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Born To Rock Feature/Interview Thing

breaking interview 0002 added 15.10.00 words Swedger

Born To Rock Workshop - June 2K – Tollcross Primary School, Edinburgh.
'Born To Rock' – The name of this long established breaking crew suggests their thoughts towards B-Boying. They have been 'put' here to tear up dance floors, astonish onlookers and to humble their opponents in battle. They have indeed been born to rock! Charlie, Rajan, Sean & Spencer have been dancing together for a few years now, Charlie and Spence meeting up around 1984-85' at a birthday party in Bournemouth, incidentally this is where they had their first viewing of Beat Street. At the time they were calling themselves the Intercity Breakers and frequented their 'Roxy' – Maddison Joes, a club where battles went down on a weekly basis.
1987 – 90' were quiet for the boys, with lots of different things taking up their time, breaking was more or less put on the shelf for a while until Born To Rock was formed in 1992 when they met Rajan, body popping at a Wildstyle night at Subterannea. Charlie and Spence had been breaking constantly for 2 years at this point. Sean was B-Boying at Knowledge Of Self in Brighton when he acquainted the other three, his style was immediately recognized and respected, thus Born To Rock were formed.

this bboy thing don't half attract groupies!

Originally the boys from BTR all started breaking and popping because it was the fashion at the time. Beat Street, Wildstyle and other hip-hop videos were being made all over America and the new dance was quickly becoming popular over here. Whilst Spence, Charlie, Sean and Rajan were all intrigued with the style of the movements, Sean and Rajan was also interested in forms of jazz dancing. Popping was a big thing as well, with guys like Mr Wiggles, Mr Wave, and Sugar Pop etc… doing their thing in clubs and on the street, it was seen as a way of expression and everyone was trying it. Although it was stylish and fashionable to be a B-Boy at that time... there was a feeling of being part of something and that was the hip hop culture. These roots are clearly visible when talking to BTR about their history and their attitudes. BTR believe in 'B-Boying' as opposed to breakdancing. This may be confusing to some people, but when you go to one of Born To Rock's weekend workshops, you will be exposed to the cultural history of breaking and its origins. BTR want to put knowledge into heads as well as show off their skills on the floor. B-Boying to them is not just a pastime, hobby or interest. It is a way of life. At the workshop I attended at Tollcross Primary School in Edinburgh, Rajan gave a 15min talk on the history of B-Boying and what it means to be a 'B-Boy'. They believe that anyone, can 'breakdance'. It is just a case of learning how to do a windmill or a headspin, something you can be taught, just like riding a bike, once you know how, that's it. But 'B-Boying' is an expressive form of dancing, style and originality being more important than trained perfection and power. One thing I noticed about every member of BTR was they all have the same passion for their top rock (The standing up part of the dance). More and more these days breakers or 'break-boys' and 'break-girls' are losing their sense of the dance. They will approach the lino with power moves in mind, unlike our boys Charlie, Spence, Sean and Raj! These guys have funk, jazz, contemporary, and hip-hop dancing style all accumulated into their own 'style'. One thing Spence said to me went along the lines of "you can have some guy come out and do a hand plant, a backspin, into windmills and finish with a headspin, then another guy will come on and totally wipe him out with a little bit of top rock!" Those weren't his exact words, but there is an important message in there: You gotta have style – your own!
B-Boying has changed a lot in the past decade. It has moved forward from its beginnings in NYC with basic footwork, which progressed with backspins and small headspins known as 'drills'. Gradually moves became much more technical with the merging of many gymnastic moves like flares and walkovers. Headspins were practiced and practiced until the point where some people can exceed 30 spins or more! Nowadays crews like Stylelements are creating 'movements' unseen in the world of breaking. No longer can battles be won with no-hander windmills and longer headspins, B-Boys + B-Girls are coming with STYLE.
One of the most important and widely ignored subjects (I think), which I touched on when talking to BTR, was the music they dance to. I myself am a breaker (plug: White City Breakers!) and I know that music is all-important when dancing. It can influence your movement as much as your abilities do. By that I mean sometimes the music can 'take control', next thing you know you have created a new move or improved on an old one. It's all about inspiration. Breakers dance to music with which they can tune in to. BTR are no different and here are their faves:
Spencer: Give It Up/Turn It Loose – James Brown, The Mexican – Babe Ruth
Sean: You Cant Even Walk In The Park – Shaft In Africa, Expansions – Lonny Liston Smith
Rajan: Farandole – Bob James, I Believe In Miracles – Jackson Sisters
Charlie: Dirty Harry and other soundtracks, DJ Cheez and electro from the Mike Allan era

phew, we managed to escape them

Another subject we touched on during our chat was how much breakdancing is exploited daily in the media. To those who are not really interested or those that don't really know about it, headspins and windmills are fantastic to see in music videos, adverts, films etc… BTR are trying to break thru the barrier of ignorance the media are putting up. Music Video producers (most of them) are only interested in power moves, because they are the most fantastic to behold, headspins, windmills and all the other power moves are only a small fraction of breaking, yet the media is putting the blinkers on the public. It is becoming a show for the public, whereas it started out as a way for rival gangs to settle differences, a way of expression. By distributing handouts and bringing knowledge to heads, BTR are opening the eyes of people who are curious about B-Boying, they may have seen it on TV and wanted to try it, only to realize that there is much more to it…. It might not be some peoples cup of tea, but they want to be able to do the power moves they have seen on screen. This is ignorance of the culture, which is much much more than just a couple of power moves. An example of BTR`s fight against this ignorance happened in 1997, when they were asked if they would dance in the video for a 'Kung-Fu Fighting' remix. They immediately knocked it back because they felt this was not the type of music B-Boying should lend itself to…the media wanted dancers to impress with power moves yet again! Unfortunately for those producers, BTR has a high sense of self-esteem and they are an established breaking crew who represent hip-hop as a culture and are opposed to its exploitation. Booyakasha!
I understand from the struggle we had in my area, how hard it is to find out about and to learn B-Boying. There were only a few people who could do it in my town and I didn't know who they were, and when I found out, I didn't want to just walk up and ask them 'hey I heard you can breakdance?' not everyone is as approachable as BTR. In fact BTR are the ones doing the approaching, what with their workshops and information/background handouts, they are trying to make it easier for the next generation of dancers to find out about the history and the music. The first hurdle is the hardest to get over – finding out where, when and who you can break with. If there is noone in your area doing it, you might have to learn yourself, this is where it gets easier! I was lucky – totally by chance I contacted a lassie in Glasgow about hip hop in my area in general – she got back to me with details of a breaking night in Glasgow. If it hadn't been for that I may still be a lazy sod. Once you have established the fact in your head, BTR say that the best thing to do is get videos. In these you can watch the best crews dancing from around the world. You will see many different and complicated styles and moves, some things you will pick up on straight away and other things can be so technical that you wont notice them until you have more experience. The tip stressed to me by BTR the most was "Be influenced by these videos but don't bite other B-Boys moves." 'DON'T BITE', this means don't steal other people's styles. It is important that you separate style from moves. They are two very different subjects. It can mean the difference between two breakers` footwork and more easily interpreted as the difference between two peoples top rock. Another good way to find out about breaking is on the internet, but a lot of people have different views expressed on their homepages and websites, you have to keep this in mind and never take anything as gospel, there are a lot of different opinions about things out there and you have to form your own, which in turn goes along with your own style. Some platform tips I got from Charlie and Spence are to STRETCH well before and after breaking, DON'T get a big head, give RESPECT to other B-Boys + B-Girls whatever their abilities, DON'T be shy – B-Boy etiquette is an unwritten law and should help you overcome shyness and help you make new friends easily. Sean reminds me of an Afrika Bambatta quote: "Peace, unity, love and having fun!" Finally Rajan puts a message out to anyone interested in B-Boying – Get involved with hip-hop. You don't have to do everything, there are many avenues you can take, be it B-Boying, graf, deejaying, emceeing, etc…. but whatever you do, LEARN about hip-hop. LEARN its history. LEARN about your predecessors. Hip-hop is about learning and progression and if we stay focused it will be the culture of our offspring too.

sean & spence

Obviously nobody is perfect, as was proved to me when Charlie walked straight into a pole at Haymarket station in Edinburgh, so I asked the guys if there is anything about their dancing which they want to improve. Every one of them wants to expand and develop more on their top rock and footwork because there is a lot of room for stylizing in those departments. Charlie likes the abstract side of things and likes the idea of creating a concept within your dancing, like for instance, simulating a bar brawls between the battling crews. He says it brings your imagination into play and is great to watch. Sean has an extremely different style to his top rock which stems from jazz style dance, he wants to get in more practice to achieve an appreciative difference between top rocking and your standard power moves – just like Spence said about beating someone with a bit of footwork, never mind the headspins! Spence is looking to capture the feeling he gets when he dances - visually! Strange…but I know what he means…. every time you dance, there is a point where you have as much energy as you want and can be as creative as you want (this is directly linked to the music and your mood), he wants to be able to keep that feeling throughout his set – a goal only reached through lots and lots of practice! As for Rajan, he didn't say much on this one, or it could be my notes are crap (more likely). Raj is never completely happy with what moves he's got – he always wants MORE. Because Raj is a body popper as well, his style is much more complicated. Body popping is extremely adaptable to concept creating like what Charlie talked about. Endless varieties of moves are used by poppers and can be ingenious. Raj was telling us about guys who used to watch old geezers hobbling down the street, and steal their walk! People would do everyday things in mime to practice their popping, funny things like that are employed by every popper all over the world – that in turn creates style!
Finally I'll let BTR convey their very own messages to you, raw and uncut…the floor is all yours lads…
Charlie: No matter how fucked you feel, the right tune will always negate the pain.
Sean: NO FUNK – NO FLAIR
Spencer: Don't back out of battles. You will learn as much from losing as winning. You learn nothing from beating yourself up on the way home from bottling out. – Don't get ripped off, you don't have to do this for the money, but you're not there to make other people money.
Rajan ("ZIA"): Find your own character; be yourself and do the best with what you have. Be true to the dance and the culture and don't bite other people's moves, styles, character etc; again be yourself. Do it for the love and not for any other reason, in the end that will carry you through to the end.
Since I wrote the first draft of this piece, BTR have taken on a couple of new Members (unfortunately I don't know their names yet) and Raj and Charlie attended the UK Breakdance Championships as spectators, but occasionally threw down on stage, (Love that style Raj mate!). Anyways – Big shout to BTR from WCB, cheers for the workshop and the inspirational chat. Keep rockin hard boys!! - Swedge