A Bboy back in the Lab (CCP: memoir)

It’s a minute til 7:00 pm and I’m sitting there listening to the track Judgement Day by Method Man while bobbing my head to the beat. While in the waiting room, the door to the studio room opens as students exit from their last class of the night. The purple walls, the four windows, hard wood floor, with the red and grey mats laying pushed against the walls. The stereo system with its four speakers spread out along the top of the walls and the 15 foot mirrors along one whole side. This is my place, my sanctuary, where I can learn and evolve my skills. Where I create and perfect my movements. A home away from home even if its only for a few hours. This is my lab and I’m the mad scientist.

As I walk in and place my backpack and my gear wherever there is an empty space on the floor, usually right next to the window where I prefer. As crew mates enter the room we greet one another and begin to stretch together while one of us will plug in their laptop or Ipod through the auxiliary wire to the she studio’s sound system. After stretching for about 15-20 minutes I feel pretty good. I start to stand up slowly just to shake my arms and legs so it’ll loosen up my muscles and let the blood flow. I begin to hop around and somewhat jog in place. Feeling like I’m a bit more warmed up I start to being myself to focus. Now is the time to hit the dance floor.

I want to work on every aspect of my game. From top rock to foot work to back rocks, freezes and transitions to of course power moves. Now these are all the things a bboy needs to actually well, be considered a bboy. Everything I felt, needed a bit of polishing up. The moves I’ve come up with and taught myself took years of practice. Countless hours of training that makes me go further and further beyond my own expectations and limits. Lately I’ve been working on my power moves, mainly flares. A move consisting of swinging my legs around with only my hands holding me up. So basically, my legs are the propellers to a fan, keeping me going. Takes tremendous hip control and some flexibility to be able to do it consistently and at a good pace. Even when I scrape the side of my knees or legs I take a break, then I go right back at it again.

My motivation can be linked to many things. Like for example I like to listen to different genres of music and thinking to myself how can I dance to this? Or by watching different styles of dance, from ballet to modern jazz, and I try to incorporate it somehow and give it that bboy flavor. Being focused also helps my training very much. Not trying to worry about a move that I may keep on attempting and failing at constantly. Like airflares, a move that consists of being upside down hopping around circles while almost in a handstand position with my legs propelling me around. Cause of my own fear of slipping upside down and quite possibly landing on my neck, I tend not to work on it as much but then I will further on perfecting different types of transitions that I already felt I’ve mastered. And of course my own dedication to this dance. The feeling of satisfaction I get when I finally overcome mess ups and get a move down by the end of a session. Numerous amounts of trial and error lead up to achievement and it feels great. I’ve been at this dancing game for so long that I have developed such an unconditional love for it.

The main issue or problem that us bboys have is how long will we be dancing for? How long will it take for bodily harm to impact a bboy’s longevity in the dance? Now I’ve managed to keep a dedication and determination still even when injuries have surfaced and I have definitely endured many. From bumps and bruises, popped shoulders to sprained ankles. Even when I had one or more body parts injured that never stopped me from still going to practice and continuing to train. My injuries I never let healed properly and I can say I definitely am starting to feel it catch up to me. Another thing is an average bboy’s height is about 5’3″ to 5’5″ and of course when I first started I was pretty much around that height frame. A smaller body frame and weighing less helped out a lot for bboys because of how athletic this dance can get. And because of my height and weight now it was much harder for me to do certain moves these little guys did but that hasn’t stopped me yet. I’ve adapted, improvised and learned how my own body worked and if something like that stopped me, then I don’t think I was very really made for this dance and my dedication was never really there.

During practice my crew and I will start what we call “vibe off” one another and that is when one of us seems to be doing everything they wanted to do, then the next person starts doing the same and it continues. We start feeding off each others energy. Putting in work and having a good time. Our level of stimulants would be quite high and we get hype. Gaining adrenaline and start to push one another. When one of us gets frustrated, we give them advice or pointers and tell them,”Don’t beat yourself up for it, you’ll get it eventually so cheer up.” Things like that make us have such a great bond and we continue to grow and learn. We all strive for the same goals and are always the students of this great dance. If it wasn’t for my crew mates I wouldn’t be the dancer I am today. Always influencing me and there is always more improvement needed. There is no greater feeling to me then to go back to the lab and continue to do what I love with my crew and practice together.

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *