SUGALOO Funk Phenomenon

Self Journal Day 4

2013-12-21T14:27:00.000-05:00

I tried One Journal and keep it to myself but that keeps me lazy.
So I decided to get back to this again.

Day 4 (Restarting Blog).

Succeeded in balancing work and working out for more than 3 days. Hence, the restart of this blog with the hopes that I can keep this consistent.

For now, the results of my work and work out is 50-50. Both are taking gradual improvements.

Until Monday (23rd) I will keep up with my workout to end my 6 day training menu. On Monday, I will update the menu. The new menu will have inner and outer muscle training module. It will change each day. I think the inner muscle menu should be combined with isolation training. This should gain me more control of my body. I would do my isolation training combined with rhythm training. This is because I need to drill rhythm into my body. As for inner muscle training, the focus should be on legs/waist, core body, and shoulders.

Pop training should be after completing this new training menu.

For now, I need to focus on improving the basics.

Rhythm training that I've learned from Hideki is easy to do while I commute to work. Gradually understanding the difference in rhythm in music. I should check in with Hideki to see whether I'm on the right rhythm.

Electro Soul Satisfaction 4 Popping Battle Clips

2013-08-11T16:19:00.000-04:00

Sup you all.

I'm in Japan for a vacation now and finally got back to my computer. Luckily, all the battle clips from the ESS 4 is up. Thus, I want to post it here!!!

Prelim

Top 16 VS Jae (From 3:00)

Top 8 VS Riceball

Top 4 VS Castro

Final VS Mark Flux

ILL WHAT THE FUNK?! CREW......

2013-07-17T23:19:00.001-04:00

My first student/crewmate/partner/brother from another mother killing beats where we've met.

2009. Thats when I first met him. He didn't know anything. Just a fanboy of Nam Hyun Joon.

Now he is consistently learning, developing, and trying to evolve the dance using his individuality.

Still a LOOOOOOOOOOOONG way to go till he gets to the point where he wants to go.

But even with difficulties, I know he NEVER gives up. He will consistently work to improve.

My brotha

iLL of What The Funk?! Crew.

"What The Funk?! Crew" Showcase at Takala Land

2013-07-11T18:27:00.000-04:00

Most recent showcase by What The Funk?! Crew.
Featuring
Ilya "iLL" Leyzerov
Edmund "E.T" Tan II
Shinjiro Ray Tanaka.
And myself.

It was difficult to complete this piece because

1. I don't lock. I suck at it lol
2. iLL was in Boston finishing up his semester. He came to the rehearsal 3 times in total.
3. We realized that we forgot to bring the bag LMAO.

So over all, we were REALLY nervous.

But as you'll notice watching the clip, the crowd loved it. There are many mistakes made in this piece. But I just love the fact that we were able to make everyone exited and happy.

Thank you sincerely to my brothas, iLL, E.T, and Shin.

Hope you all enjoy our crew flava!!!

What The Funk

A Dance Journey from age 35 to 44 Time Lapse

2013-07-11T18:25:00.003-04:00

This is my awesome good friend, Gwo.

To explain this video shortly, I'm borrowing his video description.

"Back in 2004 I was introduced to popping by my good friend and roommate at the time Phil Thorne. He went by the name Frequency in dance circles. I hadn't been doing any dancing really at that point but I was fairly vested in the martial arts for most of my 35 years at that time. I had no idea how much I'd enjoy popping and how it would shape my life over the next 10 years.I've met so many talented and cool people. It's good to have a goals...and even in my mid 40s I hope to have another 10 years of practice and progression."

What amazes me is that not only did he get into a new hip culture called "Street Dance" at the age of 35, he has been progressing every year. I know this from personal cypher exchange with Gwo.

This totally breaks the general norm of "you have to be young to learn to dance".
As you grow old, of course you gradually lose control of your body.
But Gwo here, shows us that its
Never too old to start something new, Never too old to improve, Never too old perfect an art form.

Gwo is fit and doesn't look his age AT ALL. When I first heard his age, I was blown away. Because he doesn't look, act, and of course, dance old.

Huge respect, love, and god blessing to you my friend/brotha. Thank you sincerely for your inspiration.

Monstapop in "Good Times" Montreal Canada | YAK FILMS

2013-07-07T14:21:00.001-04:00

Gotta feel this get down and film......

Mosta Pop x Yak Film

Dope music, atmosphere, and of course the get down........

I love Monsta Pop's dance because it is very clean. But he makes it stand out by dancing raw, like hard core raw, within his get down.

Also, this guy makes his movements seem really really easy. But he is REALLY TALL. I know many people who injure their knee because of their hight. But he must be taking care of his body well.

Definitely one of the best on the planet right now. Huge respect.

What The Funk!? Crew Show at Takala Land 1 year ago

2013-07-01T17:02:00.001-04:00

We did our show again at Takala Land for its two year anniversary party.

They haven't posted the showcase yet, so I'd like to share our show we did last year!!!

Enjoy :D

HOLY SHIT,,,,,,SWEEPY

2013-06-27T00:54:00.001-04:00

DA FUCK DID I JUST SEE?!!?!? lol

Crazy dance and popping. Sweepy Killing it....DAMN.

The Cypher Dance Freestyle | Sugaloo

2013-06-23T19:55:00.001-04:00

My freestyle get down at the event "The Cypher".

Straight outta work. In casual outfit.

Just having fun.

Just DANCING............

The ultimate form of play for me in life.

My review on ジャパニメーション(Japanimation)

2013-06-22T13:48:00.001-04:00

First of all, whoever came up with the name is a genius lol
Japan+Animation=Japanimation. AWESOME lol

But thats not the reason why I'm writing this on here. I want to give my thoughts on this amazing show.
Now why am I not saying "This amazing dance showcase"? Because I felt that this is stepping outside of dance category a little.

It is obvious that Japanimation is using dance technique that falls under the style of Street Dance called "Popping/Animation". They use popping, bopping, dimestop, speed control, isolation, etc. Most technique that are commonly used by poppers or animation dancers.

However, in my personal opinion, Japanimation is simply utilizing the Street Dance technique, and not DANCING. They are not dancing to the rhythm from beginning to the end. What they do is something we call "Beat Freaking", where you emphasize the sound in the music with emphasized movements to make the sound and the movement to stand out. This is a very popular technique used by many choreography dancers.

Therefore, this show feels like an entertainment show more than a dance performance/showcase. I mean it looks like PS 4's Samurai Game commercial in real life. lol Therefore, I'm not sure if this is a good representation of Street Dance.
Furthermore, the mission of this TV show is really vague as well. It states that it aims to create a "Hero" from the Japanese Dance community to introduce it to the world.

BUT FOR WHAT???
YOU BECOME A HERO AND THEN WHAT???
I see many performances that uses street dance style, so are you trying to advertise Street Dance to the masses??? But again for what???

Don't get me wrong, I do like what I see. I actually LOVED IT. This piece is perfected to the maximum level. The detail, atmosphere, technique, outfit and all are excellent. In addition, I love the fact that they brought their cultural heritage. This is definitely a showcase that can be done by Japanese because Samurai us one of the core element in our culture. It lives in our DNA. Thus, using that this way is great.

Its just that I don't think it is a good way to inspire dance to the young generation. This will only lead them to misunderstand the dance. These types of showcase is very mechanic. DANCE SHOULD BE ORGANIC. FREEDOM should be the main feeling that you get while you dance. But showcases like this makes me feel only about "Systematic movements".

In my humble opinion, the show shouldn't be called DANCE@HERO. Should be like TALENT@HERO or something.

I appreciate any feedback that you have!
Thanks for reading.

Peace and God Bless.

This event was titled after Frantick.....

2013-06-21T22:35:00.001-04:00

The title of the event is

"Physical Poetry"

Frantick is definitely one of the best, deepest, and the dopest physical poet on the planet.

Beginning to the end......So sick with it!!!

What The Funk Crew Performing at Takala Land 6/29/13!!!

2013-06-15T07:40:00.000-04:00

6/29/13, What The Funk?! Crew will be performing at

TAKALA LAND DANCE STUDIO 2years Anniversary 2013<Back to the streetz vol.2>

!!!

There will be other amazing dance crews that will be performing! Just see the pic to find out who will be attending! SAVE THE DATE!!!

DROP(PED) from the Moon, the Moon Runners.

2013-06-13T18:32:00.001-04:00

The Moon Runners.
They are one of the upcoming and active Popping Crew in Canada/U.S.
Dope concepts and sick execution. I believe any tut, wave, botting, animating poppers will love their style.

So I met these Alien like poppers at Juste Debout in 2011 in Canada.
My friend Kai who lives in Queens used to live in Portland and knew Icon, who introduced me to Icy, Snapp, and Shawn.
I was in the phase of exploring waving, tutting, strobbing, and animating. Meeting them was a mind blowing experience. I still carry the knowledge they shared with me there. The exchange I had was awesome.
I knew on my way back home to NY that this crew will be the next crew to watch out. And I think my guess was on point. The world won't be able to ignore them soon. Trust me.

Peace and God Blessings

Dope Popper discovery!!!

2013-06-11T16:59:00.001-04:00

I don't know this popper, J.G, but damn he is Funked up lol

Definitely has a flavor influenced by my teacher.....don't know if they have any connection but his feeling and the boogaloo footwork reminds me of Jazzy J.

Kyo was clean as usual, but I would give the win to J.G on this one.

Comments anyone?

By the way, FUNKY MANSION IS BACK ON TONIGHT!!!

Its at a new location at 4 W 43rd Street between 5,6 Avenue.

Come Get FUNKED UP NYC!!!

Peace and God Blessings.

SUGALOO

This is a REAL POPPING ROUTINE! - Jazzy J Electric Boogaloos (Red Suit)

2013-06-08T22:34:00.001-04:00

THE FUNK MASTER, The Electric Boogaloo, Rhythmatic Funk Movement, the one and only Soul Fire,,,,Jazzy J.

My teacher and a dance name god father getting down HAAAARRRRD.

One of the best Old and New Animated Masters.

2013-06-07T21:20:00.001-04:00

Mr. Steen and Boogie Frantick

One of the two favorite animated poppers on the planet. Their creativity and skills are beyond our control. Not many of new generation poppers know of Mr. Steen. But I think he is gradually been spot lighted once again by the masses. Not sure exactly why but I believe the connection between the Assassins may have huge influences. Well, at least I got to know Mr. Steen through Rashaard and/or Future's post on Facebook.

Anyway, I'm definitely glad that he is getting the spot light. Old school dancers like him who still are maintaining amazing skills should be welcomed by various communities and share the knowledge. It'll definitely help the popping community.

And Boogie Frantick. I think all poppers in US knows who he is. I think he should get more international recognition though. He is a BEAST, period. I have to go back to LA to learn under him soon......

Well enjoy the video! Peace and God Blessings!

One of my favorite popper VS One of my favorite DJ

2013-06-07T00:51:00.001-04:00

Kid Boogie VS pSyk

I respect Kid Boogie for flying around the world to teach popping. After taking his class, I know he is spreading the knowledge of popping to contribute further to his teachers, the EB's legacy.

I respect pSyk for not only producing dope popping track to keep us dancing, but that he actually dance and battles as well. Met him at Step Ya Game Up couple years ago and he was killing it as well.

Much respect for both for the contributions to the popping community. Peace and God Bless.

To Improve your popping.

2013-06-04T11:39:00.000-04:00

Ok. I've been off again.

Its tough to continue a blog I guess haha.

Well the truth is, my work schedule and such changes constantly and I can't keep up with it lol.

But now I think I can maintain a routine schedule. So, lets try this again!

Sharing the word of wisdom shared by Aja George on Facebook.

My post:

Very well summarized statement from AjA George. Yes the Greats STUDIED!!! They go through the “Bad phase” to improve. I always tell my people that a down time in whatever you do is similar to you squatting down to make a big jump. It is a “preparation step” for improvement. Be humble and always look up! Peace and god blessings!

________________________________________________________________________

Aja's Post

So many times, people have asked me to teach them how to pop. 98% of those people NEVER followed through with it. So many of these new dancers feel like they’re stuck…or plateaued, and I can give you a reason why. Most people who dance decide to stay away from certain dances, such as popping, for a reason. One of the most common answers I got was “it’s too hard, I’d never be able to do it (or be good at it)”. NOT true. But…how would you know if you never took the time to try? You’re so concerned about looking good to other people, that you’re afraid to go through a “bad” phase again to learn a new dance. You just want what’s easy. So you keep taking these same “hip hop choreo” classes where the “teacher” is showing you their moves, and how to move to, dance, and hear the music like THEM. Then there are people who are teaching you to hear the music the way YOU want, move the way YOU want, and dance the way YOU want…and there’s 7 people in that class?! See, we’ve got it twisted nowadays in the industry. We’re always looking for the easy road to stardom. The greats STUDIED. The greats, not only in dance, but in other artforms. Michael Jordan STUDIED. Michael Jackson STUDIED. Tiger Woods STUDIED. Shoot, Einstein STUDIED. When they got good at something, they decided that wasn’t good enough and got good at something else to ADD to that one thing they were good at previously. Why would you take “hip hop choreo” class EVERYDAY when you’re already good at it? Why not take salsa? Or house? Or contemporary? Or ballet? Whether you want to excel in that category or not, it WILL help you in whatever form of dance you wanna excel in. I’m a popper that’s taken lots of different dance clases…and I’m still a popper. I just add in what I learn to what I do. But I expanded from it. It made me a better dancer. Don’t just go in the same class week after week “killin” it in there….

Learn something new. You’ll be happy you did.

LA Part 3: Visiting San Diego and reunion

2013-02-12T19:45:00.000-05:00

So our journey to learn and exchange with Westcoast Poppers didn't slow down at all. We even took a trip down to San Diego to see one of the dopest popper of the West. Yes, Jr Boogaloo of Motion Sickness and Machine Gone Funk.

We decided to go because one of my BF (if you want to know why I call him that, just ask me lol), Carlo Manabat, A.K.A C-lo told me how great of a teacher he was. Also, Jr Boogaloo was the only MGF that replied to us really quickly allowing us to plan quick within a limited time we had here in LA lol.

Ok so I actually took a vid. So instead of reading my terribly written blog, enjoy my horrible english accent LMAO

oh and Mr. Ugly as F that makes you ILL!!! lol

The train ride was chill and relaxing because of the space and the beautiful view from out of the window. Open space to infinity. Man California is huge.

Once we got to the station, we met with Jr Boogaloo and drove to his relatives house. On the way to the house, we just kept questioning him about popping nonstop (I tend to do that all the time lol).

He told us how he got his name Jr Boogaloo, and how popping was in the Westcoast back when he was a teenager.

This interview is close to what we heard

What stood out the most in the talk we had was how a popper called Charley from Heckle and Jackel (I think that was either the nickname or their group name) influenced Jr Boogaloo. He told us how he admired his clean but hard pop which till this day is the best quality pop he had ever seen in his life.

Another one was a funny story. As Jr Boogaloo was gaining his reputation as a popper at his neighborhood and school, he came across a name, Poppin Taco. People from different school would tell him how amazing Taco was, therefore, Jr decides to go to the skating link that Taco used to get down often.

Now this is back in the days, Jr didn't know whether Taco would show up or not. It not like nowadays where he will post a FB status letting people know that he will be there. Fortunately, Taco showed up. His friend hyped him up and he was ready.......

But the next moment Taco went POP!

yea that infamous hit from Taco told Jr that he was way out of reach......

Soooooo

He faked a stomachache lol

well how can he not? I'll do the same if I was in his situation to avoid getting the worlds hardest beat down you'll ever get in your life lol

As the conversation was heating up, we got to the practice spot.
We went to the back yard and got ready to get down.

No studio
No mirrors

Just a beautiful sunshine and a clean tropical breeze.

Man we were relaxed....so chill. In my mind I was thinking "this is what it feels like to practice at someones spot in California eh? this is amazing!"

We had roughly an hour and a half of class and after that we just chilled and talked about popping.

Getting down and learning from him was amazing. I haven't clearly figured out nor put enough time to fully understand his methods of popping in my dance yet, however, the way he thinks about popping was DEEP. Also this was the beginning of how we realized the reason behind why Westcoast Poppers have high quality popping standard in general.

To roughly summarize (not going to break down popping technique and all because I think its something that you can only understand by actually seeing and doing it in real life) Popping is more than a dance style to them. Since it is a style of dance that originated in the West, its part of their lifestyle. It isn't a style of dance that they went to a class to learn. It was always there at a casual party, talent show, street show, even in regular family parties and among public community like school.

For this reason, when they work on popping, it is based on concepts and ideas more than just drilling what we so call "basic popping movements".

Don't get me wrong, understanding the fundamentals are essential, and these guys do drill the basics. But they really think outside of the box. Most of the things we learned were something that we never heard of or things that we never thought about.

Because they perfect that idea by patient practice and exchange, it becomes a lethal weapon that smokes dancers in any given cyphers.

After the class, we had to catch a train. He drove us back and we said bye. It was definitely worth taking a train trip to San Diego.
Jr, thank you for your hospitality and class. Your knowledge and the teaching through a get down will forever be remember. Till we see each other again, peace, respect, love and god bless!

After arriving back to LA, I had another great reunion with Kaistar.
We met each other through my crew mate Karlo, few years ago and we kept in touch.

He took us to an Japanese restaurant and we (including underaged Ilya lol) got to drink and eat.

Reunion is always great. But it was even better because Kaistar has been visiting Japan constantly and I could talk to him about home from the same perspective. What I mean by this is that I'm Japanese, but half of my life I've been living abroad. Thus, there are times I look at Japan from a third person perspective. Of course most of my Japanese friend won't understand my point of view because they've only lived in Japan. But Kaistar was raised here and was visiting Japan long enough to see what Japan and how it's culture is really like.

We had a great talk till the restaurant was almost closed. Than luckily Kaistar contacted Frantick and asked him whether it is possible for us to do a private with him the next day! AWESOME!!!

Thank you Kaister. We will definitely reunite once again soon. I know you'll be successful in DJing and make your dream come true :)

After food, we walked couple minutes and waited to meet our friend Crazy Sun to meet Tabo.......

Continues.....

What The Funk?!: E.T Experimental Popping Get Down!

2013-02-02T21:01:00.001-05:00

What The Funk?!: E.T Experimental Popping Get Down!: 2013 CREW MATES ARE MAKING THEIR MOVE!!! (finally, its been me and ilya for too long man :O lol) Enjoy!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Animated Beat Mechanics

2013-01-31T11:50:00.001-05:00

I want to dedicate this post to two of the sickest popper that has been representing the US popping scene for over a decade.

Jrock and Popula of the Animated Beat Mechanics.

I first saw found out about them from seeing this video.

Gucchon vs Popula 2005 Best of the Best.

When I found this video, I was in the situation where I couldn't get out of the house nor dance (personal, family issues). Thus, I was browsing the web for dance clip to entertain myself.

I was a big fan of OBA, popper that my best friend Tim introduced to me. Through the battle against OBA and Acky, I got to this video.

Later, I found a website for poppers called "Westcoast Popping". As I browsed through the website, I came across this clip. This was how I discovered Jrock and knew that Popula and Jrock was in a crew called Animated Beat Mechanics.

Boy was I hooked to this vid. This is still one of my favorites.
Its clean, its deep, it has great mixture of popping styles, full of funk, and the way his dance creates the atmosphere in that environment using the music is just perfect.

I don't know if you remember Jrock, but Master Flex is my all time favorite move because I took your class on the summer of 2009 at NYU.

It was the first time I learned how to do a Master Flex with full breakdown. I loved it and I still used it all the time.

Speaking of my favorites vids, my all time favorite of Popula's vid would be this

I got hooked on this one with ilya lol
We spoke and discussed about this clip for a while.
How energetic it was, how fluid but animated his movements were, how he rides and executes the music, how he looks like he doesn't give a F, but looks hard and legit.

Couple month later, we accidentally met with Popula at one of the battle in Boston. He didn't battle, but I remember Monsta Pop and him going at each other most of the time. It was like two giants going against each other lol

Those two were my idol.

But when those two came to NYC to do the show iLuminate, they showed us young NY poppers love and guidance.

and I'm honored that I was one of the popper who got their blessings.

From late November 2012 to early January 2013, they did the show and came down to sessions to practice with us.
Even on days when they did three consecutive shows, wearing 30lb suit, they got down harder than anyone in the practice sessions.

They must had been exhausted. I saw the show (hour long non stop dancing show!!!) and I can tell that it was tough. They dance nonstop with the suits AND they carry each other to create an effect that the dancers were flying. Doing that three times a day and coming down to a 2 hour session?

All I can say was that they were full of "Dedication and Passion".

Not only that, they gave us tips on what to improve and showed us examples by getting down with us. There were times when they even invited us to their crib to do a session til midnight.

I don't need to remind you, but Jrock and Popula are internationally known, star status dancers. I assumed that such dancers would separate themselves from the rest.

But not these two. They didn't hesitate to share knowledge and guidance to young dancers at all.

I can surely say that not only myself but many that had the chance to get to know them and danced with them were grateful to get down with them and are now full of respect and gratitude towards the two.

I was lucky to have many occasions where I was able to practice with them.

Thank you Popula and Jrock for all your contribution to the NYC popping community. We miss you guys a lot already.

In addition, I sincerely thank you two for believing in me and spending your time to train me. You guys were an huge inspiration to me for the past couple months. I'm sure that you will keep inspiring more as you keep evolving.

However, I believe that saying thank you and blogging about it isn't enough compare to what you guys did for me. Therefore, I would carry on what you guys taught me. To train hard, share that passion and knowledge to the community and help it grow stronger.

Also, I don't know how long this will take, but I will give the ultimate form of thank you by SMOKING you guys!!! lol

Peace, Love, Respect, and God Bless.

HONEYCOMB HIDEOUT!!!

SUGALOO

Juste Debout New York 2013

2013-01-25T15:48:00.000-05:00

Before reading,,,,,

My objective here is to write my personal thoughts about this internationally recognized event. I'm stating what I honestly thought, however, I don't have any intention to disrespect anyone. Therefore, I sincerely apologize if there are any statements that offends anyone. All comments that is directed towards my thoughts are welcomed. PLEASE DO NOT POST COMMENT TO DISRESPECT DANCERS/ORGANIZERS.

Juste Debout (JD) is no doubt one of the most recognized and credited Street Dance Competition in the world. The event attract dancers from across the world by hosting regional events across several countries in Asia, Europe, and North America. There are five categories, Hip Hop, House, Locking, Popping, and Toprock. The battle is done in 2 on 2 and the winner of each categories will earn the opportunity to attend the main event in Paris, France.

Since 2011, JD's regional event began to take place in the U.S and Canada. In 2011 it took place in Brooklyn, NY, and in 2012, Montreal, Canada.

This was my third regional JD. Compare to the past two events, JD New York 2013 had a totally different feeling.

Lets compare.

Location

In both 2011, 12, the location was huge. The past events were hosted at a warehouse and a gymnasium. I personally didn't like the warehouse in Brooklyn due to its location and the condition of the warehouse. The floor and the bathroom was just a mess.

The gymnasium was great. It was clean and there were a lot of room for dancers to rest, eat, and have cyphers.

It also had raise up benches on the side so that people can sit and enjoy the battle.

Compare to the past two, this year's location, Santos Party House, had the best atmosphere.

The Lighting, Sound System, Beverage, Food, DJ, and the people were great!

BUT

1. It was too small....

It was so crowded that I felt like I was riding a morning rush hour subway to the city :(

That, was a total turn off.

And this even effected the competitors. The floor that dancers had to dance in was so small. I mean look at the pictures and compare the size of the floor space.

The club environment was great. But it was way too small. People had hard time dancing and watching the battles. They did have a projector that lived the battle on the big screen, but WHO WANTS TO SEE THAT WHEN THE ACTUAL BATTLE IS HAPPENING IN FRONT OF THEM???

2. Locking us in

WAS NOT COOL

Until the last couple hours of the event, the dancers were locked inside the venue. You can get out, but to get back in, you have to pay $40, which was the price of the ticket for the event.

This was ridiculous.

I mean the place was packed with people and it was hot. Of course people will get exhausted and will need food and beverages. But no. They offered food inside the venue and for it to be sold out (I assume), they cut our access to stores around the venue. Good for them. But think about the us.

For this reason, although the location had a the best atmosphere, it sure made us have a bad experience.

People/Dancers

Ok, on this section, I will focus on POPPING ONLY because that is the style that I know best for now.

The dancers/poppers that attended the event were great.

On 2011, most of the poppers were from the east coast U.S or Canada. The only crew to attend the battle from the west was Machine Gone Funk.

On 2012, most of the poppers were from Canada. I can surely say that about 80% were from Canada.

This year, we saw people from various locations. Let me name some recognizable poppers who attended the event.

Monsta Pop & Venom (Symbiotic Monsters), Canada

Jrock & Popula (Animated Beat Mechanics), LA and Indiana

Breeze Lee & Ms. Funk (Versa Style), LA

Jon Boogs & Jonh Doe (Soulbotiks Crew and Control Freakz), Texas and Miami

Dnoi & Soul (Soulbotiks Crew and Ill Minded Stylez), ? and Detroit

On top of those names, we had large attendance from the east coast and Canada popping community as well, making Popping categorie to have the most competitors on this event.

Therefore, the quality of the dancers were great :)

I personally enjoyed meeting new dancers and reuniting with many of my friends. Having many friends at an event is awesome :) Everywhere I went, I saw faces that I recognized or haven seen in a while.

Now HAVING SUCH ATTENDEES SURELY WOULD MAKE A GREAT BATTLE! Yes, it does, but there is one more fact that you can not miss out. The Judges.

Judges/Battles

Judges play a HUGE ROLE in making an event awesome.

JD have four judges from each category (Hip Hop, House, Locking, Popping) to Judge the competition. Toprock is the only category that has a single judge for it's style of dance.

Some people have mixed feeling about this Juge system because not all the judges practice all these four styles. In fact, most of them don't. Therefore, it may not be as accurate than it should be.

But for the past two event, they had a epic battle that typed the crowd like crazy!

In 2011, the Popping final battle had Machine Gone Funk against Assassins. You can see from the crowd reaction that it was amazing. And yes, I enjoyed this battle a lot.

In 2012, the Semi-Final had Symbiotic Monsters against Namco & Boombeast. Watch it and you'll know how hyped we were lol

This year, by the looks of the name that appeared on the event, I assumed that it would have epic battles of the night like the above that I can still picture in my head how awesome it was.

However, this year was different. I don't have any battle that I can recall as epic as the two above.

The battle that gives you chill and make you think "damn how the f did they get to this point? like how do they dance so awesome???" didn't happen.

Why?

I think because this was the year that the politics in the game revealed itself the most.

This doesn't mean that I disagree with the winner of the event. Symbiotic Monsters definitely deserves to go to Paris to represent the U.S. They were on the next level.

However, the selection of Top 8 and couple battles that occurred that night was questionable.

Reason 1:

I think the winner should have been Jrock & Popula.

Now some of you know that I've been hanging out with Jrock & Popula, and they've been really good to me. But that does nothing to do with my opinion.

I've fought against Breeze Lee before and got toasted really hard and learned a valuable lesson. I havent met him since than but I have huge respect for the guy.

So there is no dislike on which sides. With that in mind, let me break my opinion down.

1. Synchronisation

When I see 2 on 2 battles, I see them as ONE CREW and not two individual. Thus, having a synchronized vibe, feeling, get down is vital in battling 2 on 2. If you see the footage above, I see ABM vibing off each other really well. They are battling as a crew. In contrast, Versa Style goes out to the floor individually while the other wait rooting when he/she does a cool move. From this perspective, I think ABM has advantage over Versa Style.

2. Level of the rounds

Synchronisation IS important. But the level of individual round needs to be taking in account as well. This is because their rounds sums up the average level of rounds of a crew. This means that when battling 2 on 2, a partner shouldn't outshine the partner, but vibe off with an equal level of dance to have a balance that shows how the two is connected as a crew during the battle.

There are cases where the one of the opponent comes out really hard and you have to out match that. But on this battle, I think that Breeze Lee had an awesome round that was on the next level compared to Ms. Funk.

In contrast, Jrock and Popula both had a solid high quality rounds without showing much of a skill difference between the two.

For these reasons, I think ABM won. But they did not.

Another battle that I thought similarly was a battle between ATN & C-Pop VS John Lock & Katalyst. ATN & C-Pop are two top poppers in Canada. They are young but very fierce and hungry, and surely proved their skill on the cyphers.

But on the battle, C-Pop didn't have a solid round. Instead, John Lock & Katalyst showed a equally high quality rounds.

There is not footage of them yet, but I thought that was a questionable judgment as well.

Last but not least, on Top 8, Dnoi & Soul was not selected.

From my perspective, the two have higher skill level than most of the poppers that was selected. Honestly, this was a wrong choies.

For these reasons, I think the crowd lacked in getting hyped compare to the past two events. Given such atmosphere, they were missing out on the opportunities for us to be hyped.

I mean lets assumed that ABM won, and Soul & Dnoi were selected.

We could've potentially saw Symbiotic Monsters VS Soul & Dnoi on Top 8 and ABM VS Symbiotic Monsters (I WAS VERY LOOKING FORWARD FOR THIS SCENARIO) or ABM VS Soul & Dnoi!!!

Now that, would've been a battle of the night :))))

In conclusion, the event was ok over all. Given the fact that it is one of the most recognized international Street Dance Competition? It should've been much better.

But I had fun that night :)

And I thank the people who is TAKING ACTION to make this HAPPEN. I'm just stating this but doing nothing. But they actually DO IT. Now thats a BIG DIFFERENCE. Huge props and respect to the organizers.

And to all the winners of JD NY 2013, GOOD LUCK AND REPRESENT US HAAAAAAARRRRRDDD!!!!!!

You guys either STEP UP OR GET SMOKED!!!

Sincere thank you for people who read it all the way through.

Peace and God Bless.

P.S This is my prelim with ilya :) there is also Jon Boogs, John Doe, and our good friend David Castro! Check it out!

LA Part 2: Meeting Hollywood Stars and Homeland.

2013-01-13T13:03:00.000-05:00

LA welcomed us with the brightest weather on the second day.

This was the first time I saw LA in bright day light. I realized how HUGE this place was and surprisingly the atmosphere and the environment surrounding us felt warmer compare to NY which is dark and dim lol

Our day started by going to UMAMI Barger for brunch.
Umami "旨味" is Japanese. It means delicious taste so I knew I'm gonna have great food to start the day off!

The wall was full of interesting Japanese poem that insisted how you can find a great new dish. As I was reading it, the waiter approached me. He looked part Asian so I assumed he knew the meaning of the poem.....

Waiter "You know what that saids?"
Me "Yea, its pretty unique and interesting"
Waiter "oh yea? What does it say?"

-____________-

Come on man. I thought you guys put that up because it means something special for you to work there lol

So I translated the poem for him and he was happy, saying that thats what Umami Barger is (well yea I can guess thats why its on the wall....)

Hungry dogg.....lol

UMAMI Barger

The burger was in fact "うまい(delicious)". It had a great combination of crunchy and juicy mixed inside a soft bun. Hmmmm making me hungry right now LMAO

After brunch, we went to Hollywood Boulevard! Saw this many times on movies so I was excited :)

Street Robot was better than the East....lol

YEAAA FINALLY HERE!!!

Michael's hands and feet were smaller than I thought.

King Of Pop

Master of Martial Art

YEAAA KICK HIS ASS!!! lol

Hollywood Blvd was a lot like Time Square in NYC with full of movie star memorial. It was great :) It was especially great to get to Michael Jackson and Bruce Lee's memorial stars (?). Also I was really surprised to find out how small Michael's hands and feet were. It was about my size exactly. But he can do that dynamic and explosive dance movements. Amazing. Purely respect him as a dancer and entertainer.

After having fun at Hollywood Blvd, we went to Homeland!!!

YES HOMELAND!!! I've been waiting to go here for many years!!!

We drove from down town LA and it was about a half hour drive.

Kid Boogie told us that he will be there so I was excited! It's been almost two years since I last saw him. I wanted to show how I improved training the technique he had shown me.

Here is what I was like when I got to Homeland lol

So I was SOOOOOOO excited like a little kid! lol

BUT

Kid, Slim, Keumsae, nor tabo showed up.....

Because of this, and from the exhaustion from the previous session, by the last hour of the session, I was done.....

Anyway, Homeland was Dope!

A lot of positive energy was there, and people liked sharing that energy with others. This is what I liked about it the most.

In a sense, it was like Popshop in NYC. But at Popshop, we don't all make a cypher to get down. I feel like we are a little more separated. But here, they were all making a huge cypher. I thought this was a great way for younger/beginner generation to interact with the older ones.

Although it would've definitely turned out better if the people I was expecting showed up, I enjoyed Homeland. I hope to visit there soon.

LA Part 1: Arrival and late night session.

2013-01-11T16:47:00.001-05:00

After staying in Japan for a week and saying goodbye to Nonoko while we both shed tears (Don't say nothing....You don't know how tough it is to do this for 5.5 years.....) I arrived in LA.

Now from what I remembered, Ilya, told me that he would have his friend come over to the airport to pick me up.

But NOOOOOOOOOO -______-

He tells me to take a shuttle to get there....
sigh.....what a start lol Me Japanese, no english, scared, understand??? lol

I took the shuttle and arrived in front of this crazy looking modern building. Here, I met Liz and Denom.
They are friends of Ilya from Boston and generously welcomed us to stay with them for a week! Not only that, they drove us around LA (which I'll get to later on) but they were soooooo nice :) I'm really glad that I got to meet and hang out with them.

After I settled down and unpacked my stuff, we went out to eat at Honey Pigs.

Pic

While eating, I got to know about Liz and Denom a little. Also Ilya and I kinda talked about what we did for the past week and a half.
Seeing him felt like ages ago since we lived together for a moth before coming to LA (WOW what a bf gf sentence this is.......SUPER GAY lol).

Than Ilya told me that he was talking to Slim Boogie earlier that day. So we decided to contact him because Ilya thought it'll be dope and a dream come true if we can go to the practice spot that he films his dance clip that is posted on youtube.

So he contacts him.
No response.

I've shared contact with Jr Boogaloo and Bionic Man a month before at Electric Soul Satisfaction, so I started to text them.

Jr Boogaloo was very helpful.
He gave us the numbers of this crew mates and told us to contact them as soon as possible to plan our week.

Bionic Man responded quickly. And welcomed us to come to his place when it is convenient for us.
Unfortunately, he lived 40 min away by driving. So we couldn't go that night.

It was around mid night and we still couldn't get a solid answer.
We didn't want to waste our time just waiting so I decided to text Slim Boogie.

A call back from Slim LMAO!!!

I still can't forget the face Ilya made when I said "oh he is calling me" lol

and what was even awesome was that the spot he practices was only a few blocks away!!!

So on the FIRST NIGHT IN LA, I mean literally few hours after landing, we get to practice with Slim Boogie.

We also planned to go to Homeland to see Kid Boogie the next day and go to San Diego for Jr. Boogaloo's 2 hour private lesson the day after tomorrow.

AWESOME

This trip could not turn out to be better than this.

So we walked and met up with Slim and Keumsae!
We both met slim couple times through MGF workshop tour (link) and SDFX 2 in Boston (link).
I've also met Keumsae before when C-lo hosted an event (link) in D.C couple years ago and she came as one of the judges.

A reunion is always great. I was glad to see them again, but this time in LA.

We exchanged for roughly 4 or 5 hours.

Seeing their get down was amazing. The level of foundation and advanced technique they had was unbelievable. We not only saw, but felt the level gap between the East coast popping compared to the West.

Please don't take this in a wrong way. I'm not trying to look down on the East. I feel that because they are taught by poppers with proper historic background the students had better understanding of how to execute the dance better.
Of course Popping is a dance movement that originated from the West. Thus, the resources to its roots can be easily traced back. Unlike us (the East) or the world, who dig the internet for information, they can go straight to the creditable source.

Some dancers I've met in the past told me that they don't really care about the past. Whats done is done and they want to focus on "THEM" because its their "GENERATION". But I think history is important. Knowledge is Power. Sense of community is crucial to the Hip Hop and Street Dance community. This is why I feel strongly about the need of popping education on the East Coast.

Anyway, I'll discuss that some other time. Back to the trip.

We didn't take any dance footage because I was too focused on observing the Slim and Keumsae lol
I think you can tell by how we were right after the session.

After the session, we were DONE lol In the vid I was wide awake, but I literally fell a sleep as soon as I got to the bed.
The Monster drink we had before going to the session was all used up and our body was collapsing.
I fell a sleep as soon as I got to the bed.

Thank You once again Slim and Keumsae. This would not have been the best day to start off without you two.

Part 1 End.

Japan: What The Funk?! Crew Japan battle debute!!!

2013-01-08T17:11:00.002-05:00

OK BACK FROM WHERE I LEFT OFF MONTH AGO!!! lol
I wrote it way back but forgot to post it.......

DAY 2 in JAPAN

This was yet another awesome day for me.

I got to see Nonoko (my girlfriend)'s dance performance for the first time in 5 years (wow....lol) and I got to battle on 1vs1 and on crew vs crew with TKO to represent What The Funk?! Crew!!!

So this is the first vid I took on the way to the studio where Nonoko was rehearsing for her performance.

***Be warned that I'm a little hyper because I'm excited lol***

Weeeeellll.....not all that is true SUGALOO lol

Because this event didn't allow any audiences to record the battle -_-

Why? BUSINESS.

They were selling the footage. figures eh?

It is a good strategie, not going to lie.

But to me, for this event, it was a little too much man.

I mean the event wasn't that big, full of dope dancers and etc.

Sure they had a Showcase, 1vs1, crew vs crew categories, but the level of the dancers weren't high enough to be in the DVD to be sold to people.

Yet there were a large number of Kid dancers with their mother.

I guess the organizers make money off of those parents that are obsessed with their kid's dancing.......

So unfortunately, there is not a single vid of the event, BOOOOOOOOOO (self booing lol)

Sucks, I know. I bet the crew would've love the way we represented the crew.....but thats history. We'll all go to Japan one day and do it again :D

The event was called "Run Up".

I was hyped, ready to dance with my girl, my bro, and his friends! I was ready to sweat and dance till I can't no more!!!

But the first impression I felt when I arrived at the event was "intimidation"

Why? Well there are couple reasons why I felt this way.

Reasons:

A. People were too damn serious

B. People are practicing alone, listening to their ipod on their headphone FOREVER!

C. Parents yelling at Kids to stretch and be ready for their performance

D. They were all wearing similar outfit that characterizes the dance style they do.

Let me give you and visual example.

All the poppers dressed like this

All the Hip Hop dancers dressed like this

and all the Kids dancers dressed like this

Yuuup........ that's how it was lol

Other thing that freaked me out was that

THEY DIDN'T HAVE ANY DJ TIME!!!!!!!!!!

They did battles, break(kick us out), battle, break, battle to the final.

Man I was tired......

Because usually in the event, I battle, than I dance during DJ time to keep my body warm. Couldn't do that this time.
They weren't playing music during the break time. So I just sat on the chair and ate food.
Because of this, I couldn't dance with my bro, their friends and my girlfriend in the cyphers.......

This just was not cool.....

Later I found out that this event was for beginners and upcoming dancers in Japan. My brother from another mother in Japan, Tim, told me that the main focus of the event was to give the young generations and people who struggle passing the preliminaries in the major competition events to perform and/or battle.

Looking back at it now, it does make sense. They danced well but dance just like their teachers. I didn't feel the energy of them going "OH I WANNA CYPHER!". They were more like mentally preparing for the time for them to perform.

So its unfair to judge how Japanese Jams are like by looking at this event. I hope to go to one of my brother's event to really experience Jams in Japan.

The good news was that TKO and myself did a pretty good job!

On 1vs1, I went to the semi-finals

and on crew vs crew, we also made it to the semi-finals!!!

I need a big applause from my crewmates man lol We represented the crew to the fullest!! lol

I mean we gave all we had and actually had to miss Nonoko's performance!!! (well we saw it a head when they were rehearsing) lol

Anyway,

The thing that made me happy was the fact that we won without any routines.

Even though we are brothers, 2 years had passed since TKO and I danced together.

Yet we managed to reunite as a real good team and defeated some crews that had been practicing together longer than us.

Personally, I felt it was a result from executing our crew vision.

We, What The Funk?! Crew are true to ourselves. We embrace our individualism and uniqueness. By evolving our uniqueness with solid popping foundation, our goal is to make people say "What The F?!" as an reaction to our dance.

That's our goal.

It has always been our goal since 2009.

This event was only a tiny step, but making a step is a HUGE difference compare to not making any.

Great job dancing your ass off TKO. I know its tough to be out there alone to represent us. But WE NEVER LEFT YOU. Stay strong and stay original my brotha. You made me proud that day to have you as a crew mate once again.

Here are some pics from the event

With Hide, This dude is FUNKY! (Champ)

What The Funk?! Brothers!

kids crew we battled named "Sora-Ringo"

Nonoko & SUGALOO

After this day I had a lot of personal time with Nonoko and friends and that's private lol

OH BUT I CAN SHARE THIS WITH YOU!!!

JAPANESE FLAT SCREEN VENDING MACHINE!!! LOL

so the next stop is

LA!!!