By the 1980s a man named Afrika Bambaataa appeared out of no where on to the scene a master DJ releasing “Looking for the Perfect Beat” which was enjoyed by all music critics reaching number 4 in the American charts and he evidentially became a record producer. Afrika Bambaataa then started a new crew know as The Zulu Kings. They made hundreds of appearances all over New York and getting thousands of supporters.
The old style of break dancing was much simpler then you see today, the moves were more around fast moving leg work which was composed of floor work or floor rock this is now known as old-style breaking. The movements were speeded up so that they looked far more complex then they actually are and it wasn’t long till most people had there own style battling each other. As the gangs only started practicing break dancing they renamed their group into crews which is the more update word that is used today.
In the 1980 Richie Colon who was nicknamed b-boy Crazy Legs had started a new break dancing movement the Rock Steady Crew him and other members like Jimmy D and Jojo they had no idea that they would travel all over the world. No matter what happened the Rock Steady Crew did manage to stick around and are now celebrating there 25th anniversary. The rock Steady Crew are well known for there incredible athletic ability being able to do back flips and being physically strong is a great advantage if you are a break dancer. They created some of the newer moves that people are a lot more use to seeing like windmills, hand glides, backspins and head spins. They featured in films such as Wild Style this film was created by Charles Ahearn contained all four major forms of hip hop. This film made the new break dancing more popular and everyone loved this new style. In November 1983 the queen of England asked them to perform at the royal variety show in aid of the Benevolent Fund. Unfortunately they were told by their management team not break dance at parties or discos as this was part of there contract and this led to them losing much fame and publicity. Regardless to there down fall they never broke up and remained together they took this as a temporary break for other interests.
Mr Wiggles and Fable two young and upcoming break dancers and body lockers approached Crazy Legs and tried to bring The Rock Steady Crew back to live one thing led to another and they released a new song named “So, What Happens Now?” No one even released that they had gone any where into the early 1990s The Rock Steady Crew were back. In 1992 they were invited to the Kennedy Centre where they met George Bush, Gregory Peck, and the Nicholas Brothers. A annual event reunites DJ’s, b-boys / b-girls, graffiti artists, MC’s and fans of all ages from all over the world. Unlike the old days they now have total control of there destiny because they are now not under management from anybody.
Today The Rock Steady Crew work to continue hip hop on through the next generations and beyond by setting up break dancing lessons for all ages and helping them to stay on the right side of life. Bobbito or C.M. Famalam is DJ for The Rock Steady Crew he has traveled the world around ten times, five times Grammy award winner and also appearing in over 30 television and radio adverts. Bobbito joined the Rock Steady Crew in 1993 even though he is mainly associated with writing songs and background music.
Richard “Crazy Legs” Colón a 24 year old veteran of Hip Hop culture and one of the original members of The Rock Steady Crew he has been on many of the original tours during the 80s. He has been on television many times like in numerous films like Wild Style and Flashdance, documentaries about the history of dancing in America, Coke Cola videos and music videos. Richard also tries to teach as much as that he knows to the next generations so that the spirit of break dancing will never die and he also organizes the yearly The Rock Steady Crew reunion. With all his wealth he has opened a new record label to help young talented people be able to share their new music with many people.
Julie Urich, better known as “Jules” one of the most phenomenal female break dances she originally learned gymnastics at the age of 13 she became so good that she was relocated to Philadelphia to further her great potential. Since then she has traveled all over the world been featured in films and theaters. Jules has also been in a number of music videos for example the Moby video “Body Rock”, and the star-studded "On the Line" video with Nsync and Mandy Moore. Her knowledge of break dancing is so well that she has even been asked to judge competitions.
Jorge “Fabel” Pabon one of the original members of The Rock Steady Crew Fabel has individually pioneered himself internationally. Fabel was also one of the founders of Hip Hop as that he co-authored, co-directed, and co-choreographed the first two Hip Hop musicals ever which are "So! What Happens now?" and "Jam on the Groove" (first official Off-Broadway Hip Hop musical).
Q-Unique, born in Brooklyn and raised in the Bronx has always had the Hip Hop scene constantly around him since 1979 this lead to him living, eating and breathing the Hip Hop scene. Q was luckily enough to meat up with Richard Colón in 1989 where he was taken under his wing having his own mentor enabled him to learn more then he ever knew about break dancing. Around the 90s he picked up MC’ing and was able to put records together he was even given the chance to teach MC’ing at high schools that were around him. Q-Unique also explored other elements as well Breaking' in The Roots “Clones” video and Def Squad “Rappers Delight Remake” video. He has also DJ’s in various Hip Hop events and venues also putting out a series of his own mix tapes he is one of the only members of the Rock Steady Crew to have had a taste of all four elements of Hip Hop.
Easy Roc has experienced break dancing and spray painting from the early 80s then in 1983 he started riding bikes as a hobby he was then sponsored by G.T. cycles becoming a professional leading to him to tour with them and competing around the world and always found some time to practice his break dancing. In 1991 he was approached by The Rock Steady Crew to join. In 1999 Easy Roc set a Guinness World Record for the most continuous headspins (no hands).Recently Easy Roc finished working on a movie with actor and director Ben Stiller in which he was the stunt and dance double for actor Owen Wilson.
Joseph Anthony Hernandez nick named Tony Touch was born in New York began b-boying in 1982 at the age of 13 he was moved to Florida (Orlando) where he contributed to the Hip Hop scene. He has experienced all four elements of the Hip Hop scene and crated many mix tapes that led to international fame in 1991 he later decided to put down the micro phone and then became a DJ for a local radio station. Tony is known to be on the road representing the RockSteady Crew and DJ’ing for their legendary anniversary celebrations. He can also be found DJ’ing at clubs in the United States, the Caribbean, and throughout Europe and Japan regularly.
Fever One originally learned body locking or popping, but eventually gave into the strong push of break dancing In 1987 Icey Ice and Ness 2000 of the world famous New York City Breakers moved to Seattle, giving Fever the opportunity to dance with renowned, professional b-boys and to appear with DJ Mixmaster Ice. Fever joined a group of graffiti artists, b-boys, and DJs to create the Dropping Vicious Styles crew (DVS). Most performances during the early '90s were for Seattle youth and many performances were staged at the Langston Hughes Cultural Arts Center. Furthermore, Fever-One was one of three representatives selected to lecture and demonstrate in the first B-Boy instructional video entitled B-Boy foundations. Fever one has continuously been lecturing at many major Universities including Princeton, Yale and Rutgers.
He has been featured in several music videos like DJ Honda, LFO and Tony Touch and judged battles for Rock Steady Crew and Zulu Nation anniversaries.
In conclusion the history of break dancing is very complex it all originated in the one central area of New York and has managed to grow and spread all over the world. No one knows where the future of break dancing will lead but it will never die out and will continue to amaze and stun people everyday.
