Joe Gray- has been dancing and teaching for 8+ years.  He is the artistic director for the professional performing company Shadow Optix. In November of 2008 they showcased in the prestigious San Francisco Hip Hop Dance Fest at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. Hip hop legend Poppin’ Pete and MTV’s Breaksk8 were also performers at the SF Hip Hop Fest. 

Joe has trained, performed, and choreographed with the Jabbawockeez infamous co-founder Gary Kendall for 5 years. Shadow Optix recently performed at the official second annual memorial show for Gary Kendall (One 4 Gee) in February of 2009. Come see their upcoming performance at the North Bay Dance Festival on March 21st at Spreckles Performing Arts Center in Rohnert Park. This third annual show is where the North Bay’s best companies and dancers come to showcase.

Break Dancing 101

 

Vol. 4: The Get Down

The Get Down is a very significant part of breaking. There are both simple and complex ways to do a get down. The get down is a transitional movement from up-rocking into footwork or combinations of moves on the floor. Any given bboy will have numerous get downs in his arsenal to use.

Get down 1 of 2:

Step 1: Start with your feet a little more than shoulder width apart and your arms crossed and bent in front of you. You will notice this first move is almost identical to one of the up rocks from volume 3.

Step 1

Step 2: Cross one foot over the other and open your arms wide Step 2

Step 3: Lunge the crossing leg backward and place your hand on the ground to support weight. Now you are down to the floor! That was easy. From here, I recommend doing the six step!

Step 3

Get Down 2 of 2:

Step 1: Start with your feet a little more than shoulder width apart. Hop onto one leg and bend the other one to your side. Cross your arms and hold them straight out in front of you.
step 1

Step 2: This is the tricky part. Place the foot that is in the air right behind your standing leg’s knee. At the same time you lower yourself using your standing leg and one hand. Your weight should now be controlled and resting on the foot that you had tucked behind your standing knee. I place the hand that isn’t on the floor on my hip for style.
Step 2

Step 3: Now comes the freedom- From here you can do almost anything. Think about how this position is step 2 and step 4 in the six step. You could go into a six step or baby freeze from here very easily.
Step 3

Now you have a full set. If you practiced the Six Step, Baby Freeze, and Top Rock then you have a really solid foundation. Try to combine each of the moves in different ways and in different orders. Usually, a bboy/bgirl will start with up rocking, do a get down, footwork (Six Step), and then freeze. See if you can do it! Make sure you read the next volume of Breaking 101, our first power move, The Swipe.

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