Street Dance Studio Upgrade “The Lab”

Transcription

Street Dance Studio Upgrade Preview
Street Dance Studio Upgrade
“The Lab”
SAMPLE PREVIEW EDITION
Super Power Practice Series
Book 1 of 4
By Barry “BBoy GRIZ” Rabkin
Founder of CypherStyles.com
Foreword by BBoy Powerful Pexster
Legendary Street Dance Pioneer
New York City Breakers Crew
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Copyright © 2012 CypherStyles.com, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, without
the publisher's written consent.
You dance at your own risk. Please consult your
doctor before starting any dance, exercise or
nutrition program. We are not liable for any injuries
or damages.
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Dedication
This book is dedicated to the
entire CypherStyles family. That's
all of you with street dance
beating in your hearts and
pumping through your veins!
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Table of Contents
Super Power Practice Book Series
7
Foreword – BBoy Powerful Pexster
NYC Breakers
13
Chapter #1 – Introduction
21
Chapter #2 – Street Dance Studio Upgrade
/ The Lab
25
Get Grounded
26
Banging Beats
30
Feedback
34
Fresh Gear
38
New Angles
42
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Hit the Wall
44
Mats
46
No Distractions
49
Privacy
51
Lifestyle
53
Sleep
55
Diet
56
Get Wet
57
Chapter #3 – Motivational Quotes
61
Chapter #4 – Street Dance FAQ
68
Fat Loss
69
Diet
70
No Progress
72
Too Old?
75
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Injured
76
Sleep Better
78
Bored
80
Increased Energy
82
Nail the Move
83
Increased Endurance
86
How Do I Get Paid to Dance?
88
Increase Recovery
90
Prepare to Battle
92
Chapter #5 – Breakin' Rules: Street Dance
Manifesto
95
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Super Power Practice
This is book one of the four part Super Power
Practice series, custom designed to give you better,
faster results from your training!
It doesn't matter who you are, what style of street
dance you're learning, or what your current level of
experience is. No matter who you are, you need four
essentials in your practice sessions to make the most
progress in the least time:
#1 To make the fastest progress possible, you need a
great place to train and cook up your next batch of
funk! "Street Dance Studio Upgrade - The Lab"
breaks down, step by step, exactly how to affordably
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and effortlessly transform your practice spot into the
ultimate street dance studio.
No matter who you are, the better your dance studio,
the more progress you'll make and the faster you'll
improve!
With a foreword by Street Dance Pioneer Powerful
Pexster of the NYC Breakers, "Street Dance
Studio Upgrade - The Lab" dives deep into
everything you need to know to create your own
supreme street dance studio!
#2 Every dancer needs a clear understanding of
their street dance goals and how to achieve them.
"Street Dance Goals - The Next Level" teaches
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you, step by step, how to select the right street dance
goals for you and reach them in record time!
Whether you want to tighten up your footwork and
get props at a local jam, or master your airtrack to
flare combo and win an international battle, this
book will help you conquer every challenge in your
path!
With a foreword by Street Dance Pioneer and
Strength Trainer BBoy Prizm of the Ground Zero
Crew, "Street Dance Goals - The Next Level"
gives you everything you need to take your street
dancing to the next level!
#3 You need the most effective practice skills and
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drills to get the fastest results. "Street Dance Skills
& Drills – BBoy Bootcamp" includes over 140
pages of the most powerful training techniques used
by your favorite street dancers all over the world!
Whoever you are, the better your practice sessions,
the more progress you'll make and the faster your
power and style will improve!
With a foreword by BBoy Pioneer Kujo of the Soul
Control and Ill-Abilities Crew, these proven
techniques break down everything you need to
accelerate your street dance results!
#4 The true energy of street dance comes out when
two dancers are giving their moves everything they
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have, fighting fiercely to come out on top. Showcase
performances and solo practice sessions are great,
but street dance feeds off of raw competition!
With a foreword by Street Dance Pioneer BBoy JoJo,
Co-Founder of the Rocksteady Crew, "Prepare For
Battle - Street Dance Secrets" goes deep into
everything you need to know to dominate your
battles! Learn step by step exactly what it takes to
win!
"As someone who was there back in the day, this book spoke
to me. We all approach battles differently, and this book will
help you no matter what your style is." - JoJo
Improving any of these aspects of your street dance
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training will have a huge impact on your
development. Put them all together and you'll make
the fastest training progress of your life!
Check out the rest of the Super Power Practice
book series on CypherStyles.com to learn the most
effective steps to level up your game in each one of
these key areas: Upgrade your lab, choose and reach
your goals, and upgrade your skills and drills so you
can prepare for battle!
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Foreword
Every bboy and bgirl needs a secret lab. We all need
a space to experiment, to learn, to fail in private so
we can win in battle. The foundation is a good floor
to dance on, be it wooden, buffed polished vinyl, or
a linoleum 12 by 12 that you can roll up and take
with you. But the most important equipment in your
lab is music. Get a boom box and you're ready to
dance. Mirrors can also help you see your progress.
Use free weights to build strength and muscle, as
well as ankle weights to improve your spins,
footwork and windmills.
Wear wrist bands to prevent burns, wrist straps to
strengthen your wrists, elbow and knee pads to
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prevent injury. And don't forget about bboy
headspin protective gear and tank tops to warm up
suits (very important for spins) and hand spin gloves.
Keep plenty of water, energy drinks and nutritional
bars handy to replenish what your body loses in
practices and workouts.
When I started breaking my lab theory was very
simple: practice, practice, practice. We practiced on
good floors, but when it came time to prove yourself
in a battle, concrete street corners were all we had.
It's called street dance because it came from the
street!
We would practice the same move for hours until it
became as natural as breathing. Some only danced in
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battles, but the rust would show in their moves. The
better studio setup you had, the longer and harder
you could train. That's even more true today,
especially with studios that take it to the next level
with vinyl floors, mirrors, and video cameras so you
can get instant feedback on your dancing.
To maximize your practice, think about the move
you want to do. Call it focus, meditation, or plain
thinking, but before you start dancing try to see the
move in your mind from start to finish until you feel
ready to rock the move. For the first run, go down
slowly, thinking about how it's done step-by-step.
When you get stuck or tangled, stop, run through the
move perfectly in your mind, and start again from
the beginning. Some people feel more comfortable
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learning in private, off videos and learning from
their mistakes. Other times it's good to have a
partner spot check you, or record yourself on video.
But remember: mistakes can become a new move, so
always be open to flowing into something new.
When you feel like you have the move down, go on
to the next move and do the same thing there,
breaking it into separate steps until you can run
completely through the move.
What happens when you get stuck on a move?
Here's what I do: try to combine that move with
another move. Find a different move that flows well
with that move. You'll end up creating a new move
with a new flavor and style. Be original, get the
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move and bring it to the next level.
The complete breaker is someone who's got:
1) Top rocking, freestyling or popping
2) Transitions and drops
3) Footwork
4) Combinations
5) Power Moves
6) Freezes
7) Recovering from freezes, coming out of them
smooth, more moves then finishing back on your
feet
Now it's about putting a puzzle together and making
combinations that flow right. Write down some sets
and practice them, doing 5 to 10 rounds, or more
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depending how far your body or your mind can go.
Run through the sets one by one. If you fall short,
keep moving until you have finished what we call
practice battles. After that you'll know what you can
do and where you need to improve. You'll know
when you get it, when you get that feeling that you
did it right, you'll feel a chill down your spine.
But when the speed and moves flow right and
everything connects, spectators and other street
dancers, will tell you "man, that was fresh, you got
it!" That's when you know all the training paid off!
But no one starts at the top, everyone starts at the
same place, the bottom. No one becomes fresh
overnight. You might be a one move wonder that
can get easy props, but that's really just a place to
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start and build from to become a complete bboy.
Be original! Aim to create your own style, one that
has never been seen before. If you want to be a
successful bboy you have to set yourself apart. Most
people think that if something hasn't been done,
then it's impossible. I say it just means no one has
thought of it yet! Take what people say is impossible
as a challenge.
In 1981 a bboy from the Bronx told me breaking was
played out and I should quit. I didn't listen to him, I
kept on practicing and battling, and a year later I was
breaking on national television. If someone had told
us you can't combine different styles and dances, we
wouldn't have all the new moves that have
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revolutionized this dance into what it is today: a
worldwide phenomenon. Some tried to label this as
a fad, like disco, but we broke the mold and won!
Build a character, so people can identify you even if
they can't see your face. Clothes can play a key role
in conveying your style and personality, and the
classic look always turns heads. Dress the part, rock
the part, and be original. Reinvent over and over
again. The style will never die, we just build on what
we're given, and pass on what we know to other
dancers that want to learn. Be a student. Be a
teacher. Good luck and God bless!
BBoy Powerful Pexster
New York City Breakers
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#1 Introduction
"If I have seen farther than
others, it is because I have stood
on the shoulders of giants." Issac Newton
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The greatest teachers are still students for life. They
share what they have learned so far and every day
brings new lessons to teach. I have spent well over a
decade performing and teaching street dance and the
most effective practice and training theories. I have a
degree in Psychology and am certified as both a
National Council on Strength and Fitness Personal
Trainer and a Sports Nutritionist.
Through CypherStyles.com, I've learned secrets from
hundreds of world class dancers. I love street dance
and I want to pass on everything I've learned to you.
The wisdom of our culture is much richer than the
words of any one man or woman. So, whenever
possible, I've shared and attributed the original
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quotes that have best informed and inspired my own
progress.
This book does not teach individual steps, it teaches
you techniques to help you change the way you view
dance and blow the roof off sessions, battles, and
performances. Contained in this book are all the
secrets that you will need to make every dance
session your best session.
“We have to pass down the flame. B-Boying is a dance in
constant evolution. The guys taking part in our workshops
already have a good level, in a few years they will be taking
our place.” - Hong 10
Take what's in these pages, use it, build on it, and
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pass it on. Your contributions to this culture will
last forever. Good luck, I'll see you in the Cypher!
Barry Rabkin / BBoy GRIZ
Founder & Owner
CypherStyles.com, Inc.
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#2 Street Dance
Studio Upgrade /
The Lab
No one is born a great dancer. Your dancing is only
as good as your practice. To get the most from your
practice sessions, you need to improve your practice
spot.
Your studio is your secret lab, where you cook up all
the dope moves and fresh transitions you'll be
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unleashing on dance floors for the rest of your life.
These steps show you how to easily upgrade your lab
so that you can upgrade your dancing and have the
most effective practices possible.
Get Grounded
"The body is the brush, the circle is the canvas, the paint is the
blood, sweat and tears." – Poe One
No matter what dance style you do, your first choice
should always be to dance on smooth wood or
linoleum floors. They have very low friction so they
are easy to spin, glide, and slide on. They are
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reasonably forgiving if you do have a rough landing.
and they are easier on your feet and joints than
pounding on other surfaces.
The second best choices are tile, marble, or stone,
which are also easy to spin on and fairly smooth, but
are harder on your joints when you're practicing
energetic movements with a lot of pounding. You
can tape down cardboard boxes over these hard
surfaces to make them much softer and more
forgiving on rough landings. Carpet is also an
acceptable third choice if you don't have other
options; it's soft and easy to land on, but it is a high
friction surface and very hard to glide or spin on.
The surfaces that you want to avoid regularly dancing
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on are: asphalt, cobblestone, concrete, sidewalks, and
gravel. Some dancers think it makes them
"hardcore" to dance on rough surfaces, but, after a
few years of doing it, they have serious and
permanent injuries, which cause irreversible damage
to their bodies and cut their dance careers short.
Doing an occasional street performance on sidewalk
is fine, unless you make a mistake and catch wreck.
But, if you dance on the street all the time, no matter
who you are, it will catch up to you.
If you want to proudly bear your torn elbows and
bboy bald spot as battle scars or badges of honor, be
my guest. But, know that you are taking years off
your life as a dancer with that kind of abuse. I still
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plan to be busting moves at my grandkids' weddings,
and I would encourage you to adopt the same longterm attitude.
Impress others with your moves, style and skills, not
with your ability to endure unnecessary self-inflicted
harm to your body. If you don't have wood floors,
you can buy linoleum rolls from home supply stores
or you can get enough pergo (fake wood flooring) to
build a dance floor for about $100. No matter what
kind of floor you dance on, I always recommend
having a thick mat handy to give you a nice soft
landing in case you make a mistake when you are
busting power moves and freezes.
To stretch your dollars, ask a local department store
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for some used cardboard boxes—most of them will
hook you up for free. You can stack them for
padding and tape them in place. You can even put
them under your linoleum or vinyl roll to cushion
impact while still letting you spin on top without
friction. While cardboard boxes are not as soft as
mats, they are usually free and much more forgiving
than any floor.
Banging Beats
"Without the right music, you have nothing." - BBoy
Chicano
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A decent small set of speakers that you can plug into
your CD player or MP3 player costs less than $50
and is one of the best investments you can make as a
dancer. You and your sound system are going to be
spending a lot of quality time together!
Whether you're battling, practicing or just getting
down in the club, your dancing can only be as good
as the music you dance to. You can dance to a wide
variety of music: funk, hip hop, house, techno,
breaks, top 40, electro, and more.
Ideally, you want your dance style to match the music
that you're training to. For instance, house dance is
fast and high energy, just like house music, while
popping is slower, more laid back, and funkier. You
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will have the best results training if your moves and
music match.
Regardless of specific styles, all good dance music
has a few things in common. The most important
thing is that it makes you want to dance. Most
catchy rhythms focus on bass and drum heavy
grooves with hard driving beats. They can't have
sections where the beat cuts out for too long, or with
long pauses between tracks. If the drum beat isn't
pouring out of the speakers, there's nothing for you
to dance to.
When you make playlists or mix CDs, stick to tracks
that have non-stop, uptempo, high-energy fast beats.
When you burn mix CDs, iTunes lets you put a “0”
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second delay between when one track stops and the
next one starts. This lets you flow seamlessly from
one track to the next. Remember that even
consistent, unbroken beats will put you to sleep if
they are too slow.
If you dance with others and they keep switching
your MP3 player out for theirs, chances are your mix
is making one of these common mistakes:
•
The beat isn't strong enough or is too slow.
•
The beat cuts out too much or takes too long
to come in.
•
The delays between tracks are too long,
•
The music doesn't match the dance style that
you're practicing.
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If you avoid these mistakes, your practices are going
to improve. You know you nailed it when everyone
starts begging you for copies of your fresh mixes!
"Music and dancing interlock. You can't have one without
the other." - BGirl Loan
Feedback
“Not all those who wander are lost.” - J.R.R. Tolkien
Learning to dance without feedback is like learning
to drive with your eyes closed. You have to be able
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to see what you are doing to react appropriately.
When you're first learning to dance, it's hard to know
if you're doing a move right. Without experience,
you don't know how it's supposed to feel. Use
external feedback to see how the move looks and
correct any mistakes.
There are 4 main ways of getting feedback, each with
its own benefits and drawbacks:
1) The easiest feedback source is a mirror. You can
get an inexpensive one from any local department or
home supply store. A large mirror can be a little
difficult to install, but a $20 mirror that hangs over a
door frame will still go a long way towards helping
you practice and requires no installation at all.
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Getting immediate feedback from a mirror is great,
but it doesn't work as well as recording yourself if
you're doing spinning moves like headspins,
windmills, 90s or swipes that require you to look
away from your reflection in the mirror.
2) Another solution is a video camera, which works
great, but is expensive if you don't have access to
one. Plus, you'll need to go through the trouble of
playing back the tape to review your form. You also
lose the instantaneous feedback you get from a
mirror. That said, it's the only way for you to see
your form on spinning moves that you can't follow
in the mirror.
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3) Friends or family members can watch your form
and give you feedback, but they may not know what
what the form should look like when performed
correctly. They also may not want to offend you if
your form is bad. Make sure to show them video
examples of the move and ask specific questions so
they know exactly what you're going for.
4) Teachers are the best people to provide feedback
and guidance. They will know what to look for, will
be happy to tell you if your form is bad, and will
know what to do to correct it.
When I was first learning, my favorite method was to
train with mirrors, and then shoot myself on video
every few weeks to record my progress and see
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where I needed to improve. As you become more
experienced and more in tune with your body, you
may be able to evaluate your dancing just based on
how you feel.
Even advanced dancers still benefit from specific
feedback. No matter who you are, you will get to an
advanced level and get in tune with your body faster
by incorporating more feedback into your practice
sessions.
Fresh Gear
“If you look good and dress well, you don't need a purpose in
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life.” - Robert Pante
Virtually every street dancer uses padding or
protective equipment of some kind. Street dance
gear makes a huge difference in your training for
five key reasons:
1) Distraction
The pain of doing moves without padding will
distract you from focusing on the move.
2) No Downtime
The less beat up you are after each practice the
sooner you can get back onto the dance floor. If
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you get injured, you may not be able to practice for
weeks or months while you heal. That's wasted time
when you would otherwise be improving.
3) Short Sessions
The pain of training without padding will make you
stop training when you are still mentally fresh
enough to keep practicing.
4) Double Your Dance
Career
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Gear will keep your body fresh so that you can still
be getting down for decades to come, instead of
having your dance career end prematurely because
you've wrecked your body and ruined your joints in
your first 2 years of practice.
5) Better Spins
Using gear designed for spinning, such as headspin
beanies, mock necks, spin gloves, and vinyl flooring
rolls, will help you get more spins, which will make it
easier to get a feel for the moves when you're first
learning.
At CypherStyles.com, we sell a wide range of spin
gloves, knee pads, elbow pads, spin sleeves, headspin
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beanies, spin helmets, wrist supports, and lots more
specially designed gear to help street dancers train
comfortably and improve quickly.
New Angles
"My relationship to gravity is permanently altered." - Steven
Jesse Bernstein
Nature has provided us with a powerful tool for the
training moves that we're struggling with. Hills and
any kind of sloped terrain make moves like kips,
somersaults, flips, and flares much easier to get the
feel for and master. Normally, on a flat surface you
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have almost no time for your upper body to catch up
to your lower body in a kip.
When you throw a flare, you have to have your legs
straight out in front of you or they will drag.
But, by practicing on a hill, you will have a longer,
lower descent, giving you more time to bring your
upper body up in a kip. You can let your legs hang a
little more on the front of the movement, so they
won't drag on the ground in front of you.
For a flip, a hill will give you more time to fully
complete your rotation before you land. Hills are a
great way to first get the feel for any move that
benefits from the extra vertical room between you
and your landing zone.
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Hit The Wall
"Every wall is a door." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Having some bare wall in your practice area is the
best way to first get familiar with freezes. You want
a spot where you can practice handstands,
headstands, and elbow stands that allows you to fall
out of the moves without breaking furniture or
yourself.
The first step to mastering handstands and
headstands is to practice doing them against a wall to
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help you steady yourself. After you become
comfortable with that, you can practice away from
the wall. But, even many advanced dancers still use
walls to help them practice getting their hollow backs
and inversions deeper and steadier.
The first thing you'll want to practice when using a
wall is falling. Purposefully practice falling by
bringing your legs straight down when you lose your
balance and keeping your neck straight so that you
don't injure yourself. Besides practicing against a
wall, you can practice in a hallway with a wall in front
of you and behind you, so, if you start to lose your
balance and go forward or backward, you can kick
off the wall and move back to center.
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Clearing out a small area of your practice spot will
help you learn these moves quickly and will give you
a chance to get comfortable with the moves, building
up your balance and experimenting with variations
that would otherwise be beyond your skill level.
Privacy
“You dance for yourself. The relationship is between you and
the music not with the audience.” - Teknyc, Skill Methodz
A friend of mine wanted her boyfriend to take dance
lessons with her. When they went to take lessons
together, she teased him for being nervous and
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dancing badly. This embarrassed him, so naturally,
he felt awkward his dancing got even worse. He
associated dancing with embarrassment and refused
to take lessons with her ever again. After they broke
up, I gave him a few basic dance lessons. Now he
has no problem dancing when he goes out. He
enjoys dancing and strangers regularly come up to
him to compliment his moves.
An experienced dancer may feel comfortable
performing in front of others, but most beginners
get nervous performing, since they haven't mastered
their moves yet. When people are watching us do
something we aren't yet good at, we get nervous.
When we get nervous, we get distracted, and when
we get distracted we do worse than normal, which
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makes us even more embarrassed. It's a a vicious
cycle. When you're practicing, go somewhere where
your cousin, girlfriend, mom, dog, and neighbors
aren't watching you. You want to be either by
yourself, with a teacher, or with other dancers
training at the same level. This privacy will minimize
your nervousness about messing up. It also gives
you a safe environment to practice new moves,
without having to worry about public
embarrassment if you make mistakes.
I hope you've enjoyed this brief sample
preview. Please go to CypherStyles.com to
get the complete 102 page book and the rest
of the Super Power Practice series!
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Street Dance Studio Upgrade “The Lab”

Transcription

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