Currently, I’m in the process of making a choreography. And by that I mean, I’m in the process of picking a song so that I could hopefully make a choreography. It’s annoying how much work there is to make one, but I know it’s worth it in the end.

I’ve made a couple with my friends, none good, but this time I want it to be great. I want the song I pick to be perfect for what I want to do. But it’s hard, finding that perfect song, and it’s even harder developing the dance moves for said song, especially alone.

Now, some of you may ask me, “ADAM! You’re part of RAM Squad! How come you don’t just ask them to help you?” That is true, I am a part of RAM Squad, but I haven’t gone to practices in a while. Mainly because I cannot find the time to go, and truth be told, I like dancing by myself. Now, don’t get me wrong, everything I said in my (albeit terrible) presentation was true, that they are extremely kind-hearted, always put people ahead of them, and they always have a smile on their face. I’m just too busy for it, and it sucks. Hopefully one year though I’ll finally have time to actively go, but until then, it’ll be a slim chance for me to be able to go.

Now, back to the choreography. Obviously I’m doing a hip-hop choreography, since I am a hip-hop dancer. There are a couple songs that I’ve been thinking about using. One song is a remix of Satisfaction from Benny Benassi by a trap music artist RL Grime. For those who don’t know what trap music is, trap music is a very bass-y sort of genre. It’s kind of like taking the instrumentals of a rap music, and just bass boosting it. RL Grime is different, in that he doesn’t just make rap beat instrumentals, he makes songs in that when you hear the drop, literally chills go down your spine, at least for me they did. And I’m sure with the right speakers, yours would too. Here’s a link to the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDMIIQVdU-g

Another song I was thinking of is a remix of Young and Beautiful from Lana Del Ray by Kaskade. It’s an EDM song, so it’s not hip-hop per say, but with the beat it could have a potential popping effect in it. It’s not too crazy on my list, but It’s up there. Here’s the link for that too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgdRxARv080

I also have been thinking about doing a slow song, like Young and Beautiful by Lana Del Ray, or My Immortal by Evanescence. Or maybe (don’t judge me) Little Things by One Direction (hey, some of their songs are catchy, I’m sorry). I’ve always wanted to do a slow song, because I feel like it has so much more meaning, and you could pay attention to the words so much more. Maybe one day, but I’ll definitely think about it.

This came out longer than I expected, but oh well. More to come about this choreography! If it does actually happen, though. It’ll be posted here without a doubt.

A lot of people ask me why I dance, and a lot of people are confused when I tell them I dance.

“You don’t look like you dance!”

“You shouldn’t be dancing, you should be focused on your studies!”

“There’s no reason for you to dance, you’re not going to go anywhere with it”

I’m used to people asking me how I got into dancing, because that is a legitimate question. However, when someone asks me what the point of me dancing is, I get a little offended. It’s one of my passions, and if someone attacks my passion, I’m going to be mad.

I don’t care if I don’t go anywhere with dancing, I feel different when I dance. When I dance I feel like I’m on top of the world. All my stress goes away when I dance, it’s wonderful. Before I danced and I would get mad, I would take my anger by punching various objects and furniture. Which is clearly not the most healthy way to express your anger. Then I discovered dance freshman year, and life became an amazing thing. I’ve become a lot better with my temper, I’m a happier person, it’s amazing.

As for people who say that I shouldn’t dance because I should focus on my school, I personally think dancing helps me get better when it comes to schooling. It clears my mind and it helps me a lot when I get stressed out DUE TO schooling. If I weren’t to dance, I’d probably be failing a solid amount.

So, to dance, I say thank you. Thank you for letting me live my life in a good fashion. I’m happy right now.

Since someone in the comments mentioned ABDC (Americas Best Cast Crew) I got really hyped and decided to dedicate a post to it. The question was asking me if I’ve ever watched it and if I like it. The answer is YES and YES.

I’ve been watching ABDC since season 1. For those who don’t know, ABDC is a dance competition that aired on MTV starting in 2008 and ending in 2012. Crews from all around America would perform on stage, and the audience would vote who gets kicked out and who stays. Sometimes the performance had to cater to a certain theme, like futuristic, or it had to have a certain prop in it like a chair. I consider it to be one of the best shows I’ve watched in a long time, but that’s because I have a dancing bias. The show got cancelled of poor ratings, so I guess people don’t think like how I do.

Some of the greatest crews have been recognized because of ABDC. Jabbawockeez, the season 1 champions, are one of the most recognized dance crews in America. Quest Crew, the season 2 champions, are constantly opening for big time artists like Justin Bieber and others. There are others as well, including Poreotix, I aM mE, and Super Cr3w. There are other champions, because there were 7 seasons, but these are the most recognzied crews in my opinion.

To discuss the latest and final season, no other word to describe my feeling when it ended was angry. I didn’t know it was going to end, so I wasn’t mad about it being over, I was mad about the winner (Elektrolytes), how some crews got so far when I feel they weren’t deserving of being so far in the show, and how some crews got eliminated when they were deserving of going so much farther, maybe even winning. One crew in particular named Mos Wanted Crew was my all time favorite, and in my eyes, the clear contender of winning this season. However, they got removed roughly in the middle of the season, and it made me angry. Elektrolyes were good, but they were not THAT good to me. Another crew called 8 Flavahs that was comprised of young girls. See, what makes me sad is that I feel that, regardless of age, crews should be treated equally in terms of skill. Meanwhile crews that are very young (8 Flavahs, ICONic Boyz from season 7) get pampered a lot and are critiqued a lot easier than the adult crews. I feel that it gives a huge disadvantage to the adult crews and a massive unfair advantage to the young crews. I’m not saying they should have banned young crews, they should have just treated them equally.

All in all, I’m mad that the show was cancelled, but I guess if no one but me was watching it, it seems reasonable to cancel it. Since other performance shows are still airing (So You Think You Can Dance, America’s Got Talent, X Factor, etc) I can bear ABDC being cancelled. This may have been long, but I saw a comment mention ABDC and I almost felt required to write this.

Since this is a dancing blog, it would be absolutely wrong of me to not talk about the history of dancing. More specifically Hip-Hop, but dancing in general has a rich history and has been around for an extremely long time.

Dance, technically, has been around since the B.C times. Not as a recreational thing, but as a means of doing rituals. You know what you see in movies with people going around in circles screaming “HEY YA YA YA HEY YA YA YA HEY YA YA YA”? That’s basically the earliest roots of dancing known so far. From there are on it evolved into many different styles of dancing. Contemporary, Ballet, Swing, Tap, Fusion, Ballroom, Waltz, Folk, Hip-Hop, Zumba, you get the idea.

Hip-Hop dancing started at around the 1970’s. The earliest styles were locking, breakdancing, and different styles of funk. Hip-Hop was very different compared to the rest of the dancing world, so it didn’t REALLY pick up some audience until around roughly the late 1980’s, early 1990’s. Some of the earliest crews, The Rock Steady Crew, The Lockers, and the Electric Boogaloos revolutionized what dance is today.

The Rock Steady Crew is what started breakdancing, one of the pioneers of Hip-Hop dancing itself. I’m sure many of you know what breakdancing is. It is one of the earliest forms of Hip-Hop dancing, and uses almost entirely the floor. It is a huge test of endurance and strength as it combines freezes, spins, drops, and other elements into its dancing. The Lockers were very famous for a style of dance called locking. Locking was popularized somewhere in the mid-80’s, and since now has become less popular, but has somewhat of a solid fan-base. Locking is a style of dance that really integrates swinging your limbs around in a fast, yet controlled motion, and then stopping completely, making for a very cool show. The Electric Boogaloos are the people that started a style that is still growing today, Popping. Popping is exactly what it sounds like. You essentially “pop” your body, by flexing all the muscles in the desired area you want to pop. It makes a shaking in the area while the rest of your body is still. It is very hard to learn because it takes a lot of body control, but when done well looks stunning.

Today, Hip-Hop is one of the most prevalent dance styles. It has spread all over the country. Matching how many people like it with long time styles like contemporary, modern, or ballet. Who knows what will happen in the next 100 years, what someone will think of next. New styles are being thought up of every day, it just takes a little publicity to start it up.

Locking – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmza40YiUKI

Popping – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqDeiW-hdqg (I know there was a link to a popping video in my last post, but just in case someone didn’t feel like scrolling

Breakdancing – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6cppKchdy4 (God I wish I could breakdance)

(References for dance styles will be linked on the bottom to not clutter paragraphs with Youtube links)

I started dancing my freshman year of high school, and I’ve done nothing but get better and change my style ever since. I first started dancing because of one of my friends who was a senior at the time. He did a style calling tutting , and was extremely good at it too. From looking at him, I decided to take up tutting, and from there on I developed all sorts of dance moves. I got into popping, waving, and any other hip-hop styles of dancing. Every time I danced I felt better about myself, I felt relieved, and I thought to myself “wow, maybe this could be my passion”. Fast forward to now, it is, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

I would like to share with you one of my biggest inspirations when I first starting dancing, and even now they serve a huge purpose in my style of dancing. I have watched almost every single performance they’ve done multiple times, and it’s always an absolute pleasure to see them. They are a dance duo that goes by the name of Les Twins. As you can assume, they are brothers, and they are in fact twins. They have been dancing since they were 2 and are now around 21 I believe. In my opinion, each of them are one of the best dancers alive. Every time I watch their videos I get a euphoric feeling over me. They always bring so much passion and feeling into every move, as if they are dancing for their lives. I have never seen them slack off in a performance, and you can tell just by the expression on their faces. If I were to ever see them live it would be an honor and a pleasure to see them. They do a style called “new style”, which is very hard to explain. It’s kind of like hip-hop, but with a twist to it. You’ll see what I mean once you see the video below of a performance of them.

I understand that you may read this post and have the assumption that I am just being a huge fan, but it’s deeper than that. Dancing is about half of my life, and that half of my life is what keeps me sane during hard times. Whether it be problems with school, family, or friends, dancing has always brought a sense of relaxation to me. Les Twins have changed my style so much, for the better, and I’m so glad I got to find them. Both of them are a huge inspiration to me and it’s probably gonna keep it that way.

Tutting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyMfpJh3h4A

Popping: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXegvzmVfCw

Waving: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QoGc18Tp8I (waving isn’t necessarily a whole style of dance, but it’s a huge part).

Les Twins (New Style): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2rsN695Hv0

1. “Those who dance are considered insane by those who can’t hear the music” – George Carlin. This is one of my favorite quotes, because I love being called insane. Dance has been a huge part of my life for the past 4 years, and it will continue to be one for hopefully the rest of my life. I am a hip hop dancer, I express myself through my body and people understand me. When I say I am a dancer, I say it with pride and honor. I have two missions, one is to always become better, there is no such thing as being the best. The other mission is to spread the word, to break people out of their shell who are afraid to dance. I hope this blog changes your mind about dancing, because it would mean the world if it did.