Jason Rodriguez - The Moose in the Closet: Catching-Up and A Decade of Dancing: Busting a Move

Besides getting sun-burned badly and spending Sunday and Monday sick as all hell I managed to write this entire week’s stories and two Here’s the Thing… columns, one one called “Fan Fiction (and other ways to waste your time)” and one called “Usually” which I really like and will be going up this Friday. Also, I read the first Harry Potter book and the first hundred pages of the second. I found the first on to be incredible, the second one is a little weak in certain areas but still amusing. Just like my website, I guess. And on that note…

____________________

Dancing was ridiculous in the early 90s. Whereas it was something you did for fun, there was also a competitive angle to it, and you had to be up on the latest moves in order to hang at the local teen clubs. In order to not look like a complete idiot (despite being dressed like one and acting like one) you needed to practice your moves while not in the club – and my friends and I would indeed get together and practice dancing.

Dave, local kid from the block, and I would practice regularly. Sometimes some of the other local kids would stop by but usually Dave and I would get together at his place, throw some Rob Bass (It Takes Two) in the box and practice our fly moves.

All of the dances that you guys made fun of when you saw them on House Party – the Running Man, the Cabbage Patch, the Roger Rabbit – those were the moves we taught ourselves. The Running Man was the first move we learned, you start slow and eventually begin really doing it hard – the legs moved in more exaggerated motions as the arms reached higher into the air – pulling down a whole lot of nothing.

The Roger Rabbit came next. One foot behind the next, sort of backwards skipping in place while you pulled your arms back repeatedly. An advanced dancer (such as myself) would occasionally do the stutter step – you put the left foot behind the right but instead of instantly putting the right foot behind the left you just sort of hop back and forth – like a rabbit – a Roger Rabbit, no less.

Once you get the hang of all of the basic moves you can start moving onto group moves. Kid and Play did this thing where they walk up to each other and tap their right feet together. They then lock hands, jump around in a circle on one foot (remember, their feet are still together) and eventually break apart – into a Roger Rabbit, possibly.

The Holy Grail for non-double jointed dancers was the ability to do the actual Kid & Play. This was where you grabbed your left foot with your right hand and then jumped in the air; put your right leg through the loop made by your left leg/right arm.

Ladies and Gentlemen – I was able to do the Kid & Play.

It took many practice sessions to perfect and I occasionally let go of my leg in mid-air no matter how good I got but chances are if I was busting a move on the dance floor I could pull off a Kid & Play.

But it gets better.

I could do a split. Still can, actually. And I used to be able to loop the leg twice and on the third time, land in a split. Come back up and go into the Running Man. It was really the pinnacle of my dance moves, reserved for the illest jam. I’d bust it out at the perfect moment – a circle forms and there are a couple of fly girls on the rim – I’d tap my foot three times, Kid & Play front, Kid & Play back, Kid & Play front to a split, come up (maybe quickly re-split) Running Man while the entire crowd shouts “Ohhhhhhhhhhh!”

When I try to Kid & Play now I tend to break my face. But at the same time, I don’t have practice sessions anymore.

Labels: mitc

Catching-Up and A Decade of Dancing: Busting a Move

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

0 Comments

Previous Posts