So you want to be a bgirl/bboy?
I'm still struggling to be a bgirl myself, but a lot of people have been asking me for advice, so here is the information that I wish I had had when I was just getting started. I am just posting a bunch of stuff I have written to people over the months - I will change/add to it when I get more time - comment on this blog if you have any questions/comments/suggestions.
I'm going to use the terms bboying or breaking in this blog. I don't especially like using the term bgirl. Sorry if that bothers you.
I have put some advice for b-girls at the bottom of this blog.
Getting Started
While not impossible, it's very hard to learn to break on your own. Try to find some people who want to learn with you. Better yet, find some established breakers (look online, look for event flyers, ask around...) and ask if you can practice with them. If possible, try and find a class and take it. Perhaps this is not in the true street spirit of bboying, but it will give you a good basic foundation that you can build on.
One thing - while a lot of people break just for the fun of it, or for social reasons, if you want to be REALLY good, you will have to put in a significant amount of time and effort. Anyone who practices less than 2-3 times a week will probably not get anywhere great anytime soon. More than that...bboying is a way of life. It permeates everything that you do. Again, this doesn't mean that you can't break part time. But if you break part time you will not look like a bboy, and you will not feel like a bboy, and anyone that knows about bboying would not call you a bboy. Perhaps I am being cryptic, but I don't know how else to explain it. I'm not usually down with exclusivity, but - if you don't live like a bboy, don't call yourself a bboy. nuff said.
Basic Toprock Guides:
http://www.bboy.org/t47060/s.htmlhttp://www.bboy.org/t50036/s.htmlhttp://www.bboy.org/t50037/s.html
Uprock videos Basic Footwork/downrock Guides:
Moochy's 6 step Electron's 6 step 4 step12 step Above I have included some links to come basic bboy moves.
Toprock is dancing on your feet, and
downrock or footwork involves getting down on your hands and feet/knees.
Learn the basics.
Foundation is essential in bboying, meaning that you should learn the basic moves very well, and preferably before you get all excited and try for the
power moves (acrobatics) that everyone will ooh and aah at. You will be a better dancer for it, and you will get a lot more respect from other breakers. These links can get your started. There are ton of online forums and websites where you can learn about other common bboy footwork and moves.
Learning the Basics - Tips and Tricks:
Start small. A lot of people start breaking because they want to do cool moves and impress people. Problem is, you probably won't get to the point where you look acceptable for at least 3 months to a year. To look really takes at least 2 - 3 years depending on how hard you practice. So don't jump the gun. Take baby steps when you are first starting. Practice the basic moves over and over. Do them slowly and focus on doing them correctly.
Watch. If you can't find some bboys to watch, the next best thing is videos - perhaps vidoes are better because you can pause and rewiind. Good breakers have all watched videos obsessively (style2ouf.com, or just use google to search). Watch competitions, watch people practicing, watch the way they move as well as the moves that they do.
Listen to music. Hip-hop, funk, break beats. Listen to the
music until it's in your bones. This will make you look much better when you dance.
The last two points are part of this one -
get immersed in the culture. Bboying is as much about style and attitude as it is about acrobatics and dancing. A lot of what makes a dancer look good on the floor is the style and the funk and the flair with which he/she moves.
If you are not a good dancer, or can't keep to the beat, then don't give up. Learning anything is very hard at first because you are not accustomed to it. If you want to learn how to break you WILL feel awkward, and you WILL look stupid. Just accept that and work through it.
Learning a move - steps that worked for me:
Understand the move. understand the parts of the move, and understand where your body should be when you do it. watch videos to figure it out or get someone else to show you and tell you what you are doing wrong.
PRACTICE!!For uprock, dance whenever you can to hip-hop beats. Feel the beat - I'm not sure if I can explain this here, but there is a 1-2-3 beat that all your dancing will center around. Listen and try to dance in time.
For footwork, do repititions. e.g. do sets of 10 six steps everyday or every other day for 2 weeks (start off with one set at a time, progress to 3). This is also how you build up muscle - do a little bit everyday, or whenever you have the time. This kind of thing only takes 5-10 minutes. You can do it in your living room. Practice a little and often - this is key. 3 times a week if you want to make observable progress.
Get the move right. Don't be overly obsessed about dancing to the beat of music when you are first starting - this will be important later, but don't beat yourself up over it just yet. Make sure you get the move right. This will provide a good foundation for when you are trying to fit your moves together, and to break to the beat, not to mention the fact that you won't look stupid.
Be dedicated. Practice, practice and practice more. Take baby steps and keep trying, even if you don't look anything like the breakers in the videos. You WILL get better if you pay attention to the moves, and practice a little at a time. you will NOT get better over night. I think that this is the number one thing that derails beginners. They just get discouraged and fade away.
Getting Better:
To get better, you just need more of what you started with - practice and dedication, and an understanding of the basic foundations of the moves and the culture of bboying. I strongly suggest setting up regular practice times with some friends. Once a week at least - just make a time and a place, and be there.
Some pointers...
If I am having trouble with a move then I do little excercises that will help me develop the muscle and flexibility that I need.This is particularly important for power moves. Practice using the wall or a chair, or get someone to hold you, or practice the beginning movememnts of the move without following through...be careful when first learning power moves because if you go for it without having the basic strength and flexibility, then you could seriously injure yourself (seriously - be careful!)
Increase you strength, flexibility, and stamina. A lot of people run, or do situps and pushups, or weights. To build strentgh, I usually just do bboy moves over and over - I find this is a better use of my time than wieghtlifting. Push your limits. You should feel it the day after practice. If your muscles are not at least a little sore the day after practice, then you didn't do enough. Flexibility is an important part of bboying that many people ignore. It makes a big difference in your range of motion and makes your moves look much more impressive. You will find some moves impossible unless you are flexible enough.
Strength and flexibility are VERY IMPORTANT if you want to avoid injury.
Pay particular attention to:
Wrists and fingers - you are on your hands a lot. Particularly when you start doing power moves you will be falling on your hands and wrists, and you will hurt yourself if you are not careful. Push your hands together or on the ground to increase strength in your wrists, and consider buying one of those gripper gadgets to increase strength in your fingers. Trust me - I learned the hard way. You WILL injure your wrists and fingers if you do not do this.
Shoulders - most of the more impressive bboy moves require a lot of shoulder strength and flexibility.
Knees - try to stretch your knees and move them about to develop strength ( it will feel wierd, just try). Something about the way that weight is distributed when you bboy is very hard on the knees.
Learning to dance like a bboy is especially hard if you are not coming from the hip-hop culture. You can learn the moves, ok. But you are not a bboy until you have the bboy attitude and the bboy style. Small aspects of the way you move - where you put your weight, whether you are on the balls of your feet or not, or how you hold you head and shoulders - all these things will effect how you look when you dance. Practice. Watch yourself and others, and work to make yourself look how you want to look.
Don't outright copy others (it's called 'biting'). Make the dance and the moves your own by doing them in a way that is suited to your personality and skills. It will take a while to develop your own style (i.e. the way you move when you dance), so be patient, and just try things out. Take a look at yourself in the mirror or video tape yourself and take note of what looks good and what doesn't. If you have a friend who you know will be honest, and if you don't mind the feedback, then ask them what/how you can improve how you dance.
Make it tight. As you get better there are two things that you should focus on - making your moves faster, and making your moves very crisp and snappy. These two things will make you look much more impressive in the cypher. Do every move completely and do it well...It's tough, I'm still struggling with this one.
Read up about hip-hop culture. The origins, the lingo, important people. You don't have to be an expert, but gain at least some understanding of where the dance comes from and why people do it.
Putting the moves together:
More info coming (sets and transitions)
The cypher:
The cypher, or circle, is a group of people and the space in the middle where bboys dance. Depending on your personality, the cypher can be exciting, or terrifying, or both.
- more info coming (confidence, protocol, style and presence)
Pointers for bgirls...
For the bgirls out there - you have it both easier and harder than the bboys. On the one hand, the bboys out there are often more than happy to teach you moves and be patient with you as you learn. On the other hand, it is very hard to get really good, because people are usually so happy to see a girl breaking that they will clap and cheer if you do so much as a six step and a baby freeze. We get props for doing MUCH less than regular bboys, and this totally removes the motivation to practice and get better.
Girls can be just as good as guys, if not better in certain aspects. One thing I find is that girls just practice less. We are less driven to put the time and the effort in. It seems to me that this is one of the main reasons why bgirls are often left in the dust by the bboys.
Play on your strengths as a girl. So you've been watching all the bboys and bboy videos, but you don't have to copy them exactly. Bboys generally have more upper body strength and their weight centeres around their shoulders. Bgirls are generally more flexibile and their weight centers around their hips and ass. The difference in center of balance makes a big difference when you are doing moves like freezes and windmills. You will need to compensate when you are learning moves from a bboy. Girls generally have more rhythm than guys, so definitely play up the uprock. It&..39;s something that a lot of guys ignore, but a good uprock set punctuated by a freeze or two can be pretty impressive. Girls can also shake their hips is a way that would make (most) bboys look ridiculous - so just because the bboys don't do it doesn't mean we can't.
Another very important thing for girls is to build up your muscle. We are naturally not as strong as guys and it makes the six step and all the power moves MUCH harder to learn and master. Put extra effort into attempting moves that are hard or impossible for you because you are not strong enough. Don't go hard out when you don't have the strength yet - you will hurt yourself. Just carefully attempt the movements that you will need to do a move a couple of times more than you really feel like - eventually you will build strength and be able to do it no problem. Most of the basic bboy moves are based on shoulder strength. This doesn't come to us as naturally as it does to the guys, so focus on increasing both strength and flexibility is in your shoulders.
As a girl you will often be alone in a group of guys. One thing that I noticed when I'm breaking with a group of girls is that we chat with each other and talk about how we like each others shoes and clap and cheer when someone does good stuff. This is very motivating. Guys, while still encouraging and helpful, are different somehow - just a little bit less encouraging and a little more focused on practicing rather than making each other feel good. If you are a girl who needs a lot of attention and encouragement, then you should probably find some other girls (or some guys in touch with their feminine side :-) to practice with. Also, try to focus on practicing bgirling rather than interacting with other people. It's natural for us to just do a couple of moves that you are good at and have people give you props and then sit around chatting for the rest of the practice. If you REALLY want to get good then REALLY practice. Do the moves over and over and push your limits, just a little, at each practice. Don't rest on your laurels just because you are a girl and you can do a couple of moves - strive to beat the guys at their own game.
Girl Crews and Sites: breakgirl.com, shebangcrew.com, bgirlstyle, femaleartistics, Las Vegas Bgirls, bgyrl.com, True Essencia, Breakngrounds, decyphercru.ca (these girls taught me :-)