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| History of Electric Boogaloo
The history of Boogie and Breakdancing goes back to about 1974. A very young Michael Jackson appeared on Television, doing the 'Robot'' to the Jackson Five's hit, 'Dancin' Machine'. In the Summer of 1977, another powerful influence came along - Shields and Yarnell, who were two very talented Mimes. They were first seen performing in San Francisco's Union Square, and went on to make a number of guest appearances on television, culminating in their own summer show in 1977. They did their own version of the Robot, moving only one part of their body at a time, and gliding across the floor like they were on wheels. Many people who were watching the show saw not only Mime, but Dance. Life was given to the new Robot dance style, and more and more people started doing it. In 1977, four young Mimes saw Shields and Yarnell perform on television. They were very impressed with what they saw. They read as many books about Mime out of the New York library as they could, and videotaped all of their shows. They formed the first Electric Boogie dance group, called the Harlem Pop Lockers. They were originally discovered on their way home from a movie in Greenwich village. They weren't performing at that time, just messing around, but they were an immediate success, and went on to perform for Television, Dance Clubs, and even did a video for German MTV. By the time the Harlem Pop Lockers were formed, the Electric Boogie had added the 'Float' move. The Back Float or 'Moon Walk' was first made famous by James Brown, then Jeffrey Daniels of Shalimar in the early 80's, and most memorably by Michael Jackson. In truth, it was Jeffrey Daniels dancing on the television show 'Soul Train' that was most responsible for its success. He was such a good dancer that when he did it, everyone wanted to do it. Other influences have been prevalent in the growth of the Electric Boogie. The late 70's and early 80's saw big advancements in the fields of Electronics and Computers, and as a result, the dance style being very futuristic, lent itself perfectly to the times. An Egyptian dance style called the 'King Tut' probably grew from the Comedian Steve Martin doing a dance on 'Saturday Night Live'. You may often see dancers stacked one behind the other, each with different arm positions to make it look as if the dancer in front has many arms, moving mechanically. The original dance style must go way back into the culture of the Far East, but since it was an unusual dance, it got added as a move within the Electric Boogie. The Lock came from a comical cartoon character called 'Rerun', who appeared on a TV show called, 'What's Happening'. He often did a comic dance that involved moving his arms and legs very fast, and in between each move he would give a brief pause, or Lock. At the end of 1983 and early 1984, for reasons no one really knows, Breakdancing suddenly became a dance craze, and spread to every major city. Now it is very popular and can be seen in Films, Pop Videos, Commercials and Kids Dancing on street corners, and shopping precincts. |
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