Tonight I took my first class with legendary b-boy from back-in-the-day Ken Swift, who has started teaching a fundamentals class at PMT Studios on Tuesday nights. In his early 40s now, Ken is still a phenomenal dancer and ambassador of the art of b-boying. Check out Ken Swift dancing as a teenager in the 80s and then him in 2008.
So to get to learn from him in a small setting with 16 or so other students is amazing.
In my experience in the hip-hop world, a good dancer does not necessarily make a good teacher. Since b-boying is such a raw, street dance, even amazing b-boys are often really bad at teaching their skills to others.
Luckily, Ken Swift was not one of those b-boys. He carefully broke down up-rock and basic floor moves, explaining the history of them and the styling required to do them with old skool flavor. Doing the most basic steps but with high emphasis on style and expression was a really great exercise for me.
The class closed with a circle or cypher, every student going in to do just a few of the basic moves that we learned in class. It's a great way to solidify what you know and can pull out on the fly.
I'll definitely be back for more.