Bopping & breaking

Tu Tangata, Issue 18, 1 June 1984, Page 24

Bopping & breaking

By May Parakoti-Lewis

By Cath Gilmour

Bopping and breaking is fast becoming the biggest dance craze to hit New Zealand since disco.

In Auckland alone, there have been four national competitions in the past five months.

Unlike disco, the new dance form of bop-breaking has a distinctive “street feeling”. You don’t have to go to a nightclub or social to see it they do it in the streets.

All they need is “sounds”, a smooth surface to dance on, and it’s all go. Most of the dancers are Polynesians. They seem to have a certain knack for the disjointed robotic moves of the bop, and the fluid speed of breaking.

Most of them are school students who get together at school during the lunch-times and practise moves. There seems to be a sense of identity found in being Polynesian and good at this type of dancing.

On Friday and Saturday nights, they gather in the shopping malls and display their skills to one another. Some are shy and stop if strangers watch. Others perform for the crowd with smiling confidence.

On-lookers gasp and clap at the sight of these youngsters hurtling to the ground into breaking moves like head and back spins. They contort their bodies into spiderwalks and rock moves.

An organiser of one competition in Auckland, Mr Gerry Otimi, said they gave young people status and motivation.

“It’s a great way to unite the youth throughout New Zealand by encouraging them to do something they like,” said Mr Otimi.

In March, the Bopolympics were held at the Mt Smart stadium in Auckland. Young people organised and judged the contest.

One of them, Troy O’Dea, aged 18, said that bopping and breaking gave young people a way to prove themselves.

“If you aren’t good at rugby, basketball or athletics, you can have a go at bopping. It’s like a sport.”

Troy said that New Zealand hoppers and breakers were of high quality because they had studied videos sent from America.

“This kind of dancing has been going in the States for quite a few years. We have seen what has taken them years to perfect and then we see the best videos, it only takes us a few weeks.”

Bopping and breaking could go on for a while here too. It is a familiar sight in most of the main cities, with smaller towns now into the act.

The taut body of a 10-year-old springs upside down. Hips flick a quarter-turn clockwise, stop to capture kinetic control and then corkscrew until momentum wears down.

The headspin. . . part of the breakdancing craze that belatedly took off where disco dancing ran dry.

Mark Tamati, a Hamilton 10-year-old, began bop and break dancing about a year ago after seeing the arts on the “Hui Pacific” and “Ready to Roll” television programmes.

His interest soon waned. Even exposure on “That’s Incredible” and “Solid Gold” did not earn the black Americaninitiated dancing forms an automatic fanatic following.

That came with the release last August of Malcolm McLaren’s “Buffalo Girls” video clip. A month later, Mark shyly joined the others on the streets.

His resurgence of interest was in response to the street-bound exploits of one of Hamilton’s first break dancers, 20-year-old Larsen Kerapa. Larsen, or Excalibur as he is known, has been dancing since smitten with disco fever at intermediate school. He and fellow veteran disco-dancer 23-year-old John Tuaua, or Texas, led the flow to bopping and breaking after the release of “Buffalo Girls”.

Bopping beat breaking to New Zealand’s streets. Bopping is the body wave flowing, jerking, robot-like, double-jointed movements. Breaking looks like it will live up to its name, as lithe limbs twirl in head and hand spins, windmills and hurricanes.

Mark and Larsen make it look easy. It is not.

“It’s harder than it looks. When the dancers on TV do it, they make it look easy,” says Mark.

He still classes himself as a beginner, but definitely on the upper edge of that class. He has now had eight months of soaking up the expertise of the more experienced. Mark practices at least two hours each day at school, in garages, at the roller skating rink, in the lounge....

Mark has the full support of his family. His 13-year-old brother, Jason, is also in the Hi Sonic Rockers team. His mum Lisa made uniforms for all the team members. Both parents and Nana enjoy watching Jason and Mark perform. . . preferably not in the lounge.

Mark has no sister. But if he did? “Well, I’d teach her how to break dance, too.”

Few females have yet ventured into break dancing in public. Larsen said there are some females teams in the city, but they are too shy to perform. “It’ll just take time, you just have to be a bold person.” He, too, suffered from the nervous jitters at first.

Gaining self-confidence is one of the benefits of break dancing. Larsen said it has also helped cut down on fighting kids now respect and know each other for their dancing talents. They no longer have to prove themselves by scrapping, nor do they want to as friendships grow, he added.

Many of Hamilton’s break dancers come under the managerial wing of Marc Whaanga. They congregate at his Rock ’n Roll Record shop, listening to street music, playing video games and practising the latest moves.

Marc’s passion for Black contempor-

ary music first drew him into break dancing circles. Former disco-dancers and breaking-babes came to his discos in search of street soul music.

He now acts as co-ordinator for the city’s break dancers. His notebook lists all the coming commitments Ngaruawahia performance that day, Rotorua challenge the next weekend, a few more friendly challenges the next week. Prize money at stake rises each time.

Several Hamilton high schools are now encouraging break dancing, Marc said. In at least one school, it has joined

the ranks of chess and ballroom dancing in the Wednesday afternoon cultural club offerings. And in Auckland, a book narrating break dancing’s history and growth in New Zealand is well under way. So polish the lino, sweep the pavements pebble free. . . there is dancing in the streets. Aku raukura Modern “bop” music and kaumatua came face to face at this year’s kaumatua wananga in Wellington. And it showed that there is no generation gap in the appreciation of kids’ music.

The music was the Patea Maori Club’s follow-up to “Poi-E”. The latest is “Raukura” and deals with identity. Some elders had the chance of a sneak preview. Wanganui elder Mr Pahita Tauri expressed pride in his northern cousins. “Our family ties are too strong for us to be jealous of them.” Several elders encouraged the modern maori sound the Patea club was putting out. They wanted other maori clubs to do likewise. They saw songs like Raukura as modern and not cutting across old traditions. Mrs Wharakawa Ursula of Tauranga said there would be no opposition from her people. “They love ‘Poi-E’ ”. Mr Sonny Keepa of Napier said, “My kids bop to it in the streets.” Mr Keepa is a writer of traditional maori songs.

Mrs Ngoi Pewhairangi of Tokomaru Bay, who co-wrote “Poi-E”, was praised by Mr Rua Cooper of Turangawaewae marae. He described Ngoi’s talents as “truly great”. Besides “Poi-E” she also wrote Prince Tui Teka’s No 1 hit, “E Ipo” and the latest, “Raukura”. Taranaki elder, Mr Sonny Warn said “Poi-E” was great, but this one was even better. “Poi-E” is a reggae-poi song with a quick beat suiting those who wanted to bop. “Raukura” is an action song performed at last years Polynesian Festival, along with “Poi-E”. However, it’s been revamped under the production of Dalvanius Prime of Patea. It’s a time that will appeal more to the older listener and seems set to capitalise on the enormous success of “Poi-E”.