Dude, Where’s Your Technique?

In order to express the music in a way that other people can understand, you need a strong technical foundation. In order to move in a way that is pleasant to others, you need technique. Without technique, even the most creative expressive dancer just looks like an embarrassing mess. Harsh but true. It takes technique to bring your vision, your unique talent, into form. And what really means it that it takes work! And time! Get ready for the journey of your lifetime, young Jedi!

Hey guys, I’m Otis Funkmeyer, the professor of popping! I write an article about popping here at WCP every Sunday. I have lots of lessons, articles, DVDs, downloads, and music at my website www.funkmeyers.com!

What is Technique?

Well, let’s ask this question another way. What separates ballet from tap dancing? What separates African dance from Irish clogging? Or more importantly, what separates popping from spazzing out on the dance floor?

The answer to all these questions is TECHNIQUE. Technique is the specific movements that make up a style. Without technique, it’s just… moving. You can’t call it anything. There isn’t necessarily anything wrong with that, but if you want to learn a dance style, what you really mean is you want to learn the TECHNIQUES that make a dance style.

Techniques are movements and movement styles that make a dance a dance. In terms of the actual moves, hip-hop dance and house dance are very similar. But in terms of the movement, the feeling, they are totally different. Hip-hop feels DOWN and house feels UP. That may sound strange, but these kinds of ideas will help you start to notice the FEELING of dances as well as the moves.

Vocabulary

When most people talk about technique, they are referring to vocabulary. Vocabulary is all the different movements techniques that make up a dance. In popping, you have: the fresno, the arm wave, the walk out, the finger box, the wrist roll in tutting, the sac, old man, and on and on and on and on.

Each of these movements is a part of what we call popping. Each of these movements can be practiced and mastered.

What is GOOD Technique?

When I see someone with good technique, the first thing I notice is how natural they look. They look they were born dancing. Their movements are crisp and sharp. Their angles are good, meaning when they put their arms out to the side, it’s at a 90 degree angle. Their movements are isolated. Their rolls are clean. Their footwork looks good. They are on beat.

All of these things are part of what it means to have good technique. You can be a great dancer without great technique. I think when it comes to angles, Salah is a great example of this. A lot of his angles are frankly not that great. But his ability to perform and his musicality and moves are second to none. At the same time, I think Salah would be 1000 times better if he practiced his technical foundation more.

Why is it Important?

Technique is important because it allows you to interpret the music in a way that other people can appreciate. If you just want to express yourself on the dance floor, you actually don’t need any technique. You can just run out there and jump and shout and flail and you may have a really good time with it. Other people may even appreciate how free you are. But, if you want to be a DANCER, if you want to express yourself as an ARTIST in addition to a free spirit, you need technique. You need to learn the movements so well that they are completely ingrained into you. You need to be able to do them without even thinking about it. They need to be absolute second nature to you.

A good example of this is walking.

You actually LEARNED to walk. There was a time in your life when you COULD NOT walk. You were crawling around and you would stand up and then fall down. Walking is actually a pretty advanced technique. You have to shift your weight from side to side as you fall forward. It takes a while to learn. But you DID learn it. And now you don’t think about it at all. You can talk while you walk and you can even read while you walk.

This is an example of good technique. We all have good walking technique. My goal is that we all have good POPPING technique as well!

How do you Learn Technique?

There is only one way to learn technique. And that is practice. Practice practice practice practice practice practice practice. It takes time and you have to do it OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER. Just like when you learned walking!

At first, it is quite likely, especially if you are a geeky nerd like I was, that you will suck. You will have two left feet and no ability to coordinate your movements. Now that you are being forced to THINK about how you move, you will get more and more awkward and you will find yourself getting frustrated. This is good! Be patient!

The Important of Patience When It Come to Technique

C’mon man! It even took God six full days to create the world, and he did that 24/7 until he finally got to rest on the seventh day. The ideal attitude to have when it comes to technique is to work really hard and not worry about how far along you are. Maybe it will take you five years to get good. Maybe only five days. There’s no way to know until you try. And if it takes you a long time, just be willing. I was one of the people who it took five years to get good. But here is the upside! Because it took me so long, I *really* learned it. I can teach it so well now! I know EXACTLY how every movement works, because NONE OF IT came naturally to me. For a long time I was really frustrated by this, but now I look at it as a huge gift! Stay optimistic!

Work really hard, and then you rest. The less you worry about where you are and the more you trust the process and understand that this is the ONLY way to get better, paradoxically, the faster you’ll improve.

It’s ALL ABOUT THE BASICS

One of my personal favorite dancers, Jazzy J, blew my mind the first time I saw him. I could not BELIEVE what I was seeing. This guy was so smooth, so funky, and so unpredictable. I had no idea what he was going to do next. Being the kind of dance nerd I am, I immediately went up to him and asked him if I could take a private lesson with him.

The next day, I showed up and we started drilling the basics. I’ve never seen someone more interested in instilling the basics in me. Over the course of the lesson, he showed me that everything amazing that he was doing was just an application of a basic movement. His ENTIRE dance style is just doing the basics and flipping them a little bit–giving them his own unique twist.

But this guy has the basics DOWN. He doesn’t just KNOW the basics. It’s like he IS the basics. He’s trained the twist-o-flex for so long he can do it in his sleep. He can boogaloo roll without blinking an eye. He can switch from puppet style to toy man to scarecrow like it’s nothing.

Because he can do this, he can focus on the little things. The finesses. He can start moving 3 different parts of his body all in different directions all at different speeds all at the SAME TIME. Because he’s MASTERED the basics.

Let me reiterate. It is ALL about the basics.

The Path of Mastery is Long and Worthwhile

I am not that interested in teaching you tricks. I am happy to show you the arm wave or the moonwalk or a head isolation if you want something cool to show your friends. I wanted to learn those things when I started too.

But this dance is a big thing. This dance has the potential to be a lifelong pursuit like painting or martial arts. To do it right takes a long time. You should know that going in. This doesn’t just happen overnight. You might have a few impressive moves in a couple months if you are a quick learner, but to have a foundation, to be rock solid and able to improvise at the drop of a hat, it takes time.

Anything worthwhile takes time. Anything worthwhile is a long road, filled with ups and downs. One day you will feel like the greatest dancer who has ever graced this planet. The next day you will feel like quitting cuz you just can’t take how much you suck.

It’s normal. It happens. Get used to it. Because no matter what happens, you can keep training the basics. Day after day. Month after month. Year after year. And it will pay off. I promise you it will pay off. I sucked so bad when I started. It was painful to be so bad. I actually had friends tell me to stop dancing around them cuz they were embarrassed. It was not fun. It was not easy. But I LOVE THIS DANCE SO MUCH THAT I COULDN’T STOP. I just kept moving forward. Slowly. Surely. Day after day. And then one day, I woke up, and I was pretty good. Something had happened. I wasn’t half bad anymore. And on I go. Moving forward. Still day after day. Still training the basics. Still improving. Still learning.

The Most Important Technique

If you ask a hundred dancers, they are likely to give you a lot of different techniques that they consider the MOST important. To me, it would be the fresno. The fresno is so important to developing a good popper that I can hardly overestimate its importance.

The Fresno teaches you:
-how to be on beat
-how to develop rhythm
-how to coordinate your arms and your legs
-how to coordinate your pops
-how to move on the balls of your feet and be light on your toes
-how to travel
-how to incorporate your whole body into your movement, including your neck, shoulders, chest, and hips
-how to dimestop with a hit

All in one movement. I still practice the Fresno regularly. So does Wiggles. And Suga Pop. And J Rock. And Popula. And Acki. And Kid Boogie. And Gucchon. And Kite. And Future. And Rashaad. Almost all of your favorite poppers are still practicing the Fresno.

It will help you. Even if your goal is to be a waver or a tutter or a robot or an animator. Because it teaches you how to connect movements and styles. You don’t HAVE TO do it with a boogaloo feel. You can animate your fresno. It’s all possible.

So that’s a lot right there. The main thing is to take the dance seriously while still having fun, and just give it a long-term perspective. The best things come to those who wait.

KEEP IT POPPING!
Otis Funkmeyer, The Popping Ph.D.