This is the first event Im going to be judging out of my home state, New Jersey, and I'm really excited to see how the poppers in Baltimore will get down in battles!!
Like the prior event, Step Up of Get Smoked, I will write a review and hopefully some footage of the event so keep checking the blog!
One thing that often slips people's minds, mainly the beginners, is that dancing is HARD. Even the simplest of steps requires a certain level of skill and physicality. I can recall a conversation I had with a "dancer" who laughed in my face by the end of it. I told him, "man, dancing is training. You gotta be physically fit, technically sharp, and mentally stable. It is hardcore training." He laughed. His ignorance surprised me, and since then I've tried to keep away from him. But that is not the point of this post...
Many dancers have physical boundaries to overcome to begin with. I, for example, have terrible knees, to the point where I am supposed to be in physical therapy three times a week. However, that is expensive, and I can replicate the same exercise with relative ease. On top of those immediate barriers, comes the lack of physicality/reaching the proper physical ability to improve your dance. That means eating healthy, staying flexible, and systematically working out each body part for your dance. I recently watched a video describing a similar topic and it mentioned the training habits of several famous dancers, such as Gucchon and other Japanese poppers doing 100s of squats, pushups, and crunches in each class. Or Madd Chadd's ability to high jump over 7 feet.
This all makes me feel like I am lacking a major component, not only physically, but in my dance as well. A dancer's instrument is the body, and it is the dancer's responsibility to keep it tuned and in perfect condition.
Ok so I will be starting a poppin class EVERY THURSDAY @ PMT Dance Studio in NYC from 1st of April!!
This is a great opportunity and a dream come true so I will work my butt off to teach my students and let them have the best class they ever had.
If any of you ar interested in learning poppin, def come to my class!!!
Here is the my course description:
Solid Poppin Foundation - Do you want hard hits, sharp movements, and clean poppin technique? If so this class is definitely for you! This class will be focusing on hitting, popping and isolation drills to cultivate necessary techniques for the beginners and for experienced poppers who wish to improve or solidify their poppin foundation. There will also be a routine using movements associated with poppin styles such as Boogaloo, Waving, Botting etc. The instructor will help you achieve clean angles, the understanding of movements and the way to incorporate the moves into you freestyle.
For more info, go to: PMT Dance Studio and check out "TEACHER PROFILES"-SUGALOO
Recently, most of the members competed in Step Up Or Get Smoked!--as mentioned in earlier posts--and everyone did well. However, there comes a time when one has to accept the performance, take it into consideration, and resume training even harder than before. With the SATs over and this beautiful March weather shining, it is the perfect time for me to resume this rigorous process. Therefore, I like to look at a certain philosophy that I can apply to what has happened recently, and how to improve. I thought, what better way to examine a battle than taking something from fighting, since I personally believe fighting and dancing are incredibly similar. These wise words come from Bruce Lee's "Tao of Jeet Kune Do"
"The six diseases: 1. The desire for victory.
2. The desire to resort to technical cunning.
3. The desire to display all that has been learned.
4. The desire to awe the enemy.
5. The desire to play a passive role.
6. The desire to get rid of whatever disease one is affected by."
DID YALL COME TO THE EVENT?????? I HOPE SO CUZ IF U DIDN'T, U'VE MISSED AN AWESOME BATTLE EVENT!!!!!!!
As I've explained on the earlier post, we've had 3 styles
The event started off with the House Section. This section had less competitors than expected, thus, some non-House dancers (including our member Karlo "Mr Panda"lol) registered to fill the spot.
people were having fun with this section since we were able to see serious battles and some battles we can laugh at lol
The Winner of this section was Glytch from Intermix/Groove Kings crew!!! His unique groove and creative dance moves entertained the judges and the audience through out the battle, Mad props.
I don't have the footage again so plz wait till I find them on YouTube lol
Next was Hip Hop
Now a lot of trouble happened in this section.
1.The judges of Hip Hop section decided that since Hip Hop is too broadly defined, they've made a rule restricting some dance styles,specifically Break Dance. This caused some controversy between some of the competitors and the judges throughout the event. Thanks to Spex, we were able to make things settled.
2.The judges had tie decisions continuously because I believe the music they had for this section was not really for battling.
3.The judge announced THE INCORRECT NAME OF THE CHAMP AT THE FINALS!!!!
So yea, there were lots of drama lol
Although the battle was SICK
Many raw and fresh talent went head to head against each other and the crowd was going CRAAAAAAZZZYYYY!!!!!
The winner of HIP HOP was Dezmin"Alph Alpha" Staley from SOUL'D crew!!! His combined style of Hip Hop Party groove and sharp and precise poppin move shined on the battle field and smoked some of the coolest hip hop dancers in NJ! MAD props
Don't have the Champs Battle footage but here is one of the battles
The Final Section Was POPIN!!!!!
I was able to judge the poppin section but lets just say that I regret doing it cuz there were too many dope poppers to battle that night!!!
From Philly we had BOOG from 360
From NY we had Killa Watts from Part Time Models
From D.C we had C-lo,Wu Bott and Jett Jaguar from Regulators
and from NJ we had What The Funk?! Crew and Boogie Mind from the Boogie Bots who competed at ABDC season 2!!
Now all these names u see some of the best poppers from their states, and so as u can guess, this section had one of the DOPEST BATTLES OF THE NIGHT !!!!!
All the battles were on fire and were really difficult to judge. We were really glad to have Spex, one of the oldest and experienced dancer from NY to judge with us that night. Therefore, I feel like we able to judge the battles fair and reasonable.
The Champ of this intense section was Jett Jaguar from the Regulators!!!
His musicality and creativity outmatched the rest of the skilled dancers and took the title of becoming the best popper at Step Up or Get Smoked 2010
Here are one of the hottest battle of the night, Jett Jaguar VS Boogie Mind!
Congrats to all the Champs and a great job to all those who competed!!!
Cant wait to attend the next Step Up or Get Smoked!!!!
