[flying_steps]

u have been breakin less than me??????
FTWWW
i neva knew that
shit u would burn me...and i think u wouldnt burn many peeps cos melburns scene isnt blow up n shit man...its all foundation......if we had a different scene u would be a lot better but still ur skills dont change to the scene they just look different in others eyes

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Hey everybody, i doubt any of you know me (which is probably gonna be better for me) as i dont often post in these forums. I just want to know peoples view on what's been on my mind alot. Also, i have chosen to write this on forums i dont visit much, because i'd rather the opinion of people who dont know me at all, that way there's no biased opinions towards me as a person.
I'm gonna try and make a really long story as short as i can.

I started bboying when i first joined these forums, which would have been August 2 years ago. My first half a year i literally did no bboy training at all, just learnt a dodgy 6 step and nike freeze. But for the past year and a half I have been putting ALOT of effort into bboying and I try and train every single day. I got an injury on my wrist about a year and a half ago and it's been with me since and about half a year ago i busted my neck and right wrist and they had only recently decided to heal. Due to this i have actually lost alot of moves and had to train them from scratch or just stop permanently and never train them again.
I couldnt train ANY power moves except coindrop on the side and recently started drills 2 months ago. But most of my time i have spent trying to train small tricks, footwork and toprock.
About 4-5 months ago i entered a competition and managed to see footage of myself, and to my surprise my footwork and toprock and even overall style was complete cr@p, i couldnt understand it. Since then i had put alot of effort into training alot of foundational footwork and tops but still have seen literally no improvement, despite the fact i train it literally everyday.
Ive now decided to continue training foundation but very little and mainly focus on making my own stuff because i feel by making my own stuff, it'll look good cause its unique and different, not because its clean and done right.
My problem in this area is, i obviously aint a naturally good dancer, in fact, i now beleive i am the complete opposite as i have ALOT of difficulty grasping certain stuff. My only bboy partner only trains once a week, yet his footwork was better then mine a year ago then mine is now and he only trained once a week, occasionally twice a week.

So here's what i want to ask about all this.
I think id probably be considered a naturally bad dancer, but i still want to bboy, this idea of making my own style i think could work. But if i dont work with the normal bboy foundation i think alot of people in the bboy community will be very superficial and descrimitory towards me and the way I have now chosen to take my dancing, i still really want to be a REAL BBOY and i'm just worried about how the whole community will think, especially cause im from melbourne and melbournes bboy scene is extremly foundational and footwork based. I hear lots of bad mouthing about guys who choose to focus on blow ups and such around here.

Any advice in my situation would be great, or even more so, just tell me your view on the subject.

Thanks in advanced for reading and giving your input, its very much appreciated

[SLF1452]

Hmm, i think the main part of your problem (this is an assumption i have drawn from reading your post) is that you only practice with another bboy once a week. I "started" a year an a half ago, but when i say started i mean i watched videos online and practiced handstands occasionally in my dormroom. Then over the summer i tried to teach myself toprock, but it just looked like a variation of the C walk, and therefore was awful. My footwork was basically a modified coffee grinder and again, it looked like crap. It wasnt until last march when i started going to a club at my school with other bboys that i actually improved. When you practice with other people, not only can you watch for proper technique, but they obviously can teach it to you. If you only practice by yourself (or maybe 1 day a week w/ someone else like you said) its very very very difficult to improve, because there is no one watching you to correct your form ("no palms man! footwork on ur fingertips! look straight out when ur doing handstands! Look at me when ur doin ur tops, not the ground!") And if no one is watching and correcting ur form, even if u practice everyday certain parts wont improve, and others will get worse. For instance, i can handstand for about 45 secs, but i have to be staring at the ground, this is because when i practiced handstands in my dorm room, i would always look at the ground. And because i let this improper technique snowball, now i suck at 90's and other spin moves because my bad handstand form makes me look at the ground when doing 90's and thus throws my balance off.
The same thing can be said for your toprock, if you practice it all the time by urself, and it looks crappy but FEELS right (i know this scenario pretty well, it was a big problem of mine), then you have no incentive to try to fix it, because when it feels right you simply assume that it LOOKS right.
So i would say that if you are really serious about learning to be a better bboy, then you need to go out and actively seek out some bboys to practice with. i was lucky that there is a club at my school with a bunch of badass motherfuckers in it, but you may not be so lucky and it might take you a while to find a group to session with, but it is a necessity in your case.
Hope i could help.
Peace.

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HaMmIe: Well I don't wanna say anything negative towards others, but lets say I dont really see many bboys in melb that do footwork that doesnt original from the usual bboy foundational moves. I guess if i was in korea or japan this wouldnt bother me so much, but i hear so much sh*t talking over things i think are nothing that bboys do in melb. There's people who say "if you do the same flip as this guy you're a biter." Not saying Melbourne is a bad bboy scene, it's actually quite good, there's just a large amount of people who think you gotta be clean and work on foundation alot otherwise you're not a bboy. But then again it comes down to the own persons opinion. I mainly guess i just want peoples opinion on me going into trying to make my own style rather then focus on foundation so much, in a way, should or could i make my OWN foundation?

SLF1452: I train with MANY different bboys and i've asked for help in this area by MANY of them and i mean MANY, everyone always has something different to say, its really hard to know whos advice to really take and none the less, when i take certain peoples advice i do what they say and i train it hard and for some reason it still goes back to the same cr@p. I train out with bboys at least 4 days a week and where i train there can be from 5 up to 30 or 40 bboys training there. I ask around for help alot as well. I honestly am trying, my only option i can think of right now is to do bboy classes, but i haven't got a cent to do that. I'm in debt actually. I get exactly what you mean, i honestly think i just can't grasp the moves as easily as most people. If you think i can, i'd be really happy to hear what you have to say, cause i just feel like im stuck when i should be improving so much more.

[cHo¢KoLaTe]

Naturally a bad dancer? Some people out there who are good dancers weren't even naturally good dancers to begin with. It takes time of course.. you gotta be able to hold on to your motivation while at the same time, maintain patience. Don't let what others say affect the way you want to dance.. i mean after all, they have their own central idea on what a bboy should be.. don't mean you gotta follow it though.

I'd say personally that foundation is essential..but the thing with foundation, its not just moves. Even though it has moves, its more overall of how you take the fundamentals of those moves and turning it into the dance itself. You know.. its not the fact that you can toprock, footwork and freeze.. its how you do them and also how you can incorporate the dancing into the music.


On an important note, you gotta have fun.. and those people .. well you gotta think.."who the hell are they to talk shit?" So yeah.. fuck it and have fun.

[B-boy Jp]

Hey post a clip up and then let other people judge if your crap or not... Maybe your just not as good as you expected to be but that doesnt mean your stuff is totally crap ya know ? Some feedback is always good and lets you know what to train on a little more in detail.

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Originally Posted by cHo¢KoLaTe

Naturally a bad dancer? Some people out there who are good dancers weren't even naturally good dancers to begin with. It takes time of course.. you gotta be able to hold on to your motivation while at the same time, maintain patience. Don't let what others say affect the way you want to dance.. i mean after all, they have their own central idea on what a bboy should be.. don't mean you gotta follow it though.

I'd say personally that foundation is essential..but the thing with foundation, its not just moves. Even though it has moves, its more overall of how you take the fundamentals of those moves and turning it into the dance itself. You know.. its not the fact that you can toprock, footwork and freeze.. its how you do them and also how you can incorporate the dancing into the music.


On an important note, you gotta have fun.. and those people .. well you gotta think.."who the hell are they to talk shit?" So yeah.. fuck it and have fun.

its funny how you think you think something, but you only really listen to it when someone else tells you. Thanks man, I think i'm all good now, that's pretty much what i needed to here.


I'm the guy in the white top and black pants, that's the only recent footage there is of me, sorry you gotta go through 5 minutes of footage to see 20 seconds of me.

[B-boy Jp]

Uhmm which part man ? i have like 4 here. I dont mind watching 5 minutes but hell not 4 whole video clips to find you lol.

[scroll]

just watch one im in all of them
maybe 2 or 3 times each

[B-boy Jp]

You look alright to me dude... :/

[Content]

Oh shit KO crew...nice.

Wait, I think I might have met you once...One Weds night, I was the creepy hanger on guy who wasn't bboying :P

(Btw, I think you're good...*shrug* I'm of the opinion that I don't get to tell someone they're bad until I actually get better. But either way, you look pretty dope...)

[MaDD]

Uh homie... you've made good progress, keep practicing and you'll be fine. Sometimes it seems like we don't make any progress at all (I know it feels like that to me all the goddamn time!) do it your way and just keep your motivation up.

If you're super-concerned about progress tape yourself once per month and compare videos, once you pass 2-3 months you'll see the differences clearly.. Stay motivated and keep at it.

[badcbass]

my 1st reply didn't post completely so it might sound like i'm flaming u when i'm not. it also makes my second reply make no sense.
short and sweet . . .
u r far from being crappy.

one

[StylistiC-SMiLeY]

Dude you're doing great. Just keep working on learning new footwork techs and your solid for foundation.

[flying_steps]

damn man that was badass......lol
the airbaby thingy was dope and ur footwork techs are madd....
best bit = airchair spin thingy
fuck that was madd, u work on tht and u be kickin ass