You Know You Want To: The Arm Wave

So the first thing that you need to know about the arm wave is that it’s easy to learn but takes a lifetime to master.

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!

The good news is that with a solid week of practice, you should have something resembling a decent arm wave. That’s what we’re gonna focus on for now. Getting down the basics!

The 3 R’s
There are 3 R’s of waving. Everybody knows that, right? Well, actually, I just made them up, so no one except me really knows that. But it’s true. The 3 R’s are REPETITION, ROLLING, and RELAXATION.

Repetition
Let’s start with the first R. Repetition. Especially with a move like the arm wave, the most important part in learning is doing it OVER and OVER and OVER again. It’s really the only way to get good.

But make sure you do it with FOCUS. You have to really WATCH your armwave. How good is your isolation? Which parts are smooth and which could be smoother.

It’s these little details that separate people like Pacman and Salah from your average wannabe.

Rolling
Most people just wave up and down. They bend their wrist, then their elbow, and then they lift their shoulder. Just up, then down. The true illness in waving comes when you start ROLLING your joints. Roll the wrist clockwise, then roll the elbow (MAKE SURE TO ISOLATE) clockwise, and then roll the shoulder clockwise. This creates a more fluid, flowing effect.

Relaxation
Now, before the hate mail starts coming in, realize that I understand that muscle tension can be critical to a good wave. But for the basic, most fluid wave, what you want is RELAXATION. NO tension. If you want inspiration for this, look at clips of Shallow. Shallow is definitely one of the absolute nastiest wavers in the world and he is totally relaxed when he waves. This is how he creates such fluid waves.

The reason I put such a focus on this is that a lot of people want to rush into hard animated waves like Taco or Shrimp or J Smooth, but they haven’t even learned the basics of muscle control. You must walk before you run young jedi. And trust me, if you get the smooth, relaxed wave down, it’s gonna make your animated waves straight ill-nasty. Trust!

So Now What?
NOW it’s time to get back to practice.

KEEP IT POPPIN!
Otis Funkmeyer, Ph.D. of Popping