Turtles Ok well this move is also known as a float. In this move your entire body is facing the floor, like lying on your stomach. Except the only thing touching the ground is your palms. So you support yourself with your arms. Sounds like it requires lots of strength right? I mean supporting your entire weight like that, gotta be a physical powerhouse right? Wrong. The secret is that you are not holding yourself up with your arm muscles at all, instead you are tucking your elbows into your stomach so that both elbows almost touch. (closer to your pubic bones than your diaphram, in other words just below your ribcage) The only thing you need for this move is BALANCE. IF your arms start getting tired your doing it wrong. I've seen countless B-boys try this move but when they try it they attempt to support all their weight with their arm muscles. Their elbows aren't tucked into their stomach, under their body, but instead is completley at their sides. If your elbows aren't under your body you will be forced to use strength to hold yourself up. (Your wrists will very likley start to hurt like a mother $#@%! because they have never had to sustain that much weight before. They will soon thicken dont worry...also you might not be able to breath and your face will turn red..not to worry this is cuz you have to train yourself to TIGHTEN your stomach muscles and stiffen your body so that you can breath under the muscle..if your body is too lax you will not be able to breath) Why is it also called a float? Because the 2nd part to this move is moving. Yup, you read right. Once you master being able to balance in this awkward position you must now be able to move around in a circle, idealy you should be able to walk forward and backward as well, using only your hands. Moving in a circle is easier than walking forwards or backwards. In order to move around, you have to shift all your body weight to one arm, so that for about a half second the only thing keeping your face from becoming a bloody mess is one arm. (kidding, you'll bruise your forehead and knees a bit but youll never need to go to the ER) Then you land on the other arm, balancing all weight on that arm, and so on and so forth. While you are on each arm you make a very slight turn, so little by little you begin to move.
TOP-ROCK aka Up-Rock This is the dance b-boys and b-girls do before getting down on the ground. It looks like your are skipping around. It's designed to take up ALOT of space so people will back da #$@! up and give you space to break. Most people keep their hand loose and limp so they dangle.
Flares This is a move from gymnastics, (as are most break moves) from the pommel horse. I put some animated GIFS right here to help you to see what it involves. It's not easy. This involves kicking your feet up in a giant V in front of you, then bringing them around you without them touching the ground. THis is another move that's very hard to describe but you will want to check out the pictures to get an idea. There is also mini-flares which is a flare from a six-step and back into a six step. It's easier to do than a full flare from a standing position but people seem to get more impressed by the miniflare for some reason.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1990's and 2000's and Leap-years This is a neat move that you do from a handstand. I don't know how to do one but in theory you get on one hand, then put the pther hand down on the floor, and you're in a handstand. You pick up the hand that you put on the ground first, and use it to spin on the other hand. So a 1990 is spinning on one hand while standing on it. The more revolutions you do the phatter it looks. A 2000 is spinning on one hand with the other on top of it. This one is harder to do. A Leap-Year is when you get into a handstand and jump around in a full circle, it's ok to use both hands for this one!
WINDMILLS Hehehe most B-BOy's and B-girls really want this move. It just looks so cool. What you do here is turn over and over and over, rolling on your back. Easy, right? Wrong. You must do this with your feet in the air, they must never touch the ground and you must roll only on your shoulders and upper chest, only your upper body. Also, the wider your feet are spread the nicer this looks. This moves with constant practise will take most people about 5-6 months to learn. (martial artists I have seen learn windmills in under 1 month) Respect this move if you ever see someone bust it out. Hehehe it took me 5 months to learn it but beleive me it's worth it! Theres no greater ego-trip than seeing a video of yourself windmilling!! NOTES: People always email me saying 'Gee Neko, I can do one mill but I can't seem to continue it, my hip/knee/foot always seems to slam the ground. Can you tell me what I'm doing wrong?' ARRRGGHHH!!!!!!!! People dont seem to realize that what makes windmills so hard is exactly that, linking them! (continueing them) Going around once isnt all that hard, continuing your mill is hard as hell! SO please keep that in mind, linking windmills is what takes so long to do them right, and even when you do link them youll need to work on speed and leg straightness. If you wanna watch windmills from any angle at any speed get the game BUST-A-GROOVE for Playstation, it just came out. Theres lots of breakdancing in it and this one guy HEAT does some crazy six steps and windmills, you can in the dance view option watch how he gets into his windmills and watch it from any angle. It will help you, plus its a very fun game. IMPORTANT->Before you even start you should be able to bust some freezes, poses and six-steps. Good windmills require rythmn, flexebility and wrist strength. Some people try to windmill before they can six-step thats like trying to run before you can walk. (not because its impossible but because breakdancing is about more than power moves, its a dance, not gymnastics.) Step 1) (again, this is how I windmill) get on your left side, lay there with your left leg slightly bent and your right leg straight. You should be reclining on your left arm and your right hand should not be touching the ground, just keep it up and ready. Step 2) Kick HARD with your right leg! Kick with it straight this imporves your power. Kick it up and send it in a circle, at this point you should get off your left arm and begin to roll on your back. Step 3) A split-second after you kick your right leg, kick your left leg, and when you do make sure it's straight. Most of your momentum is coming from your right leg your left leg is just sort of going with the flo. At this point both your legs will be spread wide and you'll be on your back. If you kicked hard enough you should feel your hips leave the ground. Step 4) Ok here's the critical point, LINKING windmills!!! You want to roll over very quickly, and stab your left elbow deep into your side, and fairly low. It should be almost on the right side of your body, it needs to be deep because it serves as a jack to keep your hips off the ground and it need to collapse a little later on. Your right hand should come out to your right side, it should not be under your body. It needs to be out to the side so you can use it to push. You should basicly look like this: Your head is on the ground, your left elbow is stabbed deep under you, your right hand is out to your side, and your left leg is high in the air spread out to your left and your right leg is lower but spread to your right. Neither leg should touch the ground. Your left elbow is raising your hips high, and since your head is on the ground you will be high up. You can practise starting windmills in the position just described, which is better form than starting them like I told you, but for me it's easier to gain momentum by starting on my side. (If you want to start windmills in this position, your right leg will need to touch the ground, but only if you are starting them like this. Only your right toe should be touching, and your left leg will be high in the air and ready to start. Now, turn your head to the right and KICK your left leg UNDER your right, and UP..make sure you send the left leg UP or else you'll hit the ground and stop. Once you do this you will need to roll over and stab your elbow and link again.) Step 5) Now you will PUSH with your right hand to help you turn over, you KICK your left leg UNDER your right leg and UP! (THIS IS THE KEY TO LINKING WINDMILLS, kicking that leg under and UP) Keep that left leg straight, it's ok to bend it at the knee when going under your right leg but straighten it out quickly! Now you'll be on your back and you can go around again, stabbing your left elbow deep under you and whoosh there you go you are windmilling. You may be asking what your right leg is doing..well it's bascially just kicking backwards..if you kick your left leg correctly and keep them legs spread like butter your right leg will naturally go around. Kicking backwards with the right leg helps speed but it's not nessasry. Variations of mills Nutcrackers: Mills with the b-boy grabbing his nuts (Very hard to do) You need to be able to windmill regulary then, when you get good at windmills you will not need the right hand anymore, that's when you can grab your crotch. Later on you will be able to go so fast you wont need any hands and you can place both hands on your groin and continue millin' no problem. Supermans/airplanes: Mills with the arms straight out flat on the ground. Careful trying to do these you'll smash your nuts if you cant lift your hips right. Barrels: Mills with arms out in front of you so it looks like you holding on to invisible barrel. Babies: Mills with the legs tucked close to your body, like a fetus position. These are amazing to watch. They don't really look like windmills in the traditional sense, they look like the b-boy or b-girl has just turned themselves into a ball and are rolling in place with no friction. It's classified as a windmill because the mechanics of it are the same. Pass-the-Hat/Strippers: This is when you widmill and then removes your hat or when you windmill and take off your shirt or pants or whatever. You can also strip while headspinnin. Halos: Windmills completley off your forhead, instead of rotating on your shoulders you rotate on your head. Needles to say, you must be very high up and be going very fast, although I've seen peeps WALK a halo, doing it slowly. This is a very difficult windmill variation and should not be attempted until regular windmills can be busted like water.
HeadSpins This is actually not as hard or dangerous as it would seem. IF you can get on your head in a tripod position (using both your hands to help you keep balanced) you can do this. You must be able to hold this headstand position pretty much forever before you attempt to spin. Try "walking" in a circle using your hands. Do this slowly at first. Once you can do this fast (It helps you keep straight back while spinning, and trains you to keep balance while rotating) you have to twist only your hips and keep your upper body straight. By twisting your hips you are "cocking" yourself, like twisting a rubberband. Then quickly snap your hips in the other direction and let go of the ground with your hands. You'll probably only rotate about half a turn at first. Once you can get a full rotation catch yourself with your hands again. This is called a "tap" People will respect you if you can tap forever. Try to use the tips of your fingers to when you tap, and slightly lean into your hands and keep the knees above the elbows. Always use a hat when practising or you might get a bald spot. Your hair will grow back but like, it sucks in the meanwhile. Or grow an Afro like Krazy Kujo. Ok, this may seem logical to some but to others it is not..DO NOT TRY THIS ON CARPET FOO!!!!! Youll burn a hole in your head!
Head GLides Ok this move is like a hand glide..except you dont spin. You get on your head and push with your hands and glide on the ground for a couple of feet, then catch yourself. It's a good idea to head spin after this. Most people travel about 5-6 feet in a headglide.
FREEZES/POSES This is when you are in the middle of a six-step or any other move and you STOP and HOLD the position. The more awkward and broken or stuck in space-time you look the better it looks. You usually do some quick freezes during your six-step as a tech and then you finish your routine with a very difficult pose that you hold for a long time (3-4 seconds is enough) Practise poses this will build up your endurance and muscles. This is a method of dancing that makes it look like waves are traveling through your body, or that your are a jerky robot, or you are a puppet. This form of dance comes from mime and it's really amazing to watch a good popper. I can do some popping so I've included an animated GIF that I made (yes I created this guy from scratch!!! I've seen him all over the net and beleive me he's my creation!!) on how to make a basic wave travel from one arm to the next. It's not easy to do but when you get it you can then do just about any wave in any direction. Some popping makes it look like your are in a movie but it's skipping frames. A good popper is a sight indeed. Most poppers wear white gloves while they pop to enhance the illusion. You can see some popping in the GAP commercial.
Important thing to remember is that you must control your shoulder. The shoulder must remain nuetral until the "wave" passes through it. Only then do you raise it. It's difficult because your instinct is to raise it right away. People have asked me a lot about popping, there apparantly isnt much about it on the web. How I learned was studying Mime. Get some books on it, go to your local library dig up that library card thats been sitting in a pile of unused underwear and get a video or book on mime. One very good way to learn is listen to popping music, which is anything that sounds like its being sung by a robot, and then do what comes natural, pretend your a robot, or that you have energy traveling through you, and VIDEO TAPE IT!! I'll be uploading videos of me popping soon. Good poppers are also good taunters, you can taunt people during a battle really nicley by poppin. You need to be able to isolate diffrent parts of your body, and have good flexibility as well as rythmn and knowledge of illusions. Like you should be able to understand exactly why a moonwalk looks the way it does, or why a mime that looks like hes trapped inside a box looks so convincing. Once you learn things like that you'll be able to create your own illusions and dominate the dance floor, because there are few good poppers out there. Some types of popping: Creating the illusion that there is a wave travleing through you, this type of popping looks smooth and makes it appear you are very elasticy. One way to try this is by creating waves that travel from shooulder to shoulder, but that dont go through your neck, in other words the wave starts at your left shoulder, hits your rightshoulder, then goes back the same way it came. Both your hands are almost touching, and this is the 'bridge' your fingers should not touch but almost touch, if they touch this creates a look of jaggedness, and you dont want that you want smoothness. Robotic popping, this is the most common type, this is much more jagged, and the foundation is in the creation of movements that are completley unatural, movemenets that normal human beings dont do on a day to day basis. You should for example, if your head is turned to the left, keep it looking at the left for a while until 'something' moves it to another direction, perhaps your moved your hand up a bit, and if you move your head up at the same time your hand does, it creates an intresting effect. You dont have to walk like a robot, you can slide and glide across the floor as you please. Floor popping, or popping while laying on the ground or kneeling or just basicly with whole lot of you touching the ground. Object-oriented popping, or popping with the illusion that you are controlling an invisible object, often a globe or square, and you set it to rest in midair, and then after popping a bit return to the object and play with it. A common theme is when the popper 'eats' the object and the recurring effects of eating invisible objects.
Pop Locking This is a very old style of dance, some say older than breaking, popularized by re-run from WHATS HAPPENING.
Hollow Backs (backflips and poses) It's like a backflip except it's very slow and controlled. It's ripped off from capoeria the Brazillian martial art. You don't really flip as much as place your hands on the ground and then pull yourself back. What you do is get in a crab-soccer posiiton, or almost a backbridge. You should have your feet in front of you spread and your right hand behind you (if you're right-handed) your left hand is in front of you but not touching the floor. (it can also be done from a standing position but I'm describing it this way so it's easier to link from a six-step) Now you want to (this is the hard part) launch your left hand backwards and slightly to your right and have it touch the floor. At this point , with both hands on the floor you will be in a backbridge without your head touching the floor..your back will be very bent. Make sure you have no back problems before you do this because it requires massive flexability. Now launch both feet over your head relativley slowly. This is why a hollowback looks so cool your feet go over slowly and almost in slow motion. It looks creepy. Prolly why it's called a hollow back too..like your back dosent have anything in it. Your feet will land behind you and you will be in a closed push-up position. This makes a good taunt also in a battle. A hollow back pose is when you get into a handstand and then turn your head so that you are looking clearly at the ceiling, In order to acheive that position and hold it, you must have your back turned inward, and it requires good arm strength. There is also a little-used move called a Scuzzle-butt, thats when you do a hollow back pose with only one hand and hold it.