[Watashi]

In Rocking you are supposed to keep the rock going the whole time, during whatever your doing? What are some of the best was to accomplish that?

and for freestyle, is that just adding some spice to the rocking or what?

[PJAY71]

What do you mean "keep the Rock going"?

Freestyle is a very important element in Rocking and it is in NO WAY just an additive. Depending on the song it can 75-80% of the dance itself. Freestyling alone can win a battle. Freestyle is Rocking - same thing, because Rocking was also called Freestyling. There were many dancers who didn't perform "Jerks" at all BUT were Rocking and did "go-off" at the Break of the song.

Makes more sense Watashi?

[numbers]

i think what your asking is are you supposed to jerk the entire time the song is playing?

in my opinion the answer is no. it seems alot of poeple are attracted to the jerking aspect of rocking, so was i. i think its because when you first see that style coming from a bboy perspective that is about the only move that you can identify with. besides the spinning aspect.

as you progress as a dancer in general it kind of free"s your mind to explore different steps. instead of trying to emulate one aspect of rocking like jerks. when i started to break free of what i had drilled in my head for all those years. i made some of my own steps up.

the music like pjay has said before its so very important to what you are going to do on the floor. there are some uprock songs that in general are conducive to jerks. then there are some like "funky 16 corners" where the breakdown of the song is 16 horn blasts. you aint gonna jerk then. your gonna burn on that part.

i hope this helped a little. but to put it more into perspective i think the longer i uprock the more i find that i dont jerk that much unless i have to, i dont want anyone to anticipate what im gonna do next.

numbers
founder1
dynasty rockers

[Watashi]

as for the Jerks......im still not quite for sure what a Jerk is, and i have watched that BreakEasy clip. But from what i can comprehend at the moment, which probley is wrong, is that a Jerk is kinda like a tini pause in a position that normally wouldn't be done with the rest of Rocking?

and for Freestyle......is that basically what your doing with your arms when not doing Jerks or burns?

and for the movement your supposed to keep is just the whole exchanging weight to one foot to another while your feet are going to the sides, and front or back of you right?

[PJAY71]

The "Jerk" is just a sudden movement with your body. Let's not forget in the 50's they had a dance called "The Jerk" and yes it did involve the arms and sudden "jerky" body movements. However, there's no specific Jerk style Watashi. What became popular and what you see in that clip is a Dynasty/Bushwick Brooklyn style Jerk. Other Rockers have there own styles, which is why seeing different Rockers in action is key to understanding.

Freestyle is just pure dance movements you perform when not Jerking or Burning. Like spins, foot shuffles, glides etc. etc.

[Watashi]

as i practice i think i might be getting a better idea of it all, so......if hopefully i'll post a clip to get some critiqing sometime here soon, so you can tell me how good my idea of it all is, cuz i am wondering how much of my toprock i can put into it and what to leave out. so if i ever do post up a clip (which i hope i do) would it be a good idea to post a clip of me Top Rocking, and a clip of my attempted Rocking so i can know if there is anything to transfer over into my freestyle?

[STIFF_UK]

Watashi - Look at what 99.9% of bboys call uprock.
That's a kind of jerk, and (usually) scrappy burns.

The burns are the gestures, the jerk is the movement.

That's the easiest explanation of what a jerk is for someone who's not actually been taught face to face.