[beaniekapp]

hey fellers, id like to do a little something different here with the forums and i believe that this will help many people out as well... and thats a discussion on concepts...!! ways that can help make YOU a better dancer...

i understand that alot of people go on this site asking for critique or what not and there are those of us who have developed their own formulas and i would like them to share their methods of how to improve at dancing...!!

although right now id like to focus on the toprock aspects of bboying and discuss many methods on how to go about it... regardless of whatever move you're learning but how to connect those movements together...

i myself have plenty of concepts i want to share but i believe they should be shared one at a time...

so id like to share this concept which im sure many people probably know or dont about... and thats SYMMETRY...!! staying even and making patterns based on mirrored movements...

meaning to say; lets take the indian step... you step with the left, then afterwards you step with the right... vice versa... and this can apply with all steps such as crossovers... boing oings... etc... etc...

so anyways id like to ask if people have learned this... how has it helped you and whatever things have came across when working about this concept...?

so peoples if youd like to drop your gems and build upon this more please feel free to do so... and if people got questions... please feel free to ask...!! lets keep this positive peeps... peace...!!

[PrivateX]

I think I read in one of your posts awhile back to not look at learning new tops as "learning new steps or moves" but to look at it as learning a new concept and I think just switching that way of thinking has helped me a lot.

[B-boy Jp]

Not much of a fan with the whole mirrored concept... It makes your rockin' look 2 dimensional in my opinion. To be honest there really isn't that much concept or technique you can put behind rockin' because all of my moves come from me just listening to the music, feelin' it and adapting my moves to what I hear, its just practicing until its second nature to you and you will make new fresh shit up all by yourself.

Here are a few pointers for people just starting out though;
- Don't use the same steps more than twice (do 2 indian steps and then move to your next rock)
- Use the space available to you, rock the whole circle not just the center
- Don't make it obvious when your about to drop, it means you need to work on your drops or come up with something more creative
- Let your shoulders rock up and down to help you keep in rhythm
- Watch B-Boy YNOT from the Rocksteady Crew, Sickest rocks you'll ever see.



You know someone is a damn good b-boy when he does shit you haven't seen before.
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[cHo¢KoLaTe]

There are a lot of concepts i do, but to be honest, none of them can really be explained in words haha. Other than that, i'm feelin your idea kapp, that's something i feel is essential when learning moves in general, being able to do them in opposites, both ways, in various angles, etc.

The idea gives me more gateways through what steps i can do next after the other. In other words, being unlikely to get stuck and having more variety. There's really a lot i can say about tops but since this topic is solely focusing on "CONCEPTS", then i'll leave it at that.

[beaniekapp]

thanks for the feedback fellas...

those are some dope pointers there jayp... i was plannin on goin into those and expanding on those ideas in the future... ill drop a new gem once a week or so if this thread keeps going...

and choco... feel free to drop whatever you can... even if the thread is bout concepts... whatever your input is can still be looked at as a concept... trust on that... haha...

well heres more to what i can add regarding symmetry...!! i definitely feel what jayp had to say bout it bein 2dimensional... so heres an expansion on that...

other than looking at the symmetry thing than left to right or right to left... theres also a front to back... and vice versa... plus staying high and staying low... again all steps can be used in these ways...

again well just use the indian step as a base for applying these concepts...

front to back: indian to the front with right... then hit back step with the same leg... essentially youre hitting back and front with the same leg... applying left and rights... do the same with the left afterwards... or you can switch it up by indian front with right then backstep with left... the mirror the other side to complete the pattern...

high and low: its practically doing anything i mentioned above by staying low... either your legs are bent or dipped more or in crouched position to just those steps in a more upstraight position...

spins: spin left then spin right... vice versa... you can spin to the front and you can spin to the back... depending on which is your grounded foot...

its real fun to play with... especially if you apply all 3 concepts at the same time... and you can string more patterns just based off one step...!! ill talk more bout pattern making when i drop info bout "4 corners"...

of course feel to talk bout 4 cornering if you know it... i know madd knows it... haha...!!

lets keep it going peeps theres plenty of things that can be talked... im just here to "expaaaand your miiiindss tooo uuunderstaannndd" haha... if you know the song you kno where im coming from haha...!!

[B-boy Jp]

beanie you sound like you grasped the art of rockin' lets make some videos to post up if this thread gets busy, would like to see the input of some really good rockin b-boys like yell-o here too.

[beaniekapp]

haha thanks jayp but id rather see others put up vids using these concepts instead of me showing it... i dont want to spoonfeed too much... since people are reading our concepts its better for themselves to discover what we're actually talking about for themselves... hahhaa...!!

OH YEAH... one more thing to mention... i do want to point out that im actually talking toprock not uprock... i do know people know me as an uprocker... but i was breaking before i learned rocking... so i wanted to share my knowledge in best way i can without having me to record myself... as i dont believe in video tutorials... hahha... sorry peeps but thats just the way i am...

and another thing... just to avoid misunderstandings between uprock and toprock... id like it if toprock would just be called "tops" instead of rockin... since that term represents uprock mostly... from what i know...

but just for this thread's sake lets refer to toprock in a way where it is actually described in a way where people would understand we are talking bout toprocks not uprock... of course you can call it whatever you want... im just saying for this threads sake since people would be reading this to know more about toprocks not uprock... thanks and peace...!!

if anyone does ask bout uprock or questions bout it just refer them to the "uprock" section nicely... hahhaa...!!

[B-boy Jp]

Haha my bad beanie, You know how at random uprock battles kinda happen? hence me just calling it rockin, but thinking about it they are 2 completely different dances, one just majorly influenced by the other, so I should stop that.

[beaniekapp]

haha naw its all gravy... dont trip bout it... at least you know wassup...!! so lets not get off track and lets start contributing haha...!!

ill contribute some more ideas once more people drop in... peace...!!

[bboychamploo]

for my tops its not really about the steps anymore. Its just looking at where my feet are and where I can take them without looking awkward

and watch the arms lol

[Rath]

A toprock concept of mine:

Don't let the music make you look good, make it so that YOU make the music look good.

Bwahahahaha.

[skatman]

play with patterns, levels, tempos, slips n slides, drags, etc. Run different scenarios. As in toprockin like you stole something, like you sneaky, like scared, etc......

Levels: indian step can be done 2 ways, if not more. Up high, down lo, inbetween, etc.....

[bboysuperman]

haha... i'm feeling the symmetry thing but like u ALSO said... make sure u don't just go symmetrical from left to right... this is a mistake that is very common w kids tht start out my class... they just top from left to right and dont vary their levels and 4get that there are quite literally INFINITE directions that u can go... as for indian step bein down 2 ways... tho i suppose u cud break it down into 2 or 3 STANDARD ways... don't allow urself 2 be limited 2 wat has been done in the past... thats how a culture becomes stagnant... we kno wats been done for many years now... expand ur horizons and find new ways to do the same move and add new dimensions to it... only then can u find satisfaction in knowin tht ur contributing to the development of bboy culture...

[demonhand]

I've been bboying for about a year (I know it says dec 07 in my sig, but I took the summer off lol) and I've been working mostly on toprock and freezes.

Right now it kind of feels like I've hit a plateau with my toprock. I've learned all the basic toprock steps (Indian step, kickstep, hip twist, etc.) so there's nothing more for me to copy directly.

I see videos of bboys who are really smooth with their tops and it seems like they're just throwing in these small things here and there; a kick here, a step there, a few spins. But everything just goes together really nicely for them that it seems natural, all these "random" things.

So right now, new moves come really slowly to me, because I have to discover them for myself, and it feels like there's really no outline to limit your choice of moves. That actually makes it harder to come up with stuff for me.

Anyway, that's my rant about my tops. Concept-wise, I like the idea of playing with height. Maybe I don't have to do toprock->footwork->freeze, maybe I can jump into a little freeze from my tops, maybe two or three steps on the ground, then pop back in my toprock. I think it's pretty dope when bboys sometimes do unexpected things; they won't even know what hit them.

[cHo¢KoLaTe]

Originally Posted by demonhand Right now it kind of feels like I've hit a plateau with my toprock. I've learned all the basic toprock steps (Indian step, kickstep, hip twist, etc.) so there's nothing more for me to copy directly.

So think, what can you do based off those steps? Saying they're foundational is also saying you can build off of them. You may have the skill, but can you hone it? I'm speaking in terms of form, lose-ness, precision of your steps, body control, etc.
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For some.. sometimes you have to go beyond "hitting the beat" to find your natural flow. Rather than having that traditional structure of toprocks, freelance it.