To Improve your popping.

Ok. I've been off again.

Its tough to continue a blog I guess haha.

Well the truth is, my work schedule and such changes constantly and I can't keep up with it lol.

But now I think I can maintain a routine schedule. So, lets try this again!

Sharing the word of wisdom shared by Aja George on Facebook.

My post:

Very well summarized statement from AjA George. Yes the Greats STUDIED!!! They go through the “Bad phase” to improve. I always tell my people that a down time in whatever you do is similar to you squatting down to make a big jump. It is a “preparation step” for improvement. Be humble and always look up! Peace and god blessings!

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Aja's Post

So many times, people have asked me to teach them how to pop. 98% of those people NEVER followed through with it. So many of these new dancers feel like they’re stuck…or plateaued, and I can give you a reason why. Most people who dance decide to stay away from certain dances, such as popping, for a reason. One of the most common answers I got was “it’s too hard, I’d never be able to do it (or be good at it)”. NOT true. But…how would you know if you never took the time to try? You’re so concerned about looking good to other people, that you’re afraid to go through a “bad” phase again to learn a new dance. You just want what’s easy. So you keep taking these same “hip hop choreo” classes where the “teacher” is showing you their moves, and how to move to, dance, and hear the music like THEM. Then there are people who are teaching you to hear the music the way YOU want, move the way YOU want, and dance the way YOU want…and there’s 7 people in that class?! See, we’ve got it twisted nowadays in the industry. We’re always looking for the easy road to stardom. The greats STUDIED. The greats, not only in dance, but in other artforms. Michael Jordan STUDIED. Michael Jackson STUDIED. Tiger Woods STUDIED. Shoot, Einstein STUDIED. When they got good at something, they decided that wasn’t good enough and got good at something else to ADD to that one thing they were good at previously. Why would you take “hip hop choreo” class EVERYDAY when you’re already good at it? Why not take salsa? Or house? Or contemporary? Or ballet? Whether you want to excel in that category or not, it WILL help you in whatever form of dance you wanna excel in. I’m a popper that’s taken lots of different dance clases…and I’m still a popper. I just add in what I learn to what I do. But I expanded from it. It made me a better dancer. Don’t just go in the same class week after week “killin” it in there….

Learn something new. You’ll be happy you did.

Day 10: Japan and USA. Two of the greatest poppers.

This video is A MUST WATCH!!!!

R.I.P Skeeter Rabbit and Wild Cherry.
They are both one of the most influential poppers for Japan and United States and the world..

As far as I know, Wild Cherry was a DJ and a dancer responsible for bringing the Electric Boogaloos (especially Skeeter Rabbit and Popping Pete) to Osaka, Japan in the mid 90's.

Wild Cherry constantly brought them to Japan. Allowing Osaka to be exposed to the original Boogaloo style, which was an extremely valuable opportunity considering the fact that there was no Youtube nor reliable internet  usage like today.

Because of this, Osaka became the mecca of Popping in Japan. Popping became extremely famous and gave birth to world renowned dancers such as Acky, Gucchon, Kei, Tetsu G and so on....

However, I love this showcase because they pop using various popping styles instead of JUST STRAIGHT UP BOOGALOO.
To me, understanding and being able to execute different styles of popping and being able to express and ultimately be able to fuse with the music in the get down is what makes you a true Popping Dancer.

I've look up to Skeeter Rabbit for a long time because he is to me the most perfected popper on the planet.

Its always fun and entertaining to watch Skeeter Rabbit.
His dynamic Boogaloo moves, technical botting and dimes, funky heavy groove, quick and sharp movements from a huge body. These features create perfect balance that presents various popping styles to the max within his get down.

Although my favorite popper in Electric Boogaloo is my teacher, Jazzy J, Skeeter Rabbit has always been my top choice.

I don't know how many times I've though in my mind "what would popping world be like if he was still alive?"

I ask this question because as you can tell from the clip, he is very social, friendly, but a hard critique and serious about popping.

His students like Kid Boogie and Bionic Man told me how big of a positive influence Skeeter Rabbit has brought to their lives. And I constantly hear rumors of how he was serious about the dance and supporting the dance community.

Too many people now-a-days only think about themselves and their success. 


In my humble opinion, we need people like Wild Cherry and Skeeter Rabbit who contribute to the unity of the community by introducing Street Dance style, not for fame and success, but true love towards the dance.

"Let's stay together, I don't bang no more. I'm banging for my people....people all from the Streets. I don't care what color you are"-- Skeeter Rabbit--

Peace and God Bless.

JAPAN, LA, and NY

So to those of you who had been reading my blog (thank you), yesterday I said there is a big reason behind doing this training right?  WELL HERE IS THE REASON WHY!!! 

On August 10th, I'll be going back to Japan for a week.

Than, I'll fly back to the U.S but will be visiting LA for a week before coming back to NY! lol

In LA, me and my crew mate Ilya are planning to train under various poppers to improve our dance skill.

This is the reason why I'm currently working out.

I know that in West Coast, there are many O.Gs and world class poppers. 

They have much more diverse technique in popping than we do here.

To get the best out of the training by them, I thought it will be best to at least be fit enough to endure any type of training. 

Our goal is not to go to LA and learn how to do the training and be satisfied. 

The goal is to learn quickly and begin the training in LA, grasp as much as we can so that we can continue the training even after coming home.

Therefore, in order to gather as much as we can and to keep up with poppers that are much better than us, I believe its best to be in our finest shape.

So there it is. Today is DAY 3 and I'm keeping up with the plan.

SUGALOO Teaching Class in New Jersey!

Soooo

My crew mate Edmund "E.T" Tan gave me the opportunity to do a workshop in New Jersey this *THURSDAY*

Here is the link

If you are around Elmswood in New Jersey, come stop by!

Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does. ~William James

This is a simple beginning of a diary of the journey to my goal and love of dance.



Spring semester2011 at SUNY Purchase College has been the most influential semester of my college life.

I've attended a event called Arts Advocacy Day and listened to actor Kevin Spacey give a speech on how artist in the United States should fight to save the art form they love.

Advocates fought against the U.S government cutting $167million funding to the National Endowment for the Arts down to $124million. Because of advocates effort, the buget was lowered only $12.5million, leaving $155million funding for the Arts.

Here is his the link to Spacey's amazing speech: Watch This Video

Also my mother island, Japan, faced one of the worst Earthquake and Tsunami disaster in human history.
My friends and I at SUNY Purchase College established a group called Save Japan at SUNY Purchase and organized fundraising activities including a professional benefit concert called Notes For Japan

The fundraising activities used up all our free time and energy, leaving us with only couple hours of sleep every day for a month. However, the effort paid off and we managed to raise more than $6,500 alone from concert and close to $20,000 from all activities during the semester.




The semester passed ridiculously fast, but opened my eyes to a whole new world.

Through these events, I've been away from dancing and its politics and concentrated on Arts Management, which is the Major I study at SUNY Purchase College.

Living my days acting as an Arts Manager for the fundraising activities and being involved in arts advocate movement allowed me to realize that I should not only think about how Street Dance can support my life but how "I" can support IT to be in better condition financially and authentically as an art form.

Summer 2011's goal is to figure out how I can help the Street Dance Community. This is going to be my Senior Project that hopefully will benefit the community.

In addition, I will be training my ass off to get back in shape cuz I lost so much weight and are skinny as hell!!! Its tough for me to dance the way I did before!!! lol. I need to bring my game back so I can battle......seriously....

End
SUGALOO