New vs. Old

I have read many articles over the internet and have listened to people using the trendy words: Old School/New School. This trend was initiated in the mid Eighties, when KOOL MOE DEE and LL Cool J had a lyrical battle over the airwaves. KOOL MOE DE is one of my favorite rap artists, but I have disagreed with him then and I disagree with the current trend in dancing. KRS ONE said in one of his tracks, 'I'm still Number One' from the 1988 'By All Means Necessary' album. 'Rap' is still a new art and no one's from the Old School, because 'Rap' is still a brand new tool. ' I say no one's from the Old School, because 'Rap' on a whole, isn't even a hundred years old. Fifty years down the line you can start this, because we will be the Old School Artists. 'These dances are only twenty plus years old.' So, now we have people saying this dance is Old School and this dance is New School, or they are Old School Poppers and New School Poppers. First, just look at the dances people are calling Old School: Lockin', Poppin', and Breakin'; these forms are still in their developmental stages (when it comes to creating and running a production).

Closely take a look at the word 'Old'. Here is what the American Heritage Dictionary has listed: Mature, Having lived or existed for a long time, Made long ago, not new. These dances have not yet reached it's maturity level. We are still struggling for existence and presently developing these dances to be an acceptable art form.

Poppin', Breakin' and Lockin' are not club style dances, so why compare them to House, Hip Hop or any current club dance style. These dances are performing or competition dances. Breakers only use clubs, because it's hard to find places to dance with music and get honors within our communities.

House and Hip-Hop dance are more for the clubs. Yes, there are some dancers who have elevated their dancing to a higher level, by combining movement from other art forms, but the general dancers in clubs are dancing with the opposite sex. You cannot do this with Lockin', Poppin' or Breakin'; can you imagine a guy walking up to a lady saying, ' lets dance, I mean, lets break together.' This is one of the biggest problems we have with other dancers, we take up too much space to display are skills. These dances belong in performances like 'Jam on the Groove.' I may go to a club from time to time and break it down, but this is not the best place to display your skills. Club dancing is trendy and we should not solely rely on club for our survival.

It takes a Popper, Breaker or locker many years to perfect these art forms, just like jazz, ballet or gymnastics. Why should we stop dancing, we practice for years to learn these art forms? No one is going to tell a ballet or jazz dancer after three to five years of training, that their dance is played out and do you think their going to stop dancing? NO!, they are going to continue, because they put a lot of time and energy into learning their art form. We feel the same way, why should any of us stop dancing? Yes, I went through so many played out stages, but I kept doing what I like. Because, my heart is in Breakin'. People tell me, 'yeah, you're a good breaker, but the dance is played out' or 'are you still doing that dance, that's old.' No one can start busting windmills or glide after a couple days of practice. For movies and videos, they tried using professional dancers and found out it would take too long for a trained jazz or ballet dancer to learn how to flair and don't even talk about windmills. Thoroughly look at the dance called ballet. Does a ballet dancer stop dancing after they reach 21? NO! Their dancing career is just starting. You have ballet dancers over the age of fifty years still performing. The older dancers do more than just dance. They have more 'levels of maturity.' They are more involved in running the production and usually teach other dancers. Ballet is one of the dances that fits the description of an Old School dance, more than lockin', poppin' or breakin'. This dance has been around for a long time and has reached it's maturity level. Now ballet dancers focus more on production and drama, but the movements in ballet are basically the same.

By saying Old School in itself sounds played out or over the hill. There are a substantial amount of words we can use. I prefer the word Ken Smith used (a member of the Rock Steady Crew) in one of his articles. He used the term first generation, second generation and so on. This is more self explanatory and informs people how long a dancer has been representing their style. I have a lot of respect for other styles of dance. We should all come together and support each other. The production 'Jam on the Groove' shows different types of dance styles and how they can collaborate with each other. No one should detour us from our goal. Fight to have these dances acceptable as legitiment art forms.