

LA dancers like John "Boogaloo Shrimp" Chambers and Bruno "Poppin' Taco" Falcon watched these movies and realized they could replicate that "stuttery" look with their bodies. This shifted the style from just "The Robot" into a more sophisticated art form that looked like a film reel skipping.