[spacecapital]

4dapoppers.com - Content

[dtdancer]

that is interesting man

cheers for the post

[SkaterKids]

yes, I was very intresting

[ChippaStyles]

oh dear Lord, how i have MISSED me some Spacecapital!!!

[2(s)hawt]

HI SPACECAPITAL..


lol i sure do hope there isnt 100 pages concerning this article like on WCP =p

but then again it was interesting to read the discussion between nikoemus and 07

[spacecapital]

How are you all doing, I have been alway for awhile. I'm Sorry, I'm going to do my best to stay active on this site. One, because I really enjoyed myself here, and because I love the art form known as Popping. Someone wrote this interested article and sent me an email asking could I post it on the site. A lot of the stuff were interested to me as while. There have been some interested debate about this art form and it time for us all the really think about innovating and being more of self when it comes to popping. It's nothing wrong with learning from someone, but we have to look inside and be our selves when it comes to dancing. This is what is missing the most today, to many people dancing in the same spirit. You have to dance in your own spirit.

I am not a person against the EB's, I like what they are doing, they are a very talented group. From my research and many other people research they are not the beginning of this scene. We have to start growing as a scene and move back to being performers and stop dancing like we are breakers. Poppers don't battle move for move, we perform. Ballet, Jazz, tap, are performing dances. This is what popping is, a performing dance. If we want to battle with popping it should be a performing battle. I believe that the current generation of dancers could really evolve this scene, and show some creative stuff when it comes to dancing. It's not about me, it's about can we push this art form to the next level? It's time to step out of the box and BE YOURSELF.

SpaceCapital

[oldmickdonald]

very interesting article/comments..

i like the bit about popping as a performing dance..

just a quick question tho to spacecapital or any1 else

how do you think we could construct popping competitions so that they seem less battle-like and more performance-oriented?

[spacecapital]

Thanks, that is a good question. Performing battle is just that a dancer that is performing. Just take a look at the battle concept that is being done today. Poppers are facing each other in a circle. Their whole dancing concept is base on belittling the other dancer or doing move for move.

When you are performing you are not focusing on nothing but performing your dance to the audience. You are not restricted to doing any move or style. Give each dancer 30 seconds or 1 minute to perform. You are not facing the other dancers, because this is more combative style of battling. It all about who can perform to the crowd the best. The judge judge the battle on who is the better performer. Not based on any move for move concept, gimmick, tricks, or who style is more favoritable.

When you go to a ballet, jazz, or tap dancing audition they are battling for a spot to perform in a production. Each person get a change to perform their solo piece. We keep on saying we are a performing dance, but we are not performing.

[2(s)hawt]

interesting points~!

[ChippaStyles]

Originally Posted by spacecapital

We keep on saying we are a performing dance, but we are not performing.

I understand what you are saying, but at the same time, a lot of dancers LIKE the competitiveness of battling. I, personally, could care less. I don't NEED the battle to make me wanna dance. But the thing is, we can do BOTH. I wouldn't say that we should limit what we to to a specific type of dance(battle, performing), but let the dancers choose what they would rather do. There are a lot of poppers out there that are strictly performers.

Poppers are facing each other in a circle. Their whole dancing concept is base on belittling the other dancer or doing move for move.

I dont know about others, but in my eyes this is not true. The whole dancing concept is based on answering the other dancer, based on the music. It is more like a discussion. The dancers that are battling answer each others dance with their own interpretation and movement, based on what movement, styles, and music aspects that the other dancer used. This would be more in tune with your thought of going "move for move", but its not the same.

In essence, the whole point of battling comes down to "right at this moment, who is the better dancer?" It goes the same thing with ballet, but they just do it with solos.

It all about who can perform to the crowd the best.

This would work with the solos, but as it stands right now, it doesnt. THAT is the entire reason why battles have judges. Just because someone is funny, clever, and knows how to make a crowd flip out because of disses or gimmicks doesnt make them the better dancers. Judges are there to judge on movement and musical interpretation of each individual dancer. They would be doing the same thing if we did solos, so REALLY it is more entertainment(or performance) for the "crowd" when people battle.

Am i wrong in thinking that poppers have been battling for a LONG time now? Was i told wrong? From my knowledge, this dance has had the battle aspect in it for over 20 some odd years. Just because people say its a performance dance, doesnt neccessarily make it true.

[HKflame]

wa?.. there are ppl who try to "belittle" the other person through dancing?... i thought dancing was all about self expression...

edit: yo chippa, i agree with you... ppl don't battle to belittle other person, i think they dance for themselves and think of battling as a tool to find out wat level their skills are at. afterall, you do learn a lot from battling other poppers... although you couldd do the same through jamming lol

[spacecapital]

I do understand that you all have not seen popping when it was geared more toward performing. I'm going to try to explain a little more and detail so you all could understand my point a little better. This is not to say that you have to agree. One, I didn't say we should not battle, I was talking about the way we battle today. Just be honest with ourselves, when you are battling someone in the circle it is geared more towards answering the person you battling moves. It also go so far to the point were some people try to belittle other dancers.

To me This is a more combative battle concept that really came from breaking. IF a person go out and bust a windmill, head spin, and freeze. The the next person is going to go out and try to top these moves in his combination. He is not going to go out and just do footworks, he going to answer the challenge. I call this move for move battle concept. You bust a tut, and the next person comes out try to out do your tut. You go out the next time and you try to out do his tut, and he comes back and try to out to what you just did. This is move for move battle to me, it came from the Hip hop Culture. This is one of the reason poppers and lockers were trying to separate these dances from Hip hop. Poppers and Lockers did battle but it was more geared towards performing battles concept.

Performing battle concept is different. You are battling but it based on your performance. You are not battle move for move, you are more focus on dancing then trying to answer someone else moves. We had judges who judged battles back in my days. Some of the most rawest battles were battles without judges. What make judging a battle more better then the crowd? I have seen many battles that was not even close and judges judged the battles base on what style they liked better or person they liked better. Who is more unbiased? I personally believe it should be a little of both, crowd responses and judge judging the dancer.

Is it really more entertaining for the crowd to look at a combative battle? I would say yes for breaking but popping and locking I would say no. See you all are used to seeing popping at its weakest stage when it comes to performing. Other countries are out performing most dancers in the USA. Our whole concept of dancing is based on combative battling, and we are learning these dance just to be good in this battle format (combative battle format).

People who say that the crowd does not understand is just weak performers. If you are good at performing you will bring the crowd to you. You will bring them into your world. Judges are cool, but a lot of the judging that is going on now days are political. Some judges are going to pick a dancer because he is doing more of what they like. He representing the style that a judge is promoting.

I have been to many battles and judged battles in Chicago, Battle of the Year 1998, and UK Championship battle in 1999. I have talked to many older dancer and I'm not talking base on hearsay, I have heard it from other judge before the event even started, that they are riding with a certain style. I was like how could you even do this and you have not even seen the dancers. He was already trying to get all of the other judges to ride with him on the battle before it even started. Man, do you know why I'm not trying to be a judge anymore? It not even close to judging, it's politic man, I have been behind the scene and see it all myself. It would be good if it was unbiased, but most of the time it is biased.

My whole thing and complaint is let the young dancer be themselves. Let them grow as dancer and become all they could be. I'm not out here trying to force others to dance just like me. I want to see the scene grow. I want to see people mixing it up and doing this dance all kind of ways. This is nothing I'm trying to start, this was how it was back in the '70s and '80s. We danced to performing, that were our main focus. Today poppers learn to pop to battle. It about proving yourself to the popping community. Back then it was about showing the crowd you could perform. Look at any old footages, it was about performing. Everybody looked different, dressed some what different, danced somewhat different. In the '80s poppers were doing many different stuff. When I used to travel in the '90s to other states to events It seem like everybody is doing almost the same moves over and over again. Does this really help the scene grow? I don't think so, it hurt the scene because the scene is one sided.

Let me get back to the topic. We did used to battled and perform back in the '70s and '80s. In popping early days it was more about performing and dancing. When breaking came out it went more into the tricks, belittling others, clowning, etc. Now we are dancing a little more now, but it's still with in the combative format.

As a street dancer, we always danced in a more freestyle way, especially when it came to solo performances. I really think it is better for a person to listen to the music and vibe off it then focus on what someone else is doing and try to out do it. Performing is all about the vibe you get from the music, you interpreted it via your body. I like dancing more free, I don't like dancing in a box, and in the circle it feel more like I'm dancing in a box.

Boppin' Andre is a OG battler. He is a performer, His whole presentation is based in performing. Animation is another performer. Popping looks much better when it is in a performing setting to me.

[ChippaStyles]

i understand everything you say here, and i agree with a lot of it...very nice post.

I used to go to events and see everybody doing almost the same moves over and over again.

lol this happens now...even with the "best" of poppers....

[spacecapital]

It's ok, we are not going to agree on everything. Keep on doing your thing and growing as a person and a dancer.

[HKflame]

space i agree 100% with you although i dont' have much expierience inj the popping scene.