ILL WHAT THE FUNK?! CREW......

My first student/crewmate/partner/brother from another mother killing beats where we've met.

2009. Thats when I first met him. He didn't know anything. Just a fanboy of Nam Hyun Joon.

Now he is consistently learning, developing, and trying to evolve the dance using his individuality.

Still a LOOOOOOOOOOOONG way to go till he gets to the point where he wants to go.

But even with difficulties, I know he NEVER gives up. He will consistently work to improve.

My brotha

iLL of What The Funk?! Crew.

"What The Funk?! Crew" Showcase at Takala Land

Most recent showcase by What The Funk?! Crew.
Featuring
Ilya "iLL" Leyzerov
Edmund "E.T" Tan II
Shinjiro Ray Tanaka.
And myself.

It was difficult to complete this piece because

1. I don't lock. I suck at it lol
2. iLL was in Boston finishing up his semester. He came to the rehearsal 3 times in total.
3. We realized that we forgot to bring the bag LMAO.

So over all, we were REALLY nervous.

But as you'll notice watching the clip, the crowd loved it. There are many mistakes made in this piece. But I just love the fact that we were able to make everyone exited and happy.

Thank you sincerely to my brothas, iLL, E.T, and Shin.

Hope you all enjoy our crew flava!!!

What The Funk

The Cypher Dance Freestyle | Sugaloo

My freestyle get down at the event "The Cypher".

Straight outta work. In casual outfit.

Just having fun. 

Just DANCING............

The ultimate form of play for me in life.

Dope Popper discovery!!!

I don't know this popper, J.G, but damn he is Funked up lol

Definitely has a flavor influenced by my teacher.....don't know if they have any connection but his feeling and the boogaloo footwork reminds me of Jazzy J.

Kyo was clean as usual, but I would give the win to J.G on this one.

Comments anyone?

By the way, FUNKY MANSION IS BACK ON TONIGHT!!!

Its at a new location at 4 W 43rd Street between 5,6 Avenue.

Come Get FUNKED UP NYC!!!

Peace and God Blessings.

SUGALOO

Juste Debout New York 2013

Before reading,,,,,

My objective here is to write my personal thoughts about this internationally recognized event. I'm stating what I honestly thought, however, I don't have any intention to disrespect anyone. Therefore, I sincerely apologize if there are any statements that offends anyone.  All comments that is directed towards my thoughts are welcomed. PLEASE DO NOT POST COMMENT TO DISRESPECT DANCERS/ORGANIZERS.

Juste Debout (JD)  is no doubt one of the most recognized and credited Street Dance Competition in the world. The event attract dancers from across the world by hosting regional events across several countries in Asia, Europe, and North America. There are five categories, Hip Hop, House, Locking, Popping, and Toprock. The battle is done in 2 on 2 and the winner of each categories will earn the opportunity to attend the main event in Paris, France.

Since 2011, JD's regional event began to take place in the U.S and Canada. In 2011 it took place in Brooklyn, NY, and in 2012, Montreal, Canada.

This was my third regional JD. Compare to the past two events, JD New York 2013 had a totally different feeling.

Lets compare.

Location

In both 2011, 12, the location was huge. The past events were hosted at a warehouse and a gymnasium. I personally didn't like the warehouse in Brooklyn due to its location and the condition of the warehouse. The floor and the bathroom was just a mess. 

The gymnasium was great. It was clean and there were a lot of room for dancers to rest, eat, and have cyphers.

It also had raise up benches on the side so that people can sit and enjoy the battle. 

Compare to the past two, this year's location, Santos Party House, had the best atmosphere.

The Lighting, Sound System, Beverage, Food, DJ, and the people were great! 

BUT

1. It was too small....

It was so crowded that I felt like I was riding a morning rush hour subway to the city :( 

That, was a total turn off.

And this even effected the competitors. The floor that dancers had to dance in was so small. I mean look at the pictures and compare the size of the floor space.

The club environment was great. But it was way too small. People had hard time dancing and watching the battles. They did have a projector that lived the battle on the big screen, but WHO WANTS TO SEE THAT WHEN THE ACTUAL BATTLE IS HAPPENING IN FRONT OF THEM???

2. Locking us in

WAS NOT COOL

Until the last couple hours of the event, the dancers were locked inside the venue. You can get out, but to get back in, you have to pay $40, which was the price of the ticket for the event. 

This was ridiculous.

I mean the place was packed with people and it was hot. Of course people will get exhausted and will need food and beverages. But no. They offered food inside the venue and for it to be sold out (I assume), they cut our access to stores around the venue. Good for them. But think about the us. 

For this reason, although the location had a the best atmosphere, it sure made us have a bad experience.

People/Dancers

Ok, on this section, I will focus on POPPING ONLY because that is the style that I know best for now.

The dancers/poppers that attended the event were great. 

On 2011, most of the poppers were from the east coast U.S or Canada. The only crew to attend the battle from the west was Machine Gone Funk.

On 2012, most of the poppers were from Canada. I can surely say that about 80% were from Canada.

This year, we saw people from various locations. Let me name some recognizable poppers who attended the event.

Monsta Pop & Venom (Symbiotic Monsters), Canada

Jrock & Popula (Animated Beat Mechanics), LA and Indiana

Breeze Lee & Ms. Funk (Versa Style), LA

Jon Boogs & Jonh Doe (Soulbotiks Crew and Control Freakz), Texas and Miami

Dnoi & Soul (Soulbotiks Crew and Ill Minded Stylez), ? and Detroit

On top of those names, we had large attendance from the east coast and Canada popping community as well, making Popping categorie to have the most competitors on this event. 

Therefore, the quality of the dancers were great :) 

I personally enjoyed meeting new dancers and reuniting with many of my friends. Having many friends at an event is awesome :) Everywhere I went, I saw faces that I recognized or haven seen in a while. 

Now HAVING SUCH ATTENDEES SURELY WOULD MAKE A GREAT BATTLE! Yes, it does, but there is one more fact that you can not miss out. The Judges.

Judges/Battles

Judges play a HUGE ROLE in making an event awesome.

JD have four judges from each category (Hip Hop, House, Locking, Popping) to Judge the competition. Toprock is the only category that has a single judge for it's style of dance.

Some people have mixed feeling about this Juge system because not all the judges practice all these four styles. In fact, most of them don't. Therefore, it may not be as accurate than it should be. 

But for the past two event, they had a epic battle that typed the crowd like crazy!

In 2011, the Popping final battle had Machine Gone Funk against Assassins. You can see from the crowd reaction that it was amazing. And yes, I enjoyed this battle a lot.

In 2012, the Semi-Final had Symbiotic Monsters against Namco & Boombeast. Watch it and you'll know how hyped we were lol

This year, by the looks of the name that appeared on the event, I assumed that it would have epic battles of  the night like the above that I can still picture in my head how awesome it was.

However, this year was different. I don't have any battle that I can recall as epic as the two above.

The battle that gives you chill and make you think "damn how the f did they get to this point? like how do they dance so awesome???" didn't happen. 

Why?

I think because this was the year that the politics in the game revealed itself the most.

This doesn't mean that I disagree with the winner of the event. Symbiotic Monsters definitely deserves to go to Paris to represent the U.S. They were on the next level.

However, the selection of Top 8 and couple battles that occurred that night was questionable. 

Reason 1: 

I think the winner should have been Jrock & Popula.

Now some of you know that I've been hanging out with Jrock & Popula, and they've been really good to me. But that does nothing to do with my opinion.

I've fought against Breeze Lee before and got toasted really hard and learned a valuable lesson. I havent met him since than but I have huge respect for the guy.

So there is no dislike on which sides. With that in mind, let me break my opinion down.

1. Synchronisation

When I see 2 on 2 battles, I see them as ONE CREW and not two individual. Thus, having a synchronized vibe, feeling, get down is vital in battling 2 on 2. If you see the footage above, I see ABM vibing off each other really well. They are battling as a crew. In contrast, Versa Style goes out to the floor individually while the other wait rooting when he/she does a cool move. From this perspective, I think ABM has advantage over Versa Style.

2. Level of the rounds

Synchronisation IS important. But the level of individual round needs to be taking in account as well. This is because their rounds sums up the average level of rounds of a crew. This means that when battling 2 on 2, a partner shouldn't outshine the partner, but vibe off with an equal level of dance to have a balance that shows how the two is connected as a crew during the battle. 

There are cases where the one of the opponent comes out really hard and you have to out match that. But on this battle, I think that Breeze Lee had an awesome round that was on the next level compared to Ms. Funk.

In contrast, Jrock and Popula both had a solid high quality rounds without showing much of a skill difference between the two. 

For these reasons, I think ABM won. But they did not. 

Another battle that I thought similarly was a battle between ATN & C-Pop VS John Lock & Katalyst. ATN & C-Pop are two top poppers in Canada. They are young but very fierce and hungry, and surely proved their skill on the cyphers. 

But on the battle, C-Pop didn't have a solid round. Instead, John Lock & Katalyst showed a equally high quality rounds. 

There is not footage of them yet, but I thought that was a questionable judgment as well.

Last but not least, on Top 8, Dnoi & Soul was not selected.

From my perspective, the two have higher skill level than most of the poppers that was selected. Honestly, this was a wrong choies. 

For these reasons, I think the crowd lacked in getting hyped compare to the past two events. Given such atmosphere, they were missing out on the opportunities for us to be hyped.

I mean lets assumed that ABM won, and Soul & Dnoi were selected.

We could've potentially saw Symbiotic Monsters VS Soul & Dnoi on Top 8 and ABM VS Symbiotic Monsters (I WAS VERY LOOKING FORWARD FOR THIS SCENARIO) or ABM VS Soul & Dnoi!!!

Now that, would've been a battle of the night :))))

In conclusion, the event was ok over all. Given the fact that it is one of the most recognized international Street Dance Competition? It should've been much better.

But I had fun that night :) 

And I thank the people who is TAKING ACTION to make this HAPPEN. I'm just stating this but doing nothing. But they actually DO IT. Now thats a BIG DIFFERENCE. Huge props and respect to the organizers.

And to all the winners of JD NY 2013, GOOD LUCK AND REPRESENT US HAAAAAAARRRRRDDD!!!!!!

You guys either STEP UP OR GET SMOKED!!! 

Sincere thank you for people who read it all the way through.

Peace and God Bless.

P.S This is my prelim with ilya :) there is also Jon Boogs, John Doe, and our good friend David Castro! Check it out! 

The Funkiest dance session spot in New York City

Every Tuesday of the week from 8PM, the sound, vibe, and the smell of the funkiness starts to leak out from the Capoeira Angola studio on 14th street......


Once again, lead by Silvana Electrify and Jazzy J, Practice Session FunkyMansion opens its door to funk seekers of the city.

This session began about an year ago and has gradually built session attendees.
Now it has grown to a point where various dancers from local area, out of state, and even other countries come to practice and dance to the Funky music collection from Jazzy J's iPod Classic.


What is different about this session compare to the other session like Pop Shop (every Saturday 5-7pm at PMT dance studio) is that FunkyMansion attracts New York City O.G poppers and dancers.


Since New York City O.Gs rarely come out to practice sessions anymore, this session spot is vital for young dancers to have the opportunity to learn and dance together with the O.Gs.

The entrance fee is reasonable at $5. If you wish to take one on one or a group class with the O.Gs, its $10 (CHEAP! DEFINITELY WORTH THE PRICE!) 


If you are free after work and can get to 104 W 14st and 6 AV, 3rd fl by 8pm, I know you are tired after work but I HIGHLY RECOMMEND going to FunkyMansion.

If you don't believe me, look at the pictures below! It sure tell yous that you'll have a great time! :D

Peace and God Bless


SUGALOO

You like this clip? YOU CAN LEARN HIS TECHNIQUE TOMORROW in NYC

Well to be honest, the video doesn't do any justice because it can not (literally) capture his hits, pops, and dimestops......

If you have seen him in person, you know what I'm talking about.

Tomorrow 5PM at Pearl Studios

BIG "OMEGA" MIKE SUPREME


Will be teaching a Popping Workshop

Who is he? He is one of the best poppers in the East Coast (In my humble opinion).

I highly respect his humbleness and dedication towards his artistic perfection.

If you wish to learn animated popping techniques such as 

Dimestop

Strobbing

Waving

Botting

Animatroniks

and more in HIGHLY RATED LEVEL, I suggest you take his class.

I will promise you, assure you, that it will change your dance style for good.

Let me use myself as an example.

I used to pop by only using Boogaloo.

I did some dimes and botting here and there, but, it was very rough and unstable.

Myself before I learned animation from BIG MIKE.

(By the way, big props for Mitsuru san!!!)

Myself AFTER taking in his popping wisdom...

Can you tell that my movement got more precise and clear?

Can you tell that my movements are more controlled?

This improvement was not only from practice. BIG MIKE's knowledge on popping helped me to shape myself from a different approach.

Of course I had many different teachers who helped me to improve over the past year.

But Big Mike is one of the popper in NYC that has the power and the knowledge to help expand your popping ability.

Poppers, popping lovers, popping beginners

DO NOT MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY!!!

Peace and God Bless.

Day 12: What is What The Funk?! Kamikaze?

So on Tumblr, someone asked the meaning of sugaloofujinfunk.

Well, this is the original blog post I made when we actually made the name and custom hats!!! lol

So here it goes....

_________________________________________________________________________________
Blog from What The Funk?! Crew

The idea sparked from SUGALOO and Poppin iLL talking about becoming a 2 man battle team of our crew since we've been battling together at events constantly.

We chose the name 神風(Kamikaze) because we want to become battling poppers that destroy everything that stands in our way (opponent)to reach the goal(winning the battle) and also to bring new flavor to the scene.

According to the ancient story of Japan, Kamikaze is formed by two gods know as Fujin (風神）god of wind and Raijin（雷神）god of lightning.

They are also one of the most well known gods in Japan because the painting by Tawaraya Soutatsu titled 風神雷神図 Fujin Raijin zu(picture below) is preserved as a national treasure in Japan.




To make this vision and hope to life, I created a customize hat and shirt.

he hat is done and here it is



RAIJIN/God of Lightning (Poppin iLL)









...................................................

































nah this is it LOL

RAIJIN/God of Lightning (Poppin iLL)



FUJIN/God of Wind (SUGALOO)




"Raijin and Fujin of kamikaze on the mission to amaze, create craze, taking over the dance floor that is our door to fame. What The Funk?! Crew for life!!!"

Peace and God Bless

Day 9: About Inhumanoids.

Tuesday is the busiest day of the week.

So I get up at 4:30 or 5 am in the morning to start my day. 

5 am, I got up, had my whey+oatmeal shake and left the house by 6 am. 

Worked out in the gym and than took the train to the city at 8:30 am. 

The place I work at in the city is a nonprofit organization  called "Career Transition For Dancers". Today they had a luncheon at a restaurant called Sardies on 45th street, right in the corner of Times Square. 

The place had many Broadway celebrities portrait. They depicted the character of each of them and was fun to look at.

We put the banners, flyers, and documents for the attendees and was ready to go. It was a really fancy restaurant and I enjoyed the food a lot :P lol

Free lunch!!! LOL

After work, I took off to do a rehearsal with the Inhumanoids.

Now some of you might not know about them. So let me introduced them to you. (or Click Here to jump to their Facebook page)

As far as I know, they are one of the newer crews in NYC compared to others like Elite Force and etc.. But they've been in the scene for a while.

They are one of the few popping crews in NYC. Now they manage Popshop at PMT Studio on Saturdays which is one of the most famous session spot for poppers in NYC.

I saw them first at Step Ya Game Up 2009.

Step Ya Game Up is an annual event organized by Budda Stretch of the Elite Force Crew. Its a 1vs1 competition that has various dance styles other than B-Boying, which is rare in NYC.

When I first saw them, they were all wearing different colored shirt with the DC comics Green Lantern symbol on. I didn't know what Green Lantern was at the time so I thought they were some kind of Popping Power Rangers or something lol.

They were forming a circle and getting down with higher level poppers. Thus, instinctively I thought they were a higher level poppers.

They all do different styles and feel of popping. However, myself being ignorant at the time (2009) thought "I can probably beat them with my boogaloo because they aren't good with boogaloo", but now I can say that they get down hard keeping their unique individuality with specific styles of popping Apologies for my ignorance, much respect.

I began to hang out with them after I battled one of the members, Brian (Puple shirt) at a no longer existent competition, Kings Of New York.

I did a three way battle with Brian and Swag (I believe from Montreal? I don't know, its vague but I know the guys name was Swag because I never forget the name when I lose). We both lost against Swag, but that gave me and Brian a topic to talk about. From that point on, I began to talk with them more often.

After that, we met at various parties and competitions. After they began to organize Popshop, me and Chill (blue shirt kneeling down) began to talk and hang out more.

This eventually lead Dr. Krawl (blue shirt in the back) to invite me to be apart of his showcase at Guardians Of Dance.

 They are one of the few poppers that represents NYC.

Although they rarely go out to battle out of state, they contribute to the community by teaching a class every Friday (Link to class information), organizing Popshop, and throwing events such as Urban Renewal.

I hope them much success in the future as a crew, and am excited to do a showcase with them on July 1st!!!

"In brightest day, in blackest night, No evil shall escape my sight. Let all who worship evil's might, Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!"

Peace and God Bless.