I'm in Japan for a vacation now and finally got back to my computer. Luckily, all the battle clips from the ESS 4 is up. Thus, I want to post it here!!!
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.
I respect Kid Boogie for flying around the world to teach popping. After taking his class, I know he is spreading the knowledge of popping to contribute further to his teachers, the EB's legacy.
I respect pSyk for not only producing dope popping track to keep us dancing, but that he actually dance and battles as well. Met him at Step Ya Game Up couple years ago and he was killing it as well.
Much respect for both for the contributions to the popping community. Peace and God Bless.
OK BACK FROM WHERE I LEFT OFF MONTH AGO!!! lol
I wrote it way back but forgot to post it.......
DAY 2 in JAPAN
This was yet another awesome day for me.
I got to see Nonoko (my girlfriend)'s dance performance for the first time in 5 years (wow....lol) and I got to battle on 1vs1 and on crew vs crew with TKO to represent What The Funk?! Crew!!!
So this is the first vid I took on the way to the studio where Nonoko was rehearsing for her performance.
***Be warned that I'm a little hyper because I'm excited lol***
Weeeeellll.....not all that is true SUGALOO lol
Because this event didn't allow any audiences to record the battle -_-
Why? BUSINESS.
They were selling the footage. figures eh?
It is a good strategie, not going to lie.
But to me, for this event, it was a little too much man.
I mean the event wasn't that big, full of dope dancers and etc.
Sure they had a Showcase, 1vs1, crew vs crew categories, but the level of the dancers weren't high enough to be in the DVD to be sold to people.
Yet there were a large number of Kid dancers with their mother.
I guess the organizers make money off of those parents that are obsessed with their kid's dancing.......
So unfortunately, there is not a single vid of the event, BOOOOOOOOOO (self booing lol)
Sucks, I know. I bet the crew would've love the way we represented the crew.....but thats history. We'll all go to Japan one day and do it again :D
The event was called "Run Up".
I was hyped, ready to dance with my girl, my bro, and his friends! I was ready to sweat and dance till I can't no more!!!
But the first impression I felt when I arrived at the event was "intimidation"
Why? Well there are couple reasons why I felt this way.
Reasons:
A. People were too damn serious
B. People are practicing alone, listening to their ipod on their headphone FOREVER!
C. Parents yelling at Kids to stretch and be ready for their performance
D. They were all wearing similar outfit that characterizes the dance style they do.
Let me give you and visual example.
All the poppers dressed like this
All the Hip Hop dancers dressed like this
and all the Kids dancers dressed like this
Yuuup........ that's how it was lol
Other thing that freaked me out was that
THEY DIDN'T HAVE ANY DJ TIME!!!!!!!!!!
They did battles, break(kick us out), battle, break, battle to the final.
Man I was tired......
Because usually in the event, I battle, than I dance during DJ time to keep my body warm. Couldn't do that this time.
They weren't playing music during the break time. So I just sat on the chair and ate food.
Because of this, I couldn't dance with my bro, their friends and my girlfriend in the cyphers.......
This just was not cool.....
Later I found out that this event was for beginners and upcoming dancers in Japan. My brother from another mother in Japan, Tim, told me that the main focus of the event was to give the young generations and people who struggle passing the preliminaries in the major competition events to perform and/or battle.
Looking back at it now, it does make sense. They danced well but dance just like their teachers. I didn't feel the energy of them going "OH I WANNA CYPHER!". They were more like mentally preparing for the time for them to perform.
So its unfair to judge how Japanese Jams are like by looking at this event. I hope to go to one of my brother's event to really experience Jams in Japan.
The good news was that TKO and myself did a pretty good job!
On 1vs1, I went to the semi-finals
and on crew vs crew, we also made it to the semi-finals!!!
I need a big applause from my crewmates man lol We represented the crew to the fullest!! lol
I mean we gave all we had and actually had to miss Nonoko's performance!!! (well we saw it a head when they were rehearsing) lol
Anyway,
The thing that made me happy was the fact that we won without any routines.
Even though we are brothers, 2 years had passed since TKO and I danced together.
Yet we managed to reunite as a real good team and defeated some crews that had been practicing together longer than us.
Personally, I felt it was a result from executing our crew vision.
We, What The Funk?! Crew are true to ourselves. We embrace our individualism and uniqueness. By evolving our uniqueness with solid popping foundation, our goal is to make people say "What The F?!" as an reaction to our dance.
That's our goal.
It has always been our goal since 2009.
This event was only a tiny step, but making a step is a HUGE difference compare to not making any.
Great job dancing your ass off TKO. I know its tough to be out there alone to represent us. But WE NEVER LEFT YOU. Stay strong and stay original my brotha. You made me proud that day to have you as a crew mate once again.
Here are some pics from the event
With Hide, This dude is FUNKY! (Champ)
What The Funk?! Brothers!
kids crew we battled named "Sora-Ringo"
Nonoko & SUGALOO
After this day I had a lot of personal time with Nonoko and friends and that's private lol
It was about 40 minutes away from the opening of the Jam. However, surprisingly, they were still preparing for the jam.
From my past
experience, Carlo and Gwo has always been very precise on moving the
event according to schedule.
The event started an hour or so late. By that time people were inside the studio stretching or dancing to warm up.
The place looked awesome. It was like a club. Dark with many different
projected lights. In addition, the DJ WAS AWESOME! He had very
versatile and great selection of music. It's always a plus to have a DJ
that can hype the dancers from the beginning of the jam. Big props to DJ
TOXSICK. I wanted to say this through face to face conversation but I
forgot... I'm sorry:(
The jam had three categories. All styles, Locking, and popping.
Each style had approximately 30-40 competitors.
I signed up for popping and all styles because Sun and Senchi convinced me lol.
Fayzah did not sign up for the battles, Ilya signed up for popping, and Jazzy was the judge.
My all styles prelim was HORRIBLE,,,,,,period lol so lets forget about that lol
On the popping preliminary, I went before Ilya.
Super Dope Funk Explosion II was the previous jam I've entered and I felt that I was in a great condition.
That day I was fully energized and was able to dance with out fear, pressure, and nervousness.
I wanted to recreate that condition.
Therefore, I intentionally spend my day with similar schedule, meaning I ate on set time, set amount, and danced, warmed up on set routine..
I was confident that I conditioned myself well.
I was ready.
As I stepped in front of the judges for a preliminary round, I danced in a way that I don't create any regret after leaving the dance floor.
As a result, I passed the prelim. I was happy to hear from Bionic that I
looked strong (i interpreted that i had solid get down lol).
Ilya unfortunately could not follow the same path. He wasn't mentally
prepared. He did a much better get down right after his prelim, which I
know that it could've got him through the preliminary. But that didn't
happen that night.
I was sad that this had happened. Because I know how much he had pushed himself to train during the past month with me.
As I posted my thoughts on tumblr, my excitement towards the event
settled down. But now that I think about it, it may have helped me to
preserve some energy for the upcoming battle.
Top 16 Poppers were selected from each category.
My first battle opponent was someone I knew well. His name is Tboy.
He came to NY at the beginning of this year and I have been practicing
with him occasionally. He is a good groovy dancer who has a funky boog
style with strong foundation. The only thing that I knew I can do better
was to pop more solidly with angles mix some animation influenced
movements in my dance.
So I tried. Compared to the last jam, I felt that I was thinking too much.
I felt like I didn't do a strong get down. However, luckily I won.
I was happy that I got to exchange
with Tboy. Thank you bro, I hope you have a safe trip home :)
Next opponent I had was Naoko san from Japan.
I didn't really know her dance so I
moved the way I feel. But it wasn't a good round either.
By this
time I realized that I was being too stiff and was focused too much on "thinking" about my popping. Ilya told me that I was becoming plain and repetitive.
Furthermore, he could tell that I was thinking too much. This was all true. Since we lived and trained together everyday throughout the summer, he knew about my dance well.
I'm fortunate to have person like him that knows and analyze my dance well.
I took in his advise to groove more so I can dance and be free.
I won against Naoko san. I was lucky because while she was getting down, it felt like the music suddenly slowed down. I felt like this messed Naoko san's rhythm up. Thank you Naoko san, I hope you had a safe trip home as
well.
I knew the next opponent was going to be a tough.
It was time to battle SUN once again.
When I first saw her at Step Ya Game up two years ago, I was terrified.
Because I never saw a female popper with such body control and a strong
pop!!!
Fortunately, recently we became good friends
:)
She is super funny and kind. She is one of the popper I respect.
We battled previously at a jam that was held at Shoaling Temple in new
york few month ago. Therefore, SUN was yelling "revenge! revenge!" at me
with a big smile but a serious stare lol
Although she looked like she was fooling around, I knew she was coming
full out to smoke me. So I calmed myself down to focus on relaxing. I
knew that when I relax, I tend to listen to music more carefully,
allowing me to dance deeper and use technique when I feel like it.
There were 2 rounds from the semi-final.
The first song was a song by Slick Dogg.
SUN came out HAAAARRRRRRD.
Her get
down got me hyped in a good way. But as I ended my first round, I
knew that I'll loose the battle if I kept the same approach. So I told
Ilya "watch" and declared that I will switched my mode as he advised me before.
I don't really remember what I did. But I was having fun. I didn't care
about the people around me or the judges watching me. I just
concentrated on dancing together with the music and having a
conversation with SUN. This is the best feeling I recently found while
battling a good popper (in my humble opinion). I don't really remember moves I did. It's probably because I'm not thinking. But I know the feeling. The feeling
is always amazing. And it only happens during the battle where two individuals
are focused on getting lost in the music and enjoy the conversation
through body expression.
After a good battle, I always expect to have another round. This is because
1. I don't remember what I did so I feel like I have to do more and
2. because I want it to never end.
Luckily, I managed to win against SUN.
Battling her is always a good and fun challenge. I enjoyed the exchange once again :)
Thank you SUN oniee, let's practice animation together!!! Lol
By this time, I was waiting to battle for the championship against A.K.A Kin.......
Honestly, I did not imagine that I could go this far.
I knew so
many amazing poppers that entered the battle including some that I
battled before and lost. Yet I somehow manage to survive and here I was,
facing one of my idol and a hero of popping.
I was so excited. My heart was rushing that I couldn't stand still. I
shook his hand and bowed, got a back slap from Ilya, and watched the
bottle spin.
The moment the DJ played the song, I immediately felt its electronic feel.
I knew that I'm no
match against A.K.A Kin to battle in boogaloo. Therefore, I started my
get down by bottling. After that, I just kept dancing full out.
All I remember was how amazing A.K.A Kin was. LOL
I mean c'mon man, he is DOPE.
I enjoyed his movements, musicality, and the energy that he projected. The
battle/exchange simply felt awesome.
After two rounds, he waved his hands towards me and gave me a hug. The crowd gave us a round of applause. I was honored.
When Carlo asked for the decision to the judges, I saw all the judges
hand pointing at A.K.A Kin.
Yes I got SMOKED like a TOAST LMAO.
But that was obvious. I was just hyper of the fact that I actually experienced an one to
one exchange with one of the world's top popper. To me, that was already
the greatest prize I can have from the jam.
Many people came and gave me a compliment. Even the judges gave me a
positive comment about my dancing. Except Jazzy, who added a comment
"don't cheer for the opponent when you are battling!"
Its true, I shouldn't be doing that. But he was so amazing man lol couldn't help it lol
Overall, I couldn't be happier about the experience I had on this jam. I will treasure it forever.
Me and A.K.A Kin
Thank you Studio G, LifeXHip Hop, and DC Dance Collective for making this happen.
Your hard work paid off in a very inspiring and positive way for MANY
dancers. I highly respect your efforts and sacrifices you've made to
make this happen.
God Bless you all.
After the event, I was tired and hungry as hell. I needed fooooood lol
So James took us to this Chinese fast food store that had good ice tea
and an enormously packed combo meal! Forget the diet menu man, I ate that sh*t like a pig
lol
After we ate and changed and all, we headed to club aqua. We went there
late, but it was empty. But DJ TOXSICK was there spinning his records
already. So we just took the dance floor and started to mess around.
After about 30min, the floor began to fill up.
After about an hour and half, the place was packed!!!
I had a great time with everyone. But at the same time, I was exhausted.
Don't know how this happened.... lol
Ilya, Dickson, Me, Bionic
Once again, as I went to James's house I passed out. But, this time, I slept on my side of the bed so Ilya can sleep lol
It was my first AWESOME day of the summer.
I was truly glad that I trained and practiced for this event.
We slept around 4am again and set our alarm to 9am so we can be on time for the workshops.
Continues........
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!"
Super Dope Funk Explosion 2
The name already describes how the Jam went last weekend.
From cyphers to the workshops, I feel like every participants enjoyed every aspect of this event.
The music (By DJ/poppin Joker), the audiences, poppers, judges/teachers, atmosphere and the vibe were extraordinary.
It was definitely one of the hypest and the dopest event I’ve been to in my life as a dance lover.
Super Dope Funk Explosion (SDFX) is hosted annually by Greg “G” Li ( I apologize for miss spelling your last name on the previous blog) and and Boston University Dance group called Bulletproof Funk. I decided to go to this event this year for couple reasons.
1. because my bro, Poppin iLL, is battling so I wanted to support as always
2. The Judges were Slim Boogie, Mosta Pop, and Poppin Todd, which is a very interesting mix of poppers and I was interested in taking their workshop.
3. There were dope popping competitors such as Venom, Mark Flux, Katalyst, YJ, Lady Beast, Wookie, Shawn and many more poppers that I’m friend with.
The event was very organized, which was impressing because MOST OF THE EVENT IS VERY DISORGANIZED and that takes away peoples energy by the end of the event. Therefore, usually people are tired to even focus on the Final Battles, WHICH SHOULD NEVER HAPPEN. (In my opinion)
Even though there were slight schedule changes, the event run according to the schedule that was provided by the Greg through email to the event participants before the battle. Therefore, i was not disappointing by the sudden changes such as getting kicked out from the location, shorting the rounds or the battle time, doing a 3 way battle above top 16 and etc (these are from my personal experience).
I’ve told you many times already Greg but thank you for organizing this event in a way that people can focus on enjoying the dance. You’ve provided a great Jam experience to many dancers that night. Much respect.
Not only was it well organized, the poppers brought their A game.
There were total of approximately 40-50 poppers who entered the competition. I’d say I was impressed by most of them. Poppers were getting down hard up to a point where I was imagining that “if I was the judge, I would REALLY struggle picking only 16 poppers out of this many”.
After 30 min break top 16 was announced. I was luckily chosen to be in the top 16.
The top 16 poppers were……
1. Venom (Canada)
2. Kai (NY/Portland/China)
3. Katalyst (Boston)
4. FW (Montreal)
5. Mark Flux (D.C/Boston/LA)
6. Sun (NY/Korea)
7. Sugaloo (NY/Japan)
8. Jon Lock (NY)
9. A-Boogie (Boston)
10. Android (NY/Germany)
11. Wookie (D.C)
12. Abnormal (Montreal)
13. Rawss (Montreal)
14. Shawn (Montreal)
15. Dassy (Korea)
16. YJ (Boston/Korea)
Every battle was intense and hyped the crowd up like CRAAAAAZZZYYY lol
Check out the Battles from Daveshi’s Channel! (Subscribe if you like good quality battle footage on the eastcoast)
I don’t want to spoil the battle so I strongly recommend you guys see the battle!
Finally, even though this was one of the best Jam I’ve ever been to, the number of audiences were very small. Most of the spectators were poppers who entered to compete. This Jam DEFINITELY has the attractiveness to bring in more audiences from diverse back ground. Of course it is very important to focus on providing the best experience for the poppers, (since its a popping jam) however, the event organizer always have to keep in mind that a Jam is an environment that has the power to get people inspired to the start dancing.
Therefore, if you want to contribute to the growth of a dance style, you have to reach out to the new audiences. This will grow your venue, but at the same time it will help build the dance community, which is essential to street dance since it is still a small dance world compare to other dance.
But over all, the event never lost its hype from beginning to the end. I personally enjoyed it very much and would love to go attend the Jam next year.
Lastly, thank you to all the poppers, dancers, and audiences for showing love. It was pleasure to meet, reunite, dance and battle with all of you.
The place looked awesome. It was like a club. Dark with many different
projected lights. In addition, the DJ WAS AWESOME! He had very
versatile and great selection of music. It's always a plus to have a DJ
that can hype the dancers from the beginning of the jam. Big props to DJ
TOXSICK. I wanted to say this through face to face conversation but I
forgot... I'm sorry:(
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