Adolpho Quinones aka Shabba-Doo and Battle of the B-Girls

In every issue I like to pay tribute to a great Hip Hop pioneer, someone who made a revolutionary contribution to the culture, someone without whom Hip Hop would not be the same. I am not looking for a hard-luck story of a one-hit wonder who was once great, I want to show all of you that most of these pioneers are still making a vital contribution to Hip Hop and are still working in it in one way or another. Many people think that if they do not see an artist on the cover of The Source or Vibe, on the big screen, or on the top of the Billboard charts that their career must be over. This is generally not the case, Just listen to Backspin on Sirius Radio one day or check out who did the choreography for your favorite new movie, produced that hot new track or directed that new video and you'll see what I'm talking about.

So each month I rack my brain thinking of which worthy pioneer I will talk to. I started thinking about my favorite Hip Hop movies of all time; Breakin' 1 and 2, Beatstreet, Wildstyle all come to mind of course. I must have watched Breakin' 1000 times, even my 8 year old son knows the whole story. Recently my family and I watched Breakin' Vs Krumpin, a great documentary that features Adolfo "Shabba-Doo" Quinones (Ozone from Breakin' 1 and 2) who sets out to settle a bet as to which is better, Krumpin' or Breakin'. I was happily surprised to see that Shabba-Doo (one of my first crushes) looked better than ever and was still dancing, producing, and directing. I looked him up and found that he is not just dancing but has never stopped since he set foot on Soul Train and danced with the original Lockers. He just choreographed Kickin' It Old Skool, starring Jamie Kennedy and released by the Yari Film Group, teaches dance workshops across the globe, and has his own multi-media company, OnQ Media with which he is working on numerous projects. I knew he was the one I needed to talk to.

For those of you who have spent the last 35 years under a rock let me school you on whom Adolfo "Shabba-Doo" Quinones; a true Hip Hop pioneer is. Formerly one of the original members of The Lockers, the seminal funk dance and locking group that was founded in 1973. The Lockers featured Toni Basil, who Shabba-Doo credits as his choreographic mentor, Fred "Rerun" Berry, Don Campbellock Canpbell among others. Toni Basil formed The Lockers into a professional dance troupe and helped them get international exposure. "Without Toni Basil there would be no Lockers and there would be no Shabba-Doo," says Shabba-Doo. The Lockers influenced dancers across the globe. According to Shabba-Doo Toni Basil is one of the best-kept secrets in Hip Hop culture, an unsung hero. "Most people don't realize that a white woman made such a contribution to what Hip Hop dance is today". Other dancers who have influenced him are West Side Story's original cast members, Russ Tamblyn, Jaime Rogers, and David Winters.

Shabba-Doo likens his life's journey to King Arthur and Camelot. "As a kid growing up Cabrini Green Projects, little did I know that I would be the one to pull the fabled sword from the stone. It was supposed to be my sister Fawn, she was the chosen one, one thing lead to another and here I am 35 years later and I often think Oh my god, I didn't think it would work out this way. I was the water boy who becomes king". Little Adolfo and Fawn used to put on shows in their living room for their Mom and friends for money. They were both original Soul Train dancers in their hometown, Chicago and later when they moved to California. His role in Breakin' brought him to Tel Aviv where Hip Hop was just being introduced and people. I remember a clip from an Israeli TV show where Shabba-Doo and Boogaloo Shrimp demonstrated their moves. Throughout all his travels, Shabba-Doo has had the best experiences in New York and Paris where he often teaches workshops.

These days Shabba-Doo is quite the Renaissance man, juggling many hats. He is the creative force behind his production company, On Q Media, a choreographer, dancer, dance teacher, director, screenwriter, professional photographer, actor, and a role model to young and old. My son has decided he wants to be Shabba-Doo for Halloween. Shabba-Doo says the underlying motivation for everything he does is happiness; he just does what he loves. I'm sure that is the secret to his success. Always recognized as a Hip Hop pioneer, he says his greatest challenge is trying to be better than people remember him to be. He feels a tremendous responsibility to be the best representative of the Hip Hop culture, not only for his ability on the dance floor but also as a person.

Shabba-Doo has a reality dance competition show coming out in 2009, The Battle of the B-Girls. What will set this apart from all the other dance competition shows is it celebrates, the unsung hero, the female dancer. It will show that girls can get down too.

He is also in the process of writing his book, Beyond the Ozone: How Streetdancing Saved My Life. The book is about how Streetdancing took a wayward kid in Chicago who was involved in street gangs and gave him an opportunity and a voice. He thinks most young people really want to be heard and seen as people and hear what they have to say, and what they have to say be deemed important. In that way dancing gave him an opportunity to show whom he was through his dancing and he is eternally grateful for that. He shows his gratitude by teaching young dancers in his workshops around the world.

Shabba-Doo's teaching style does not employ rigid, outdated techniques. The philosophy of the Lockers pre-show mantra (to base their improvisational style of the individual) has stuck with him to this day; he still believes that a dance troupe can be a troupe but they are all still individuals within that group. "The individual mind is the most powerful thing we have." He begins every one of his classes by telling his students that the most important thing is "right now" and what they are about to share because tomorrow is not promised to us, the next five minutes is not promised to us and the past does not equal what we are going to accomplish today. He is driven by the metaphysical writings of Deepak Chopra, Eckhart Tolle,Wayne Dyer, and the motivational writer Anthony Robbins to motivate his students to use the power of dance to accomplish whatever it is they want in life; Shabba-Doo is living-proof of this. He tells students to be themselves; he has no interest in creating a bunch of little Shabba-Doos. At one of his workshops in Paris a student said there were 24 moves to lockin'. Shabba-Doo looked around the room and said "Well, there are 60 dancers in the room and 60+24=84 so there are 84 moves: After a quizzical frown forms on the student's face, Shabba-Doo adds, "I haven't seen your move yet". He believes all art is and should be a living, contributable form. "Maybe we brought it to 24 moves, but now it is your turn to bring on some new moves, what is great about this form of dance is that it is not rigid like ballet, we have the ability to be shape-shifters, to move as the time change and incorporate our personalities in the dance."

In my conversations with Shabba-Doo I could see that he loves everything he does but he really seems to have a passion for teaching. He shared some testimonials from some of he students with me because he said they meant so much to him. He always tells his students that to really enjoy the "now" because you never know what is going to happen in the next five minutes. The "now" is the most powerful thing we have. In his HOUSE OF SCHWAY: urban dance and performance workshops there are three levels that make up the philosophy, the sacred laws of Shway-E. E stands for emotional. It represents the most impactful, emotional experience that we can have; it can be hurtful or joyful. "I encourage them to reach for that experience in their dance". The letter S stands for spiritual, it is not a spiritual belief system but an understanding that we are all part of a bigger cause, and "I encourage them to connect to that in their dance on a spiritual level". The letter P stands for physical: the actual learning and the eventual mastering of effective techniques, including its terminologies and the practical application to ones FULL ability.

Shabba-Doo appreciates the opportunities his part as the iconic, Ozone gave him but he is by no means holding on to that character. He says he thinks it's a little twisted when people call themselves a character they portrayed, "I used to ask Penguin (Fred Berry) why he was calling himself Rerun." Shabba-Doo still keeps in touch with his first Schway student, Ana "Lollipop" Sanchez (The fierce dancer from Breakin' from Electro-Rock, the rival crew's secret weapon) they work out together at least once per week. As far as his other fellow Breakin' cast mates, and people he has worked with over the years, Shabba-Doo keeps to himself. I sense a bit of bad blood between him and his co-star Boogaloo Shrimp. He says that Boogaloo Shrimp has not taken care of himself like he should and is too attached to his role as Turbo.

And of course the question I wasn't sure if I should ask or not...Will there really be a Breakin' 3? When I heard Boogaloo Shrimp talk about Breakin' 3 The Boogaloo Kid; a Karate Kid version of Breakin' where Boogaloo gives a young kid his broom and bandana and teaches him the ways of breakdancing, I cringed, say it isn't so! My philosophy with everything is "if it aint' broke don't fix it." So I was happy to hear that it is not really happening, at least not with that script. Shabba-Doo was approached to do a Breakin' 3 but he does not want to "mess with a masterpiece" but he is in talks about starring in and choreographing a new dance film. He said he would only make a Breakin' 3 if it had a very unique script and it could not be about who's going to win the dance contest. "That premise worked in the 80's but it would not fly today". When Shabba-Doo choreographed Kickin it Old Skool" Jamie Kennedy asked him to be in it as Ozone and he refused. "I'm not interested in putting on an Ozone earring"

Is it possible for dancers today to be stars like Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly? Yes we do see a lot of breakdancing, in movies, films and videos but they are often in the background. There is little showmanship in Hip Hop these days, gone are the days of emcees performing on stage with a dance crew. Shabba-Doo is the last of a dying breed. He was booked as himself and dancer on many shows in the 80's and 90's but even with the success of the bevy of dance competition shows like America's Best Dance Crew and So you Think You Can Dance? Dancers today are often cast as back up dancers. Shabba-Doo says that young dancers need to be more selective with the jobs they take. "The dancer has developed a slave mentality that is not beneficial for them in the long run. I tell them that we are gods; this entertainment industry was built on our backs. When you look at the amount of dancers Brittany Spears, Janet Jackson and Madonna Shows use in their concerts you'll see without us they are nothing." Shabba-Doo has danced with and or choreographed for global luminaries such as: Madonna, Bette Midler, Lionel Ritchie, Chaka Kahn, Frank Sinatra, and Jelly Bean among others so he definitely knows what he's talking about.

Where does Shabba-Doo find inspiration? He goes on what he calls "feeling expeditions" He goes out and explores communities and new environments, watching people's behavior and listening to their conversations for inspirations. When he choreographs he does not do steps, he does what he coins "behaviors"; he does not do routines, he does "scenarios", He got this idea watching animals behavior on the Discovery Channel. For him dancing is more primal, it's animalistic. That is the very nature of his creation, Funk Shway; Funk Shway is his answer to Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do. Like Bruce Lee says we should be like water, formless, shapeless. You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle...Water can flow or it can crash. Shabba-Doo has taken his Funk Shway and developed an innovative instructional dance-fitness program. I told Shabba-Doo that I cannot dance and he assured me that you don't have to be a dancer to do it. While some of the moves are for the more advanced dancer, the Soul Dance Party that covers "the building blocks of soul", the DNA of Hip Hop where he revisits the old dances would be the one for me. He said in order to effectively pop and lock you need to go back to the late 60's to the early 70 to about the mid 70's, during Hip Hop's Renaissance period. I believe this is true of any art form. Look for the global distribution of Shabba-Doo's HOUSE OF SCHWAY DVD series. Shabba-Doo's multi-media corporation is always working on new projects. If anyone asks you what ever happened to Shabba-Doo? Let them know he never stopped dancing and probably never will.

Shabba-Doo street dancing as martial arts...

He says that the term street dancing is equal to the term martial arts so Shabba-Doo categorizes the different styles of dance as different forms of martial arts...

Breaking- is Jujitsu or wrestling, with a little Capoeira and a lot of ground work, It is extremely physically demanding. Sadly, over the years it has moved away from it's rhythmic roots to more of a type of gymnastics.

Locking- is Tae Kwon Do or Karate, it involves a lot kicks and is probably the most rhythmic of all the dances and combined the most physically demanding with the rhythm, it involves locking your joints with soul dancing mixed in.

Popping- is Kung Fu, a more fluid dance even though it has more jerky hits, but boogaloo style is at its roots a more fluid, funk movement.

Krumping- is mixed martial arts, at first it appears a little bit angrier than the others

Shway- mistakenly confused with Vogueing, some people call it Waackin' or Punking it is Tae Chi. It's a different beast, with the Shway style you have to have a really good sense of yourself to really make it work. It is the most difficult rhythmically challenging dance of them all.