Battlecats Blog
By battlecats
Read below to follow the process through the Battlecat’s own words:
This entry was posted on September 11, 2008 at 6:07 pm and is filed under Artistic Process. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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September 24, 2008 at 3:32 pm |
What up yall! This is B-Boy J-Sun writing to let you know about Battlecats and our creative process. We definitely respect and and listen to each other, it is a group effort. So don’t argue with your crew too much! You need to remember that organization must begin somewhere and as Aceyalone says: “You can’t be immortalized if you’re not organized.”
Part of our process is just getting down and cyphering. What does that mean? We spend time freestyling or improvising and sometimes it gets way more hectic that the actual creation of dances. This does provide us with some material for our pieces, what one person creates becomes movement for the routine.
On a more personal note, I have just started my program at the University of MN. This is a design your own degree program and I am calling it B-Boy Culture. This will allow me to analyze my experiences in the culture and the U will actually give me a degree for this! I pick out classes that I think apply and my advisor gives me others that she thinks I need. Then I write a thesis for each degree. I plan on going for my masters and becoming a professor of Hip Hop at the U. I will have to do additional school to reach that goal but I love what I do. In this way, I am creating a need and a niche for myself because there is no Hip Hop prof at the U. Sustainability is very important for making a career that can support my family and myself. Enough for now. Peace!
October 2, 2008 at 2:18 pm |
Way to go Jsun, perfect for the job.
I quit bboying….to much krumping foundation in it, i beat myself up too much….punched myself in the face!
October 3, 2008 at 3:22 am |
Haha funny guy! Those crazy hip hop dancers!
October 6, 2008 at 3:01 pm |
What up! It is after the battle and I just wanted to comment on the day. It was deserted until Nikoless started playing that true school Hip-Hop. Then everyone was there. We had ten crews out of 24 that registered actually show up but that really didnt make a difference in the competition. And the comp was fierce! Carnage wrecked a beatbox session with the B-boys and B-girls and Desdamona performed onstage. I have to say again that Nikoless provided the best music possible for this jam, you could hear it 6 blocks away. We had a big warm-up room and there was even free food. Having the comp between the buildings and downtown gave it a real Hip-Hop feel. Jojo and the Game created a beautiful graff piece that covered an entire wall. We had a panel on the 4 pillars of Hip-Hop and I was honored to be able to represent the b-boys/girls, it was packed in there. Speaking of packed, we filled that parking lot full of people! All in all, it was a beautiful day and everyone that I spoke with had a great time! I loved that we repped Hip-Hop to its fullest and that it was a free event. Our only hitch was that Daylight injured himself and we were unable to perform “Revolution” , but we will feature it at the B-Girl Mona Lisa Benefit and also the Walker Choreographer’s Evening. Kim, Melissa, and Sara from the Shubert really handled all the tedious details and Battlecats thank you for all your help!
October 8, 2008 at 9:15 pm |
Peace! BBoy JSun just writing to tell you a little about how I create my movement and how I look at choreography. Well, I take inspiration from animals, as you know if you have seen me dance. I use the killer frog, death roll(crocodile), poison swan, lizard crawl, and the squid. Basically, you take a movement that completely epitomizes an animal; something that animal does that separates it from the rest of the animal kingdom, a unique movement. Then you put it somewhere in your foundation: six-step, cc, swipe, sweep, front crosses, kneedrops, w-freeze, etc. Or you can take a motion from your favorite activity like reading, soccer, shopping and incorporate that. This is a way to find your own personal style. Choreography is simply making up movement, it is not a style of hip hop. This is common sense for trained dancers but a lot of hip hop dancers think that choreography is video dancing. Nope. Anyways, if you ever get stuck in a position or find yourself doing the same thing over and over again, try to locomote that movement. There are many ways of moving: sliding, dragging, hopping, sequential movement, crawling. Whatever it is, you have to keep the position that you are stuck in and move in that position. You can also experiment with levels, for example, you can take 6-step and try to do on your forearms, shoulders, head, or upright. You can even use different finger positions, like a peace sign or hang loose. Another way to make movement is to write your name in the air or on the floor with an appendage, hand, elbow, shoulder, head, hips, knee, foot. Or a shape. Or you can travel in the path of the shape or letter. There is so much variety in b-boying that anything pretty much is accepted as long as your foundation is there. As long as I can say that it is b-boying and no one can argue with that, then I am happy. When I work on a group dance, I use the music to inspire me first of all, but a lot of it comes as we work together. I have a few things in mind but I know it will grow when my crew brainstorms. And I am also comfortable in being wrong and willing to go in a different direction than I plan. Arguing wastes too much energy and time, if there is a problem, pick an easy solution. This dosent mean that the movement is easy, just the idea. Simplicity works very well on stage. Keep you audience in mind as you choregraph, and use it to your advantage. I really enjoy what I do and I am happy to share this information with you.