Ahh, nothing like a bit of Wild Cherry, anyway that has very little to do with this post…

Seeing as B-Boy Sprained-Ankle hasn’t been training very much recently I thought I’d share a video of me playing a funky groove on my conga drums instead:

If you’re interested in learning the basic techniques of how to play a hand drum, or make rhythms using other easily available percussion, check out our website for free instructions Bass – Tone – Slap – Drumming Techniques

In recent news

Our crew has a couple of shows booked in for this month. You can see us rocking the stage at Oceana on Monday 15th February for the Chinese New Year party! As well as a show to start off a martial arts competition… inside a cage haha! Unfortunately I’m gonna miss that as I’m in Edinburger playing drums for the entire weekend.

Since spraining my ankle landing a front somersault like a spazz, on top of the physio to strengthen my ankles back up, I’ve been doing a bit of training and breaking that doesn’t require the use of my left leg. Which is even harder than it sounds! I always use my left leg to push off to do pretty much everything, so I had to switch it up and try getting into handstands the opposite way round, even forwards rolls felt weird! But this is a great lesson for all b-boys and b-girls to really build their co-ordination, make new neural pathways in the brain and increasse your versatility…

Try doing moves you already do the other way round.

A lot of us already know this is a good idea and probably practise it to a small extent, but we get lazy and stick to ways we are used to. Take a ttep outside of that lazy thinking box and try this:

If you do a lot of your footwork like six step clockwise, learn it anti-clockwise. Master your freezes on both arms – baby freezes, 1 handed handstands, elbow freezes, shoulder freezes, chairs, air chairs etc. Then when you’re getting the hang of that and feel like an absolutely ridiculous challenge to work on – try learning your power moves in the opposite direction! Miss having awful bruises on your shoulders and hips… then why not learn windmills again the other way round! Enjoy the pain all over again, hahaha.

“Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.”

Og Mandino

This is an absolutely amazing/hilarious video from Brett Domino giving a demo of the cool new Stylophone Beatbox: Portable Beats Machine. I’d seen the product in the IWOOT catalogue a while ago but never realised the incredible potential until my Father told me to check out this video featuring some classic b-boy tunes and other hip hop beats. Prepare to be astounded, hahaha:

Brett Domino: Hip-Hop Medley – Stylophone Beatbox

Click here to buy your Portable Beats Machine on sale for less than £10!

It’s got a build in loop sampler! I WANT ONE! IWantOneOfThose.com are charging £20 – no thanks…

I think I’ll be placing my order very shortly with findmeagift.com – click here to get your Stylophone Beatbox on sale for under £10!

“100% of the shots you don’t take don’t go in.”

Wayne Gretzky

If you’re planning on going to the main event this Sunday 15th, make sure you get there early to get a ticket, or buy one online in advance, especially if you’re travelling a long distance. It’s probably as bad as being the fat smelly kid at school that nobody likes when you arrive at a venue 2 and a half hours away and are told you can’t go in The  maximum capacity is only about 350 or so, which means it will sell out fast!

The line up looks amazing, it’d be worth going to see the battles on Sunday at the main event if it was just the b-boys on the reserve list but with international and UK invites including B-Boy Mouse, Hat Solo, Mounir etc. you know it’s going to be off the hook! The Just Jam live band/percussionists will be playing some funky beats for the breakers to dance to over the weekend so I believe. Even the Pre Party this Saturday 14th November with some surprise showcase battles  is set to be an awesome night. Hat Solo and Mounir will be running workshops during the day too, if you’re free – get your ass down there this weekend!

You can find all the details for the event here: http://www.ukbboy.info/forum/showthread.php?t=15084

Have a gander at Doy Travel’s bad ass trailer from last years event if you need persuading…

Bad Taste Cru Presents ‘Just Jam’ Feat Just Do it, Mouse, Hat Solo, Duzk from Le Doy on Vimeo.

For all you bboy geeks who spend hours scouring the internet for bboying videos you might not have seen yet, there are some more battle videos from last years Just Jam by Doy here: http://www.ukbboy.info/forum/showthread.php?t=14111 if by any chance you haven’t seen them yet.

Have a good time if you go this weekend! Who knows, I might still make it.

“No great work is impossible; the word itself says I’m Possible”.

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Read the full post to see the video of me getting my dance on…

We eventually arrived at Wiston Lodge to hit things, mostly drums, yey. What a fun experience it’s been thus far and hopefully the rest of the 8 days will be on the drum circle facilitators UK Playshop Mentor training course. Appropriately named, as opposed to a workshop, there’s much play involved fun times.

As soon as I arrived on Friday, the true b-boy in me emerged and I found myself testing out the decking in front of the cabin I’m staying in. (You know you’re a breaker when you find yourself examining how suitable every floor is for dancing on, where ever you are.) The scenery was magnifiscent and I couldn’t resist busting out some moves while there was a strange period where water wasn’t actually falling from the sky. Earlier on today, Saturday at the time of tapping on the keyboard, there was a break in the training program and a couple of people continued to drum, so I cleared a space at the end of the room and got my groove on. There’s no way I could go 10 days without breaking at some point, especially when theres a smooth wooden floor staring back at me almost every minute of the day. Stop typing Twist and show me the damn video, ok:

B-Boying in the middle of nowhere, Scotland

“Part way through writing the word ‘determination’ on his sheet, his pen ran out.”

Paul Dear