EPTI'll start off explaining my background in break dancing. Well, I first saw real break dancing back when I was in fourth grade at a Vietnamese summer school talent show. Wtf? The guys there were amazing, but the next year they left the school and left a wide audience inspired by their intense breaking. The next summer I was there, I was put in a class with a trash talking hilarious gangster Viet guy who break danced. He always wore Puma shirts and stated that he was being sponsored by Puma to break dance. So he did a windmill and a couple of freezes in front of the class, randomly. It was really flashy and it was my first "close" encounter with break dancing. I was pretty much one person in his small group of an audience. I was going into 7th grade I believe and I started to truly consider break dancing after I found a few people who were willing to learn to break with me.
So during the summer of 2007 I started break dancing learning a basic freeze, the 2-handed turtle freeze. It was my first break dancing move that I learned and mastered. It had the power to attract a few people and make people go like, "Whoa what did I just see?" Two months later, I started learning footwork. One of which was the 6-step, which is widely known. I actually didn't consider it hard or flashy until I learned to do it really fast. It was pretty cool along with the turtle freeze.
Throughout the 2007 year, I learned numerous freezes, styles, and moves. By December, I was asked to participate in a break dance performance in a talent show for a group's birthday party. I wasn't alone though, whew. My combo for the performance was as follows:
Top rock -> 2 step (3 times) -> 6 step (twice) -> windmill (which completely failed due to friction of the carpet) -> another 6 step -> and a baby freeze.
It flowed poorly, its rhythm was okay, but the end was awful. The windmill completely failed. It looked like i rolled on the ground with my legs in the air. I had worked for like a month for nothing. I guess I should have brought a giant piece of cardboard.
In January, my partners were set up to be in another talent show, which I did not participate in due to my previous performance. It was still somewhat flashy to the audience, but I believe I failed deep down. It lowered my self esteem and put me into break dancing depression for the next few months. So my partners only did a few rounds of footwork, repetitively doing the same thing over and over. It was cool, though noticeably repetitive.
After that performance, break dancing was completely off my mind for approximately six months. I restarted break dancing in July of '08. I sort of got back in style. I started learning to flare. I had a good start but still, currently, I'm stuck doing 3/4 of a counter-clock-wise flare because my right leg doesn't go high enough. It also bends and hits the floor, which ultimately kills my flare. I learned to swipe in my 2 step and make it look really flashy. My windmill however has not improved at all. The windmill is slow and my legs touch the ground which they shouldn't do. It's something that I'm not proud of, but I realize I can improve it if I put enough motivation and time into it.
Today, August 4, 2008, 4 days away from the 2008 Olympics, I got out of bed, ate breakfast, and break danced. It was a performance I hope to be an initial starting point in my personal evolution of break dancing. Here's a video of everything that I initially can do.
To conclude this blog up for today, I'm gonna set goals for the future.
1. Learn to finish and complete a clean flare, without bending my legs -unfinished-
2. Learn to do multiple clean and fast windmills -unfinished-
3. Learn to air chair and hold for 15+ seconds -unfinished-
4. Learn to roll from chair freeze to chair freeze -unfinished-
5. Learn to do a decent combo involving my entire repetoir of moves and perform on stage -unfinished-
6. Learn to baby windmill / babymill. -unfinished-
7. Learn to airflare / air track. -unfinished-
8. Learn to do a combo involved all of my moves and perform the combo on stage. -unfinished-
I think that'll be enough for today.
Peace everyone,
Liemohnoes
