New Blood at the Homeland Jam 2009

A lot will be said about the Homeland Jam 2009 in the coming days.

But the thing that's on everyone's minds is the Nishi Studio kids from Japan appearing at the event. Especially two of their youngest members 12 year old Sho and 11 year old Yumeki. They both entered the 1on1 locking battle & the 2on2 popping battles.

You could feel the excitement in the air at Homeland last night. The Los Angeles popping and locking community showed up for the event. And we were all impressed with the 10-12 member group of Nishi kids that showed up to do a showcase and battle. Kid Boogie and Jsmooth from Machine Gone Funk brought these kids over to Homeland and Los Angeles, as an invitation to our community.

Yumeki has been making a name for herself in a few battles in Asia, especially in clips from one in Taiwan that's been heavily rotated online in the U.S.

Perhaps the most exciting 2on2 popping teams were Jsmooth and Sho, and Kid Boogie and Yumeki. To see two members of Machine Gone Funk pair up with these Nishi kids was an example of pure cross-cultural and national exchange. One of the best moments in the semifinal popping battles was Jsmooth going off on his finger tuts and then passing it on to Sho. The U.S. and Japan were setting off fireworks together last night on the dance floor!

Can we see more of this in the future? West Coast poppers and lockers already have their eyes on Asia in terms of admiring many dancers there. Can we push the culture further by future collaboration and mentoring of a new generation? This should be a major initiative for us, to promote love for our culture and to charter new territory by exchanging more with dancers in the global street dance scene, regardless of age.

The Evolution of Popping in LA: 2008-2009

We seem to be seeing an evolution of popping in Los Angeles in 2008-2009.

What are some of the factors? There are several and here are just a few:

1) a younger generation maturing in their craft

2) a changing music culture

3) a hybridization of different popping techniques

These thoughts are only based on personal observations and a few testimonies. Los Angeles is a large city and there are pockets of dancers spread out across the county. So, it's difficult to encompass all dancers. This is just an attempt to put a few thoughts out there and encourage discussion.

Poppers that started in the late '90s to early 2000s are coming into their own. They've formed their own personalities, have command of various techniques, and are more experienced in battling and showcasing routines. Whether they started as boogaloo-based dancers or illusional styles, it's clear that there are well-rounded, fully-formed personalities in the LA scene. Funny Bones Crew, Machine Gone Funk, Funk Assassins and Foreign Exchange all have members who represent this development. After 5-6 years of training, these poppers are setting the bar for others dancers in the community. They're not mimicking their mentors. Instead, they're expressing themselves more uniquely in their dance. 

Now, it's commonly discussed how specific dancers of this generation are getting known for their technique. Tetris is known for taking the artform of tutting to a new level. Madd Chadd embraced the character of a real robot in his botting, animation, and bopping. Jsmooth has popularized finger tutting through his participation in international battles and also made advances in the form. Our impressions are that several of these young generation dancers truly studied their specific techniques from mentors (like Tabo, Boppin Andre, Jr Boogaloo) and then built on that foundation.

Meanwhile, we're moving away from the traditional old school funk and g-funk music usually played at events.  Parliament and Zapp & Roger are now making room for dubstep and glitch music. Los Angeles' musical landscape is always evolving. Drum n' bass and electro were already making headway in the early to mid 2000s. Now, dubstep is really on the map for poppers. Two events come to mind as signaling a change. The first was Battle Royale hosted by Robert "Mr Fantastic" Muraine on Saturday, January 31, 2009 in Eagle Rock. Muraine was DJ for that night and played dubstep and glitch all night long for the battles. Then, there's the Soundproof 2 Jam on Sunday, May 24, 2009 where Machine Gone Funk and Funny Bones Crew had a much talked-about battle that's now online on Youtube.

With this changing musical atmosphere, our movements have changed. Faster, quick movements drawing from animation and dimestopping along with bigger hits with different muscles all over the body are being seen. It's expanding the palette for poppers. Even the surreal, dark feel of dubstep has inspired movements that are far from the groovy funkiness of Zapp & Roger. 

This development coincides with more younger generation dancers developing their craft by hybridizing different popping techniques. Now, you see dancers using big chest hits from bopping while animating their waves along with boog style leg movements. The combinations seem endless. No longer is there a strict separation between boogaloo dancers and illusional style dancers.

It's not clear yet if the dance world outside Los Angeles is taking the same steps. Although Youtube has brought exposure to the LA culture, the popping community is still small enough that much of the artistic exchange and discussion still remains insular. The sensibilities of LA poppers are diverse and complicated, so it's hard for someone outside that circle to be aware of all the details. 

Musicality and "dance feel" are hotly debated topics within our local community, especially with so many dancers coming from different perspectives. Our diversity and individual uniqueness sometimes makes it harder to pinpoint terminology. What are the definitions of "musicality" and "dance feel" that we can all agreed upon?

One thing for sure is that the popping community in Los Angeles has become a thriving, progressive artistic culture. New ideas are being created daily and it will be compelling to see how it translates over time and to other communities.

This is a topic that surely hasn't concluded. It's still in progress and needs to be re-evaluated in the future.

The Youtube Effect

(Note: For this article, the terms "street dancers" and "choreo hip hop dancers" are used to describe different groups. Street dancers indicate folks in the underground battle scene. They compete in solo, partner, or crew battles. Dancers show command of their technique in breaking, popping, locking, waacking and other styles. "Choreo hip hop dancers" describe folks who compete in team routine showcases, judged by panels. They have a broader use of different styles within the larger "hip hop" umbrella. Much respect to dancers in all circles.)

Do you remember learning breaking, popping, locking before Youtube became popular in 2005?

Prior to 2005, it was challenging to learn a lesser known popping style. You'd have to seek out an experienced teacher, take private classes, or trade video footage on miniDV or VHS tapes of inspiring dancers. In Los Angeles, street dancers were in their own world, relatively invisible to the larger non-dancer population. There were few TV shows and movies that showcased street dancing. Also, at least in LA, there was a general feeling to respectfully avoid videotaping each other as it might leading to someone biting specific moves.

Nowadays, the game has changed. It's hard to imagine a world without Youtube. The past four years has seen an explosion of dance videos online. We see people showcasing their skills in their bedrooms or garages to eyewitness accounts of battles and showcases. Youtube has become the place for street and hip hop dancers to search for anything dance-related. This coincides with the advances in video/filmmaking technology. There are more affordable digital video cameras and camera recording features in cell phones and still cameras.

There's also been an influx of new blood into the global street dance and choreo hip hop scene. Boys, girls, men and women are being exposed to these dance styles for the first time online. Meanwhile, more choreo hip hop dancers and street dancers are appearing on mainstream television shows such as MTV's America's Best Dance Crew and Fox's So You Think You Can Dance. In 2003, it was easy for a friend to say that "popping and locking are played out, no one does that anymore." Now, it's not unusual to talk with a friend's grandma who knows how to strike a bboy pose.

2008 seems like a watershed year in terms of street dance and choreo hip hop dance breaking into the pop culture radar. This was the year of the ACDC vs M&M Cru online battles with Miley Cyrus, Adam Sevani, and Jon M Chu. MTV premiered the first season of ABDC, introducing middle America to the Jabbawockeez. And the World of Dance Tour started in Pomona, California, bringing the street dance world and choreo hip hop dance world together under the same roof.

And for those who didn't attend, you could search for clips on Youtube. Concepts, routines, styles, and movements are more accessible to see online even if you're not involved in a street dance community. But is it harder now for a new style or culture to mature under a larger public eye? Are street dance trends popping up and then being tossed aside because they're replaced by the latest trend?

It's hard to say at this point. We're still in the middle of this evolution. What's clear is that we can embrace the Youtube effect and allow it to open up new areas of creativity for us.

The Challenge of Standardization

One hot topic that's come up in recent years is if and how the street dance culture should experience some kind of standardization in contest/battle rules and judging. 

In the early 2000s, bboy Dyzee from Toronto's Supernaturalz crew had talked about a judging system that was discussed among the bboy community.

It seems a lot of disagreement at contests/battles arise from how the judging was executed. Possible categories to consider: technical execution, showmanship, facial expression, battle attitude, combination/routines/commandos, tricks, musicality, being on beat, beatfreaking, etc. We all assume that different judges will have their individual preferences for certain styles or sensibilities. 

How would the street dance community be affected if there was something like an international panel or set of rules as in the Olympics? Can we have something like the X-Games in terms of organization and categorization of events?

Of course, this treads onto the debate about how dancing is an art form, not a sport. Street dancing has never been as institutionalized as ballet or ballroom. It's hard to go to any dance studio in your neighborhood and find teachers who have the training and technique for advanced bboying, popping, locking, waacking. Often, street dancers seek out other street dancers, find practice sessions, take master classes from the OGs, and grow through practicing in crews and battling. It's a constantly evolving, organic culture that one must seek out.

Hip Hop International has laid some groundwork in terms of judging hip hop choreography teams that compete through showcases. For their competition, the judging criteria are clearly outlined on the website for all teams to see, even before they apply. 

Meanwhile, the popping and locking worlds, especially within Los Angeles, has experienced a more ambiguous setup in judging contests. Usually, we see established dancers, often OGs, judging contests. There will be an odd number of judges, let's say three, to prevent any tie decisions. But it's not clear if these judges are basing their decisions on the same criteria. 

Popping, for example, is extremely diverse in its variations and forms. So it can be difficult to judge contests between poppers who have different styles. In the early to mid 2000s, it seemed that any local LA contest would have a large amount of boogaloo dancers advancing to later rounds, while the more illusional style dancers (tutters, wavers, animators) would be eliminated. This is a generalization, of course, but it has been mentioned by active members in the LA community. Several of the judges at these contests were boogaloo-based. Many of the younger generation that started in the late '90s to early 2000s were trained in the tradition of the Electric Boogaloos. We can see that in the popularity of Animated Beat Mechanics, the number of Electric Boogaloo classes in the U.S. and overseas in Japan & Europe, and the discussions online at mrwiggleshiphop.net forums. 

From 2006-2008, there seemed to be a sea change in the styles preferred at contests. Now, more illusional style dancers were winning contests as fewer boogaloo-based judges were used. A significant event was the Homeland 2007 battle when Frantick and Tronik from Funny Bones Crew took 1st. In other circumstances, some members of the LA community have pointed out that there may even have been an anti-boogaloo sentiment in the local scene. Meanwhile, the LA popping scene started to get more organized in terms of crews with Funny Bones Crew, Machine Gone Funk, Funk Assassins, and Foreign Exchange all representing at battles. Each of these crews have members with diverse styles, expanding the depth of popping in terms of technique and musicality. A landmark battle between Machine Gone Funk vs. Funny Bones at the Soundproof 2 event on May 24, 2009 reflects the diverse styles and mentalities within LA's community.

So how do can we standardize judging rules if the community is evolving in diversity? Will it stifle creativity if street dancing was more institutionalized? The debate seems to be in constant flux as we all grow as dancers. 

A Fusion of the BBoy & Popper Worlds

Last weekend was an example of some cross-pollination going on with the LA bboy and popper worlds. Breakfestival 2009 had bboy crew battles requiring each team to have at least one popper. The larger street dance scene could grow in interesting ways if there were more joint collaborations like this between different styles of dancers. Here's a video example:

Ground Breakaz/Funnier than Yours with Johnny 5 vs. Killafornia with Jsmooth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aADZNI_FZ8g

There was a battle last fall at the Undadog event held at the Bea Hive studio in Garden Grove, CA. It was a 2on2 battle with one popper and one locker vs. another popper and locker. Really interesting combinations popped up from this setup.

The Annual Homeland Battle (Sat, July 18, 2009)

It's only two more days until the Annual Homeland Battle will be hosted on Sat, July 18. This is probably one of the most well-regarded events in the greater Los Angeles area. It's known for great vibes as a free event that brings a lot of different street dancers together, of various ages. Started by Mike "Iceman" Rivera, the event really puts Homeland Cultural Center on the map as a venue where many poppers, lockers, bboys and bgirls have found a place to session for free weekly. It's a place for the community to grow together.

Details:

Homeland Battle

Sat, July 18, 2009

@ Homeland Cultural Center

1321 E. Anaheim St, Long Beach, CA

Doors open 4pm

Event to close 10pm

Free admission

2 on 2 popping battles

1 on 1 locking battles

Popping Judges: Tabo, Sweepy, and a secret tiebreaker judge

Locking Judges: Adverb, Popcorn Chicken, and a secret tiebreaker judge

Past renditions of the Homeland Battle were held to honor the memory of Skeeter Rabbit from the Electric Boogaloos, and Lockin' Fossil who has an OG locker who positively influenced young Homeland dancers in the early to mid 2000s.

It's great to see how this event has expanded and brought more attention to Homeland. Iceman and the city of Long Beach have invested a lot in local youth and dancers who find something they're passionate about. Now, the name "Homeland" is known internationally in street dance circles. Dancers from Japan, Korea, France, Belgium, Canada and other countries will make a stop at Homeland when they visit Los Angeles. It should also be noted that Homeland has other arts and dance programs throughout the week supporting diverse world cultures.

The Beginning

Thought this blog would be an interesting start exploring Los Angeles' street dance culture from a writing perspective. We all know how Youtube has grown as the go-to site for dancers to find out more about street dance culture, instructionals, events, etc. But I'm not sure if there has been a cohesive documentation of the culture, even if it's just one small microcosm in the greater street dance world. 

A few months ago, a Twitter site was started to micro-blog events, news items, videos that were related to LA's street dance world. You can find it at:

twitter.com/LAHipHopDance

Let's see how this experiment develops.