Getting into Poppin Styles & intro to waacking

So last weekend, a few of us from class went to the launch of a new monthly hip-hop night ran by hip-hop group Hector Bizerk called "Stigma" (downstairs in Stereo). Each night will have a theme and on Saturday it was focusing on females in hip-hop and combating negative stereotypes. A great night was had by all, with DJ Shelltoe Mel on the decks and even a guest appearance  on the mic by hip-hop legend Jeru the Damaja (who'd been gigging the previous night). It was a good mix of folk, banging beats, chilled atmosphere and we didn't stop dancing all night :) roll on the next one!!

Having just about recovered from severe lack of sleep, this week at Funk Forever classes has been funky as ever and we've had a fun time learning some more about hip-hop styles. 

In the kids classes we started learning some movement styles in popping such as the robot and learned a great wee routine to practice our 4 characters (you'll have to come to class to learn more about them ;) . Since MJ is one of our favourite dancers in this class, we couldn't help but jam to "Beat it" and learn some of his classic moves. Great fun and well done to those who came along.

On Thursday, in the beginner's class it was time to get our waack on and we focused on lots of arm movements (great for toning up the wings!!) and then brought in some steps to create a choreo. It was looking great by the end!! Well done girls :) 

Waacking/punking emerged in the 70's in Los Angeles and is danced to funk and disco music (not to be confused with voguing which emerged in the 80's in New York and is done to house music). Here is a little vid from a fierce dance group from Sweden called P*fect to clear up the differences in style:

In the second class (advanced) we continued to train our popping drills and introduced some boogaloo rolls to the mix. We built on our struttin' choreo from last week by adding a new section onto the beginning using a few of the different boogaloo movements and it looked awesome when we grabbed it on video!! All of these words sound like another language, but really not a difficult as they sound ;)

Sneak preview to the video:

Thanks to all who came down this week, you're picking up loads in such a short space of time and having fun with it - keep up the good work! :D

Keep it funky!!

Nadz

Funk Forever Class Days/Times:
Kids 5-11yrs 6.00-6.45pm
Teens 12-16yrs 6.45-7.30pm
Adults (Basic drop-in) 7-8pm 
Adults (Advanced drop-in) 8-9pm

Costs:- 
Adults - £5/class
Kids/teens - £4/class
Discounts available for block bookings, ask for more details.

Dimestop - Funkstyles Jam every Wednesday:

7-9pm - St Matthew's next to Possilpark & Parkhouse train station

We do lots of drills then get down to practice. Great opportunity to learn technique!

Cost split between everyone (normally £3-4)