Shady Ladies

So yesterday (Sunday 21 Feb), I entered my first dance battle-based competition which was the 2v2 freestyle section at Code Red held at Dance Generation studios by my good friend Lenny the Dragonlord. I saw my fellow Shady Lady – El - outside the studio and asked if she would enter with me, since my other fellow Shady Lady offered but was only doing it as a favour to me and had 2 other showcases on the day (heart you Wendy!) El had just come from yoga and was wearing a dress, looking very much as Chux described, “Mother Earth” but she was down. We thought it would be fun despite the fact it was very last minute and we hadn’t danced in a couple of months, let alone trained for a battle. For both of us, it was the first time battling in a comp.

The nerves were kicking in as we got up for the preliminary round, with El hoping she didn’t have to battle her boyfriend Solo, a 6-foot-something half African/half Samoan (?) yet funnily enough that’s what happened, purely by accident. So she stepped out first to the tunes of a track i’m in love with currently (Boyz II Men – Can’t Let Her Go) while he smiled with that really gross look of love (puke) on his face the whole time. Then he came out, I stepped out and don’t remember anything that I did, up-rocked his partner Dany back during his set and that was that. It’s always fun to battle bboys, to see their intensity and attitude up close and personal, but this battle wasn’t like that at all, they were just smiling the whole time like “oh they are so small, that’s funny, their moves are so girly” type of stuff.

We both got through since the judges were just choosing the Top 8 crews, and what do you know, we get put up against the other Shady Lady crew of Jessica and Anna, in the last of the quarter final battles. I was on the side thrusting and what not as DJ Libre played Janet’s “All For You”, and stepped out doing… I can’t even remember, some waacking and other bs… El freaked the music pretty good and with two ties and one vote to our side by Chux, we were through to the semi’s.

Battling Kou and Eriko was intense, with 2 rounds each person, these guys (as the overall winners) were fierce! Libre dropped the sickest track (Bucketheads – The Bomb) which got me pumping and I launched into it straight away, tiring myself out with all the jumping around and House moves. I thought my legs were going to die and looking back, I don’t actually know why I didn’t bring out waacking halfway. I knew Kou would come out with House/Waacking and he smoked me!!! That dude’s got so much stamina and has so much battle tactics its crazy. El repped so well, it’s hard to tell what she’s doing when you’re watching from the back so I just kept screaming to hype her up. Eriko came out BAM in the face with some punking and just killed the music. The same track was on so I thought “yes now I can start waacking” then after about an 8 count its switched to “COME ON RIDE THE TRAIN (WOOT WOOT) AND RIDE IT!” so hey the music changes I’ll adapt and first thing that came into my mind was some Middle School. WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING I was already tired, dehydrated and my legs almost numb from all the damn jumping, so yeah I pretty much lost focus and just wanted TO DIE. Kou came out, waacking again I think, then El then Eriko with her tank Locking and a huge kick to the face sealed their deal.

They totally deserved to win, I’m just glad to get the battle experience and they were so gracious, I’m happy to get smoked by such amazing talent. The way I see it, both El and I gave our best, came out with the battle attitude, listened to and felt the music, and had a bunch of fun. I tried honestly to show versatility in styles, careful not to bring out too much waacking since that’s mostly what I’ve been doing since I came back from NY in Sept. But when I talked to others about advice on improving, I realised waacking really brought out my character the most, and having my hair out to play with was my thing, whereas I wore a hat on the day, which gave me a different mood like real tomboy-ish. Oh well now I know.

So people have asked me why I waited so long to battle, I guess there hasn’t been an event that I could or was interested in entering. I’m either organising and/or judging the event, or the organisers are wack, or the judges are a poor choice – why put yourself in a position to have your dance ability, performance, etc judged by someone you don’t respect to give you their opinion, let alone let them judge you?! So I’ve made a stance and this was the only event that fit all the criteria. Next one is 360, and hopefully I can get some decent training in.

I’ll add the videos from the event once peeps post them up on Youtube, so feel free to email me, PM me your advice on how I can improve, I’m always open to constructive criticism and feedback and suggestions on how to take my battling to the next level

Trina

Firstly let me say that attending this show is by far the most memorable concert I have ever been to. Continue Reading

For many things, dancing, emceeing, general comedic material as well, I haven’t been very up to date.  Since not having a computer at home stunts the amount of time I spend watching other people do things, I’ve generally been out doing things instead.

Internet Dancers?

In fact, I don’t really watch many videos these days because I find that I take something away from it without thinking, and usually bring it up later as my own.  I used to catch myself doing this with punchlines, dance moves and jokes, but haven’t seen it happen very often since I stopped watching many other people.

The last time I discussed this, I remember hanging out with Jojo (Zealous) and Kat (Shady Ladies) and talking about how none of us watch very many videos these days, specifically because of those reasons.  Which brings me to my main subject of discussion:  Cryptomnesia.

“Cryptomnesia, or inadvertent plagiarism, is a memory bias whereby a person falsely recalls generating a thought, an idea, a song, or a joke, when the thought was actually generated by someone else.^[1] In these cases, the person is not deliberately engaging in plagiarism, but is rather experiencing a memory as if it were a new inspiration.
The second type of cryptomnesia results from an error of authorship whereby the ideas of others are remembered as one’s own. In this case, the plagiarizer correctly recognizes that the idea is from an earlier time, but falsely remembers having been the origin for the idea.”
- Wikipedia (I know, I’m the laziest researcher in the world.)

When I’d found a name for what it was, it was much easier to identify what was happening when I’d watch videos and catch myself dancing like people from recently viewed works of dance.  And you’ll notice it too, if you’ve got a keen eye for styles and knowing what dancers people are keeping their eyes on.

“Cryptomnesia is more likely to occur when the ability to properly monitor sources is impaired. For example, people are more likely to falsely claim ideas as their own when they were under high cognitive load at the time they first considered the idea.”
So if, hypothetically, you’ve been watching a bunch of dance videos, multiple at a time, you’re much more likely to end up bringing those same movements, feelings and styles again when you train or choreograph.

This happens particularly often in the choreographed hip hop environment, when people watch more famous dancers make a set to a song, and end up making their own set to the song.  If you watch closely, they often hit the same beats and accentuate the same parts of the music as the original “inspiration”, and do it without conscious knowledge of their actions.

But this isn’t limited to routine dancers.

I know a ridiculous amount of freestyle dancers who see sets by well-known freestylers, in shows or battles, and then practice to that song, also unwittingly using the same parts of the music and planning their efforts on certain parts of the music.  It’s a lot easier to dance to a song when somebody else has mapped it out for you, and you don’t have to analyse.  You just have to remember.

The problem with this twofold in creative art forms such as dance and music.
The first is creative integrity of the original artist.  If there is an influence on your style and on your own creativity, then the originator(s) deserve the respect for that, even if it is just acknowledgement of your sources of inspiration.
The second is creative integrity of the artist who draws inspiration.  The artists own interpretation is altered, changed or even hidden underneath the interpretation of the original artist.  Also, without the awareness of this, the artist doesn’t have the ability to alter the form of the original work to suit themselves rather than the original artist.

You might see this:
Which becomes this:
Which then becomes this:
Which somebody makes into this:
Look at those fucking biters. Just look at them.

But is this inspiration, or theft?  And by the action being unintentional, is it acceptable or not?
The most important question in my opinion is, now that you know it’s happening, what do you do about it?

I remember bringing this up with Rush (Fresh Sox) one time, and his response was,
“We just call that biting, bro.”.
And in all honesty, I agree.
Also, so does the United States Copyright Law.

“In a famous case, George Harrison was sued over royalties for his first solo song “My Sweet Lord“, a song that sounded too similar to the Chiffons’ “He’s So Fine”. Harrison lost the case when a judge said he “subconsciously plagiarized”, and was ordered to pay $587,000 to Bright Tunes Music, who owned the copyright. Plagiarism of this sort is a kind of sleeper effect whereby old ideas come to feel new.”
- Wikipedia (again).

Pay attention to your choice of entertainment and your viewing material, lest your creations be revealed to not be your own.

Discussion in the comments welcomed.

This is me thinking... on the pier at Coney Island, NY

I have come to the point where I need to take a break from the dance scene – from attending jams and events, going to clubs (not that I really did anyway), and focusing on other things in my life. I know many people who organise Hip Hop and/or dance related events that regularly take breaks from the scene to refresh themselves and keep them sane.

For a long time I had thought that I should be at every event, be updated in everything that’s going on, etc, but now that I’m experiencing a shift in life, my attitude has changed because I’m just sick of the drama, politics, lack of respect, and all the negative things that come out of the scene, which dominates all the good stuff.

I understand why people have left the scene permanently and gone on to alternatives like other forms of dancing (salsa the most popular) or capoeira and other martial arts. There is so much ego, there are so many cliques, kids wanting to be popular, incestuous relations (dancers dating dancers that other dancers have dated before, lots of common liquids shared *shudder*) and heaps of BS.

So a break is needed, a time for thinking about what’s important and what motivates you, then set new goals and get back into it. Hopefully I can use this blog to continually share stories that inspire and motivate dancers and dancers-to-be (while taking the time to write some crap here and there and rant about some other BS too). Hey, it sets a good balance and gives a real insight into the workings of the scene.

A comment from Chux on my last post got me thinking about the situation in a way I hadn’t intended. I sat down to write my first little blog hoping that some of you would read it and think about it. I hadn’t expected that it would work in reverse and make me think about it myself. My thanks to Chux for his thoughtful comment, and for surprising me.

I agree with many points of your post Chux, and I’m quietly chiding myself for not examining the Teacher/Student relationship in the first place.

My intention in that piece wasn’t to highlight a problem with those teaching Hip Hop (or even those claiming Hip Hop but teaching Jazz). My intention was to highlight a problem with those who choose to live and die by a perceived Class system (not in and of itself a bad thing) to the point that they let no one into the system to fill the ranks.

I’ll tackle the issues one at a time.

Teachers are a complex and subjective issue to tackle. But in my experience teachers deviate from the path above slightly.

They believe in the culture, they believe in the foundation (if you haven’t already read Chux’s article by now, Do It, it has ninjas), and they do so with varying degrees of openness and accessibility to their students. The best teachers believe that they aren’t there to teach routine after routine, but to teach a style, a skill, a way of moving.

As Chux says in his comment – he tries to coax people onto the dance side, he focuses on people improving. He isn’t about getting people to learn a routine – so much so that his class is freeform and in direct opposite to most others you will see.

I spoke to Nacho once years ago about how he teaches his classes and how he looks at his students. He told me the routines where a means to an end – they slowly worked people into the society and culture to the point they would either run for themselves or fade away again.

The culture got people to the school/teacher, the teacher gets people to the knowledge, and the knowledge either gets the people back to the culture as teachers of others OR they walk away.

So the teacher is a vital part of scene (in a dance perspective).

What I was trying to express in the original article was to wonder why some people find the knowledge, and then choose NOT to teach with it. Why some people become so engrossed in the culture or in the hierarchy once they have moved up in status that they choose to, willingly or un-willingly, shun those below them.

Perhaps they are intimidated by these newcomers, challengers to their hard fought position in this society they have found.

Perhaps they experienced the same thing and dish it out through a miss-placed sense of duty to the cause.

Perhaps they are just f*ckwits.

The problems is that a Chain of Command (however informal, and unexpressed it may be) exists within almost all societies. Your fewest numbers at the top leading the way and your most at the bottom working away.

Keeping it to a purely dance topic for now lately there has been an influx of people into the culture at the bottom level yet the numbers at the top level have dwindled. As Chux rightly pointed out, teachers are responsible for guiding and defining the path these young one take.

However with too few teachers (in this case dance, but also just O.G’s in general in a wider sense) and too many newcomers – it’s up to the middle rank to take up the slack. THIS is what has been lacking of late. Middle ranks with a confused sense of self entitlement, a small taste of acclaim, and a flat brim cap have decided that they aren’t willing to share their knowledge with the newcomers.

The newcomers see this as a lack of direction from the top and leave, the teachers see the newcomers constantly leaving and so turn there attention to the middle ranks.

That’s a very Dance-centric response to Chux’s comment, and I’ve written WAY more than I’d meant to, so I’ll leave it there.

Thanks again to Chux for a dope reply and I hope you don’t mind me putting my attempted reply and justification in such an open forum, just thought a good question deserved a good reply from me.

Hopko

And here's a Ninja because i think Chux started a trend