give 'em a shout out (your teachers, join in)

[PiKa]

Originally Posted by Shankavelli

229 views and only 3 of us took the time to give aknowledgement to those who taught us.
sucks to be a teacher now-a-days

maybe the rest of the viewers of this thread, dont reply 'couse they think nobody gives a sh** about their history, if they are not well known bboys...but maybe it's just me, who knows... 1999-2000 - I grew up, in a small town in Transilvania(Romania) living near by a street where mostly gypsies lived at that time. that part of the street looked allmost like the bronx we see in the pictures from back in the days. and in this street, kids from the age of 10 to 18, they were all breaking... hahaha... so I was always watching them, got inspired, and started to break... 2002- i started practicing with a crew of my city of that time, called Project 505, shout out to this guys, especially to Vio505- popper/bboy he's been in the game for like maybe 15/20 years & Shadow505 incredible powerhead with no airmoves haha... this guys have teached me a lott, influenced me and put me on the right way when it comes to breaking and life.. 2003/2004 - my new crew, Sens Unic ( One Way ). present day- all my students, I always find them mad inspiring... Much love for all of ya' posting in here, that was dope to read! keep it coming!

[Marks_the_spot]

My teachers/ insperations

Johnny Afwul (Hybrid) / Nasty Ray (Head Hunters) -Insperations
Without even knowing it these 2 guys really sparked me to do things I hadn't ever seen before in breaking. I had only been dancing for like 3 weeks when I would go to Mitchel Park in Palo Alto, and seeing Johnny do unique threads really got me inspired. Also he was the first cat I saw do an airchair. and Ray was the first I saw do head slides and stacks. both of them got me majorly inspired to learn this dance.

Emilo (LAB)
He Used to teach a class at the YMCA in Palo Alto. He got me doing 6 step drills and showed me the foundation of power. then one day he never came back.


Lil Bob (Killifornia)
Every time I session with Bob he pushes me to be a better bboy! He opened me up to the idea of threading using the ground and not just the basic leg threads. Also he never lets me just do easy shit, every time I show him a combo he pushes me to add to it.

Poe 1 (Style Elements)
I think that all of my best qualites as a bboy come from Poe, he really taught me the proper way to execute all of the foot work and tops I do. He also is the one who explained the idea of treating the dance like a sentence, with a beginning, middle and end. He is also a big mentor to me as a Judge and promoter. He has changed the way I look at and approach this dance. He also has an amazing ability to point out my weakest aspect after watching me for 2 mins lol.

[Swift Nyce]

next time i see you ness you have to show me a AIR 4 step... unless its just a 4 step really high?

[SamIamLSC]

2004- to date
(2004 - kurt the hurt - FLow Eva former flexible flave) He was the first to actually teach me what the concept of breakiing was. He told me to learn the "foundation", which i did not understand until many years later.

(2005 - 2006 - BBoy Loa, BBoy Khoa, Lil essay Chris) Bboys that do not break any more but modivated me to break.

(2007 - BBoy RIcan - Mighty Zulu Kings) He was the first to teach me the fundamentals of top rocking. To this day i still look up to his top rocking skills.

(2008 - now - bboy swellz one - Flexible flave) He taught and motivated me a lot in the BBoy style. He is probobly one of the best BBoys overall in the world that i know.

(2008 - now - BBoy Phatso - Legendary Steps) He expanded my knowledge on battling and toprocking.

(2008 - now - BBoy Future - Flexible Flave) He could make the most simple move look amazing. Very creative with his moves and flow. Up to this day he coninues to inspire and to teach me in my flows, technique and originality.

(2007 - now - BBoy Buckingham aka BBoy Abe - Flexible FLave) He is the Smartest BBoy i know. Because of him i am where i am today with BBoying. He has the potential to be one of the best top rockers. Obove all his strategy for practice and for battling is the best i have ever heard of and seen.

(Indirect teachers - through books, footage, forums, personal experience, etc) BBoy Alien Ness, BBoy Poe One, BBoy Storm,BBoy Spy, BBoy Trac 2, Bboy Ken Swift, BBoy Crazy Legs, BBoy Freeze,BBoy Flow Master, BBoy Fever One, BBoy Tells one, BBoy Kid Glyde, BBoy Floor Phantom, BBoy Meen 187, BBoy Ghost, BBoy Robin, BBoy tonu rock, BBoy wing, BBoy Born, BBoy redfoot, BBoy Ata, BBoy Focus, BBoy Kamel, BBoy C-note, BBoy Lil Matt, BBoy morris, bboy Marcus, BBoy Matt, BBoy Red One, BBoy Shyne, BBoy Lito, BBoy Nick.

Peace, unity and love

SamIam
Legendary Steps Crew
Representing Sacramento's finest.

[aghs]

Originally Posted by PiKa

maybe the rest of the viewers of this thread, dont reply 'couse they think nobody gives a sh** about their history, if they are not well known bboys...but maybe it's just me, who knows...

Yeah I think that's about right haha! I'm sure no one gives a shit, but I just wanna show respect to my teachers!

I'm mostly self taught (does youtube count as a teacher? haha) but I wanna give a shout out to the 2 guys who have personally directly inspired and informed my breaking.
Firstly Suspence from Born To Rock helped me a lot back in my early days, pushed me to train hard and taught me the importance of a good back spin!
And secondly Bboy Time from Bad Taste Crew/Monkey Basket. He used to goto the same uni as me so got in touch with him and he came back to train with us. Really helped me out with my training mindset, doing drills and pointing out those little things that make a big difference.

Other than that, been inspired by workshops and watching cats like Ness, Poe One, Dyzee, Kid David, Machine, Menno and that.

Actually just wanna give a big shout out to Poe One! I went to FSS in 2007, and saw Poe and had to go bother him like a proper fanboy haha! He's the most humble, real dude you could meet! Later watching him get down in a cypher got me so inspired I had to jump in after him, I was wack, but that was the first time I ever got down in a cypher. So there you go Poe, I'm like your illegitimate cypher child and you never knew it hahah! Oh, and did I mention his workshops are brutal??

[POEONE]

Yo Ness, Mine are coming. Its just a whole lot to write there are so many i have learned from!!! LOL!!! I hate writing, i rather speak it. LOL!!! But itll come. Peace.

[Shankavelli]

Originally Posted by PiKa

maybe the rest of the viewers of this thread, dont reply 'couse they think nobody gives a sh** about their history, if they are not well known bboys...but maybe it's just me, who knows... !

my borther
history is being made every single day by all of us. as far as you know 20 years down the line your going to be one of the greates bboys that ever lived, and people will reflect back to the moment yougave props to your mentors.
believe it or not


i never stoped droping trac2 name, even in the early 90s when i wasnt brealing! now trac2 is a household name and im extra proud of that. i remember when cats used to look at me and stop me in mid sentance and say "who is trac2?" lol

[PiKa]

Originally Posted by Shankavelli

i never stoped droping trac2 name, even in the early 90s when i wasnt brealing! now trac2 is a household name and im extra proud of that. i remember when cats used to look at me and stop me in mid sentance and say "who is trac2?" lol

I feel what your saying... Much love!

[MyOpinion]

Bboy Ockword - taught me the importance of using the music at all times. Emphasis on toprock, style, footwork.

Qrock - influenced me in terms of using native dance in his toprock and basically making concepts in your breaking.

[TheBboySmith]

I like this thread. It reminds me that I need a mentor now! The most recent one on my list was 2005ish!

[dyzeesnd]

THis is a great topic. Here are my teachers and mentors:
OJ
When I started in 94, my best friend and best man OJ started me off. He was the first to get me into breakin.
Curtis Supernaturalz.
When i first started, this huge black guy from a real gritty underground crew named supernaturalz taught me and OJ how bboying is about making up your own moves and style, and using it for battles.
Lego and Stripes of Supernaturalz
They taught me about flow and to be complexed. They said that your style should be so ill and complicated that nobody can bite your style or your moves.
Crazy Legz
Before 2002, a lot of haters in Toronto told me that I wasnt a bboy. THen i got invited to the Rocksteady anniversary battle which was THE battle to be at in 2002. He was the first person to call me a BBOY and told me why. After that I began my journey to understand what a Bboy meant
Alieness MZK
was the first person who ever took the time to sit down with me and the crew in the Bronx and start dropping knowledge. Until today he still does drop knowledge, wether its directly or indirectly. I think this was in 2003 or 2004 after out for fame NY. Until today I continue reading the things he writes on bboying and continue to be inspired by his outstanding unbiased knowledge of the game, its orgins, its evolution and its future
Ken Swift
In around 2004 to 2005, I had some drama with people online about me trying to create a judging system because they said I didnt have enough knowledge to create one. I gave kenny a call for advice and he took all the time in the world to drop as much knowledge to help support me and what the breaklife dream is all about. He continued to send me emails that were like GEMS to help me get a feel of what it was like back in the day in the early develeopment stages of bboying so that I could attain the true essence of the dance
Storm
Every time i see this man in different countries, he continues to drop knowledge on me about philosophies and theories about bboying as an ARTFORM and Dance.
Gizmo Bag of Trix
he has always been an inspiration to me, and just recently ive had the chance to really get to know him. He dropped a lot of knowledge on me about being the only asian in a black hip hop culture in the late 80's early 90's and lead me to discover myself further about why I am who I am, and dance the way I do.

All these people Ive mentioned are the ones who completely took me and my style to the next level and futher helped me understand this dance, especially in the creation of how to judge bboy battles

[Focus_FM]

Peace Ness that's a great topic so I had to come here with my list as well. Also thanks for adding my name on the list, that's an honor to be up there. I always looked up to people who not only can break good but are able to make somebody else understand and develop, teaching is a skill that comes from experience. Also a dope bboy is not always a dope teacher hhaha

My list is long and grows every week so i'll only name the ones who made the biggest impact:

1995-2002
Mikko Ahlgren, hhaa my first mentor, a bboy from the 1980's Finnish scene, taught me everything he knew when I started. Also told me " a teacher's best accomplishment is to train somebody to be better than him"

All of Flow Mo members, some dissed me hard on the early days so I went back to the lab, worked on my weaknesses and came back stronger. Everybody who's part of Flow Mo made a big impact on my style, we always exchange a lot, still learning today from everybody.

Quake BeefNoodles crew Sweden. A well rounded underground bboy from Sweden, took me under his wing for a while and gave me a lot of my foundation. Later he started with Kung Fu and ended up training in a Shaolin Temple in China last year.

Ata When we used to train together more, we always exchanged everything we had. A lot of talent, taught me a lot.

Freeze Big influence for the Scandinavian scene, he was over in Helsinki teaching these days, ended up traveling a lot with him and listening to what has to say about breaking and life in general.

2003-present

Poe One I've been lucky to have him sharing many times, learnt so much about foundation, terminology and all round approach. Great teacher.

Storm Introduced us with the pretzel / knee sweep style among many other styles of footwork which
ended up shaping my footwork in many ways.

Zulu Gremlin Here's a definition of a good teacher, so informative it makes no sense. All round structure of the dance, all round flava.

MrWiggles Wigz came to Finland a few times to teach, inspirational speaker with so much knowledge. Learned a lot about the history from social party dances to what breaking is today.

Ken Swift Got a chance for his class at Beat Riders camp, and after went to his spot in Brooklyn. Learned a lot from him all the way from funk to making my footwork complete and powerful.

Alien Ness Taught me so much in all ways, face to face, online and on the book as well about battling, foundation, longevity, history, the list goes on. Always sharing like a great teacher should.

- Focus Flow Mo Helsinki -