Funkmeyer World: Where Your Dream Life Becomes Your Real Life

OMG! WE’RE GONNA LEARN THE MOONWALK!

otisfunkmeyer — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:00:26 +0000

It’s the first move everyone wants to learn, and it’s usually the first thing people will ask you if you can do. It’s…. the MOONWALK.

Well… wait a sec.

Actually, in the popping world, it’s not called the moonwalk. It’s called the backslide. Which makes sense. Since you slide backwards. And it doesn’t really look anything like walking on the moon. In the popping world, the moonwalk refers to a circular movement where you float up and down and it looks like–you guessed it–you’re walking on the moon!

Either way, the late, great Michael Jackson made it famous so most people know the backslide as the moonwalk. Don’t go around being an annoying twit telling everyone it’s actually called the backslide either. As long as YOU know, that’s what’s important!

So, how do we do it, this most amazing move?

We start by analyzing how walking works, throw in a few techniques, make it extra smooth, and next thing you know, you’re moonslide/backwalking! Ha!

How do we Walk?

That’s the question. And the easiest way to find out is to get out of your chair and walk slowly and analyze it. If you’re too lazy for that, well you’re in luck, cuz I’m gonna explain it to you anyway.

The way that we walk is that we put all of our weight on one of our legs. That leg, the one with the weight on it, is straight. The other leg is up in the air, it’s bent, and it has no weight on it (duh).

So, to repeat. Two legs. One straight, has weight. One bent, no weight.

How do we MOONWalk

So what we do to get the effect of the moonwalk is we REVERSE this normal way of walking. We make it LOOK the same. One leg is bent and one leg is straight. But ahhh… something is different.

THE BENT LEG HAS ALL THE WEIGHT ON IT. The straight leg has no weight on it!

*THAT* is the illusion of the moonwalk.

There’s some good news in this and some bad news. The good news is that you now know how to do the moonwalk. You’re pretty much half way there. The bad news is that you now have to actually DO the moonwalk. As we’ll see, it’s a more challenging move than it looks!

How Do we Do the moonwalk?

The first thing we have to do is get good at balancing on one bent leg. That’s the fundamental secret of the moonwalk. You balance on your leg that is bent. Now, normally when you stand on one leg and you bend it, one of two things happens. You either go up in the air or you squat down low. We are doing neither of these things. In fact, it is critically important that we stay at the EXACT SAME HEIGHT at all times. Otherwise the illusion is ruined.

So what we are doing is this. You raise up onto the ball of your foot without changing your height. If you look in a mirror, you should not move at all. ONLY your foot should move up and your knee should move out. Everything else should stay still. This is easier said than done!

For the Beginners

If you’re new to this, it might be too hard to do that at all. So here’s what you can do. Practice going up on the balls of BOTH feet at the same time, while you hold onto something like a wall, and look in a mirror to make sure that you do not move up or down in height. This will train your calf muscles and you will get a feel for what it feels like.

Every so often, you can practice taking your hands away from the wall and even lifting up one of your feet so that you can try to balance on one foot.

The Next Step

Once you can balance on one foot, you’re really almost there. The next step is to slide the other leg back, pulling from the heel first, like you’re trying to kick a rock that’s right behind you. As you slide this leg back, make sure it has no weight on it. At the same time, come up on the ball of the foot with the weight on it.

When you have slid the leg back to the point where you can’t slide it anymore, you’re ready for… the TRANSITION

The Trickiest Step of All

What makes or breaks the moonwalk is the transition. People who are dope gliders basically have great transitions. That means that the switch between weight is seamless and it really looks like they are gliding on ice. What you have to do is REALLY QUICKLY switch the weight from one leg to the other by bending the straight leg and straightening the bent leg.

As you do this, you must IMMEDIATELY start sliding the leg that is now straight back, always pulling from the heel.

Also it’s really important in this step to keep your upper body straight and not bend forward. Only your LEGS should be moving. This too is easier said than done!

After the transition, it’s just the same thing all over again. Slide back, switch, slide back, switch, slide back, switch. You’re making Michael Jackson proud!

Some Tips

Let’s go over the steps again, because this is a little complicated.

When we normally walk, our straight leg has all the weight. The bent leg has none.
When we MOONwalk, our bent leg has all the weight. Our straight leg has none.
We start by coming up on the ball of one leg, making it bent. We make sure to stay at exactly the same level while we put our way on the ball of the foot.
We start sliding the other leg back, pulling from the heel. This leg is FREE and has NO weight on it.
When the leg sliding reaches as far back as you can get it to slide, you quickly switch the weight, straightening the bent leg while you come up on the ball of what was the straight leg, and putting your weight on that leg.
Repeat. Slide the leg that is now straight back and continue!

So, to make it smooth, try these tips.

Hover the straight leg just above the ground. Don’t actually slide it across the ground because the friction between your shoe and the ground will make it stick.
Use baby powder on the bottom of your shoes. I learned this from one of the best gliders I’ve ever seen, named Tiev. Apparently, Michael Jackson did this as well.
Keep your weight forward and your body upright. There is a tendency to start leaning back since you’re moving backwards. To prevent this, actively put your weight forward slightly.
Don’t move your arms and body too much. The illusion looks best when you are still. Watch MJ. He doesn’t move too much and it makes it that much more trippy.
Feel SMOOTH. The moonwalk works best when you move SMOOOOOTH and feel SMOOOOTH. That’s just the kind of move it is.

THE WRAP-UP!

I didn’t realize when I started writing this how complicated the moonwalk is. Especially to put into words! My best advice is just keep practicing and everyday, even if you’re already starting to get it, practice balancing on the ball of your feet. You can never practice that too much!

KEEP IT POPPIN!
Otis Funkmeyer, Ph.D. of Popping

Figure Out How YOU Want to Dance: Make Your Perfect Dancer

otisfunkmeyer — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:00:10 +0000

These days, there are so many styles of popping it’s almost bewildering. Back in the days, it was simple. Popping, waving, tutting, gliding, robot. That’s pretty much it. Now, you’ve got not only tutting but finger tutting, not only waving but snaking, cobra, liquid, and digits, and not only popping but strutting, banging, and boogalooing. It’s overwhelming!

And think about it. Most of the dancers you love, when it comes down to it, are super dope at one thing, maybe two. Maybe you like Madd Chadd’s robot or Acki’s boogaloo or Salah’s isolations. Even the best dancers usually excel at only one thing.

As someone who has gone down the dead end path of trying to master every single style, let me give you the advice that Boppin Andre gave me–perfect something and then move on. Don’t learn waving and tutting and gliding all at the same time. Start somewhere, learn that, and THEN try something new.

This may not sound as exciting, but it’s a surefire way to build skills quickly. The only question is, how are you gonna decide what to learn?

What Dancers Do You LOVE

The best way to answer this question is to first let your mind wander. I’m talking clothes your eyes, start a warm bubble bath, hop in, put on some light jazz, and let yourself relax and go far away. NOW! WHO COMES UP? WHICH DANCERS JUST FLOAT TO THE TOP? WHO DO YOU WANT TO DANCE LIKE? WHO ARE YOUR IDOLS?

When I first did this exercise, I would say things like this. Well, Poppin’ Pete’s hard pops, Sally Sly’s isolations, J Smooth’s footwork and animation, PopnTod’s waves, Tetris’ tuts, Dementia’s ground moves, Walid’s groove, Skeeter Rabbit’s toyman. On and on like that. The problem with this is that by picking so many people and so many things, I might as well not have picked anything at all.

So now, I say this. Walid and Jazzy J. These are the two dancers that I just LOVE. I just can’t get enough of their dancing. To me, they are just the funkiest dancers I’ve ever seen. I would be SO HAPPY to have someone compare me to them. It would make my day. Even if my tuts sucked and my waves were sloppy, if I could funk and boogaloo like Walid and Jazzy J, I would be a happy happy man!

How Do You Dance Like Your Favorites?

All right. So now you’ve figured it out. Let’s say that you’re like me and you wanna dance like Jazzy J. What’s next? Well, you’ve gotta figure out how Jazzy J dances. Here is how *I* would categorize Jazzy J. Great dimestop. Lots of head movements. Very dynamic. Incredible foundation. Strong feet and legs. Quick. Lots of twistoflexing.

So that’s what you’d practice. Just those things. Just do your absolute best to copy those things. It’s perfectly OK to copy at first. It’s just a phase. Once you have it down, you will develop your own unique style. But having someone to look up to helps you get where you’re trying to go.

Wrap-up

In order to get anywhere, you’ve got to know where you’re trying to go! By figuring out which dancers really make you go crazy–the ones whose clips you just watch over and over and over–and focusing on dancing like your idols, you’re sure to get where you’re trying to go! On the other hand, if you just try to dance like everyone else, it’s a surefire way to fail! So get out there and start copying!

Peace out and KEEP IT POPPIN!
Otis Funkmeyer, Ph.D. of Popping

Avatar Event Writeup

otisfunkmeyer — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:31:49 +0000

Sunday February 7th at Royal T we touched our beautiful minds together and created New Reality in the name of this amazing movie. Otis started the event with a high-energy breakdance, dancing to our hand claps and wild calls! Sunny Nixon played his Native American flute while Jenny told the story of how cinema evolved from campfire storytelling, how filmmakers are our modern-age Shamans, and how the understanding of cinema creation gives us a clue of reality creation. We performed two scenes from the movie. It was a sight to behold when Maryl, a grandmother from Uruguay, played the Sigourney Weaver role with heavily-accented scientific talk about “ten to one thousand tree spirits…”

Then we sat in a circle and talked, sharing our views, our feelings, our ideas, our hopes and our dreams until the French maids of Royal T came and fed us cupcakes and Royal Teas in real china. After our sugar fix, Jenny and Otis led a guided meditation “My Perfect Day,” guiding each person to deeply meditate on and share with the group about their perfect day. Words pale in comparison to the love and information we shared. We all know these discussions are reality creation tools. Everyone wanted to have meetings on a regular basis. So the Funkmeyers are working on it. Stay tuned!

February 7: Avatar: A New Reality and YOU

Our planet is in the midst of massive transformation. Old systems are crumbling and being seen for what they are–unsustainable, corrupt, and exploitative. At the same time, a brand New Reality is forming. This New Reality can most easily be defined as when your dream life becomes your real life.

Avatar is a cultural phenomenon that brings all of these ideas to light: war/violence, the manipulative and exploitative mainstream system, the military as a tool, the possibility of transformation into other life forms and other worlds, the soul of mother earth, native cultures, a new way of life, technology, and which future we want to create…. There are many views, pros and cons. Through meeting eye-to-eye with open discussion we can bring these new thoughts bubbling inside and truly birth them into a 3D new story for our lives.

Thus we create our New Reality together. We want to hear you speak your mind and hear each other’s voices. So that we can say to each other: I see you.

We gather at 2pm in Royal T, an inspiring art space built by big thinker Susan Hancock. We set our intention for a New Reality of more love, joy, freedom, spirit, and dreams. A short presentation will be given by Jenny and Otis. We will then have large group discussions, small group discussions, brainstorming sessions, acting games, and group ritual like the Na’vi themselves. It will be a day of fun, a day of celebration, and a day of transformation!

Yummy snacks served by French maids and wonderful tea included. Can’t wait to SEE YOU!

Event is $25 in advance and $30 at the door. Register in advance as thProxy-Connection: keep-alive
Cache-Control: max-age=0

event, like the movie, may sell out!
February 7, 2PM-5PM, Royal T, 8910 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA

Spoonbending Party Report

otisfunkmeyer — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:30:59 +0000

Yet another spoon softened, yielded, became one with us, bent to our wish, conformed to our command…. or did it? Is this yet another mind f–k or is it proof that our beliefs create our reality? The answer is, drum roll, neither and both! Gottya!

Sunday, January 24, sunny and nice, we gathered in the Funkmeyers’ New Reality Garden. Jenny had everyone clean the old bent spoons from her previous parties among flowering white sages, tobacco, squash and mulberries.

People introduced themselves to each other and made friends while they examined and absorbed the energy from hundreds of bent spoons.

The party was off and running by the time Otis opened with a rousing talk on “The Nature of Reality” and gave out a booklet he made. He was spot on, I must say, in how you can make new science work for you, how the holographic universe is your friend, how 2012, the end of time, is good news for you personally, how you can benefit while the old crumbles and the new emerges… very encouraging ideas!

Then Jenny launched on the serious business of mind bending. She handed out brand new stainless steel spoons, told everyone how to do it and yes, yes, yes, everyone bent a spoon!

Afterward we drank Pombucha and ate super yummy raw food made by Jenny: flax-sunflower-seed-bell-pepper crackers, cheesy cheese cheese kale chips made without cheese, and coconut macaroons. Debra shared with us her crazy good all vegan ice-cream. It was fun!

Kevin, one of the participants, said “I’m think of myself as a scientific person so when my spoon bent clearly it really messed with my mind.”

Mount Everest’s magical mystery can only be felt by climbing it – no amount of talking can explain the feeling to you. It’s the same thing with spoonbending: the moment of magic must be felt. In the case of a spoonbending party, it is truly be there or be square.

Permaculture, Sheet Mulch, and Good Times Had By All!

otisfunkmeyer — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:30:06 +0000

Sunday January 31 began early as Otis, Kevin and Jenny piled into a rented flatbed truck and headed over to pick up horse manure from Zeke, the Compost Freak. His garden turned out to be a new reality paradise right in Altadena! Turkeys, chickens and ducks live happily, and I mean really happily, running wild, in a super vibrant garden covered with tons and tons of compost. The earth was black gold under our feet as Zeke talked to us about the importance of living a simple life in tune with nature. The man is true permaculture-warrior pure-hearted Earth angel. He is the Funkmeyers’ new hero! He gave us three scoops of steaming hot horse sh-t mixed with forest matter from Northern California. The stuff oozes good energy!

We trucked the stuff back to our Funkmeyer New Reality Garden and dumped it on the driveway. Sunny Nixon led us in a hands-on sheet mulching workshop. We tore up cardboard boxes gathered from supermarkets, wet them and piled them on the plot. We dug, we sweated, we planted, we talked, we loved and we dug some more. After the work we ate salmon, red quinoa, red rice and kale salad from the garden and talked permaculture shop. We ended the event with three oms and hugged for the longest time!

The next three days, the universe gifted the garden with pouring rain that soaked the plot. The horse manure stopped smelling strongly after that! Now there stands a ruby red grapefruit tree, an apple tree, and a lemon tree in perfectly decomposing sheet mulch land.

January 31: Permaculture, Sheet Mulch, and Digging

Hey Hey Hey!

We are back again with another wonderful Permaculture workshop. We are going to learning by digging in this wonderful workshop so bring good boots and gloves if you got ‘em!

Sheet mulching is an incredible technique for turning barren land into a haven of organic, mulchy, wormy soil that will provide all of the nutrients and minerals for growing fruits and vegetables.

It is easy to learn, easy to do, and most of all, fun with friends. We will be sheet mulching a large patch of soil and planting a grapefruit tree!

We will also tour the Funkmeyer New Reality garden with its 20 fruit trees and copious kale and greens and squash while enjoying tasty raw food treats!

FEE for this event is $15 in advance and $20 at the door.
This event is limited to 12 people so be sure to register in advance.

Event Information:
Permaculture, Sheet Mulch, and Digging: A Hands-on Workshop
January 31, 2010
New Reality Garden – 2033 S. Spaulding Ave., LA, 90016

Valentine’s Day Writeup

otisfunkmeyer — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:28:37 +0000

On Valentine at Royal T, Jenny and Otis talked love. As we sat eating sweet heart cup cakes and drinking Royal tea, we mulled over lovely ideas and touched one another’s heart. Jenny and Otis made a book of Love by hand with ideas like: “Small Love is like honey – sweet sticky intoxicating. Big Love is like water – a necessity for life!” And gave answers for questions like: What happens if you choose monogamy but your partner choose polygamy?

Otis handed out guidelines for Love in the 4th Dimension. We played a game of non-violent communication and went through a list of possible emotions. It was an event that went deep into the heart of the matter and came out thought-provoking. We went home with our hearts filled with grand love!

February 14: Love & Sex in the Fourth Dimension

Make this Valentine’s Day your personal declaration to Love! To Love Yourself!

Just say no, nope, no way! You ain’t gonna take anymore of these crummy, small, lowly, half-assed, tasteless, unfulfilled kinds of love.

Now, say yes, yeah, yippee! You ARE the embodiment, the vibration, the servant, the warrior, the giver and the receiver of Love! Have no fear, have no doubt.

Amazingly spectacular love is totally possible. Otis and Jenny can do it and you can too. No joke! We’re going to share with you some pretty far-out tools, lay out some guidelines, explain the parameters, set new sights and then reboot your system. You’ll be good to go for that dream life with the dream lover. Fabio! Angelina! Nothing is too good nor too simple to be true! Put in the time and the effort and then go for it. Declare the ultimate highest bestest brightest nicest real deal kind of Love is yours or bust!!!!

Learn to talk “sweet nothings”; be in non-violent communication; schedule in “Love Days” among work days; know the new rules of fourth dimensional relationships; have open sexual partners; when to have a romantic kiss and when to have a raping kiss and when to do which; learn to dance when you find yourself yelling obscenities and look into a mirror when you’re scary ugly; re-learn how to hug and touch!

Listen to love songs, eat cup cakes and drink royal tea at Royal T, an art space that inspires the highest feelings. Make this Valentine’s Day the first day of your soulful journey to personal love. From there we can take this love and spread it to all humanity and onward to the stars, sending this powerful love vibration to our galactic community and finally reaching the ultimate place in which you are the God of Love itself. Come by your lover self or as a couple, one and all, lovers we are.

This is a celebration, an exploration, and the first day of a whole new reality, where your dream life becomes your real life!

February 14, 2010, 2PM-5PM, Royal T, 8910 Washington Blvd., Culver City, 90232

Event is $20 in advance, $25 at the door. Register in advance!

5 Steps to a Better Robot Through Isolation

otisfunkmeyer — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:00:46 +0000

When I started dancing, I didn’t understand the importance of isolation. I saw waving and boogaloo and liquid and thought that the point was too be loose and floppy and look like water. What I discovered over time is that in order to look like water, you actually have to have a lot of CONTROL over your body. You have to be able to ISOLATE different parts really well.

The best way I have found to learn isolation is through practicing the robot. The robot teaches you to be still. In order to have a good robot, you can’t move around too much. In the same way, in order to isolate well–at least at first–you can’t move around too much either.

What is Isolation?

So what exactly is isolation. Well, simply put, it’s the ability to keep some parts of your body perfectly still while others parts of your body move around. It’s not really a natural thing for a human to do, so it takes some practice!

How Isolation Makes a Better Robot

When you think of a robot, it’s really ALL isolation. Turn the head. Turn the feet. Slide forward. The reason a robot doesn’t look human is because it’s so isolated. That’s it. As robots become more human, it will be because they are able to move multiple parts of their body at the same time. So that’s a big part of what being “human” is. Moving multiple things at the same time. That’s what we DON’T want to do.

We want to start by just moving one part at a time!

Five Steps to Better Isolation:

1) Muscle Tension
In order to isolate well, you need to have muscular control. What this means is that in order to smoothly move a part of the body, it helps to have some muscular contraction going on. If you want to turn your neck, it helps to slightly flex your shoulder blades. This keeps the neck still so that it can move more smoothly.

The same is true of moving the arm. If you slightly flex your core, your arm will be more stabilized and move in a more isolated fashion.

Most of the best robotters are generally fairly tense in their core while they robot. This helps gives the effect of being a robot. When your core is flexed, everything moves less. So when you move your arm or your leg, ONLY your arm or your leg moves. Without a tight core, it looks too human! So work that core.

2) Relaxation
At the same time, you need to be really relaxed. I know it sounds crazy to say you need to be tense and then say you need to be relaxed, but it’s true. Think about it. A robot is not stressing out, working really hard to be a robot. They are just robots. You need to be like that.

That’s why I said SLIGHT flexing. You just need enough tension for the system to be stable and mechanical feeling. Then you relax and just feel like a robot. Move slowly and with control.

3) Speed Control and Rhythm
Once you start feeling like a hotshot, you can play around with speed control and rhythm. It’s like this. You can move your arm from your side to above your head in 1 second or in 1 minute. To do it in one second is a really fast movement. One minute is REALLY slow. When you change up the speeds of your movements, you get a really cool effect because no one knows what’s coming next.

You can do this in rhythms as well. You could go slow, slow, fast, slow, slow, fast or fast, slow, fast, slow, fast slow or even just fast, fast, fast, fast. All of those are rhythms that engage the people watching you dance.

Just make sure each individual movement is at the same speed. For instance, don’t start moving your arm slow then speed it up then slow it down again. You want, slow arm, fast foot, slow bend forward, etc.

4) Multiple Movements
Now you are getting into the realm of tricks and crowd pleasers. When you move two things at the same time, at the same speed, and make sure both movements start and stop at exactly the same moment, it makes it look like those movements are connected. The most famous example of this is if you turn your wrist while you bend forward, it looks like your wrist is a crank, cranking yourself forward.

But this works for just about any movement you can think of. You could lift your leg and turn your head or raise your arm while your leg turns out. Really anything works as long as you do it well. Make sure both movements start at the same time and end at the same time and that the speeds are coordinated. Meaning, it’s a much bigger movement to bend forward then to turn your wrist, so you need to turn your wrist more slowly so that it matches up with your bending. Just practice it and you’ll get it!

5) Twists, Pivots, Spins
OK! Now we move into territory that most people don’t associate with isolation or robotics, but it’s the 21st century and we can start doing some more crazy robotting. Try doing isolated pivots, isolated twists, and isolated spins and you can come up with some really cool moves. This is also how you can start blending styles. Your robot can lead into a wave which moves into some boogaloo and back into robot. By keeping things isolated, it makes your transitions more understandable and enjoyable to watch.

Wrap-up

Aight yo! We doin’ the damn thang and we’re really getting down to business now. Isolation is such a crucial part of this dance that I’ll probably end up writing hundreds of articles about it eventually.

If you ever feel like you’re in a slump, isolation is a great thing to practice. Just stand there or sit there and try moving something you’ve never moved before. Just lifting one shoulder. Just turning out from the hips. Just bending to the side. Just moving your ring finger. The better your isolation, the more impressive your dancing, and the beauty is that you can always practice it, no matter where you are!

SO KEEP IT POPPIN!!!
Otis Funkmeyer, Ph.D. of Poppin’

Attack the Beat, Ride the Beat, Freak the Beat, Love the Beat

otisfunkmeyer — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:00:28 +0000

The beat made popping. It’s that simple. Without the beat, there’s no pop. Without the bass, there’s no boogaloo. And without the keys, there’s no wave. The reason the whole dance exists is because of the beat.

And your job as a dancer is to fall in love with the beat, let her tell you what she wants you to do to her, and then do it.

What Beats Want, Not starring Mel Gibson

There are three major ways you can show the beat that you love her. You can ride her, you can attack her, or you can freak her. Let’s take a look at you how do the do.

Riding the Beat

Riding the beat is the basis of your love. When you ride the beat, you flow with her. Not too fast, just nice and easy. Let her tell you when to switch it up. Just stay with her, go at her pace. She isn’t going anywhere!

When you’re riding the beat, your focus is on the drums and the bass–the rhythm. You become the drummer, just setting down a groove and letting it take you where it will.

Like I said, this is the basis of all your love. If you can’t ride a beat well, don’t even bother trying with the more advanced concepts. You gotta run before you walk. And you gotta ride before you attack.

But once you got her feeling good, well now it’s time to switch it up. You gotta ATTACK that beat.

Attacking the Beat

Sometimes the beat throws something your way that makes you feel aggressive. Well, show her how you feel. It might be a drum breakdown like kah-da-dah-da-kah-da-da-da-boom-ksssh. ATTACK IT. GET IT.

When you attack the beat, you’re light on your feet. You’re ready for anything. There’s more tension in your body. You’re alert and ready. Your movements are quick, sharp, and precise.

Attacking the beat shows her that you’re paying attention, that you like what she’s throwing your way.

And now all that’s left is to freak her.

Freaking the Beat

The holy grail of beat love is beat freaking. The reason it’s so important to ride the beat before you freak the beat is that it just turns the whole process magical.

Picture it. You’re right in there, grooving along, riding that beat, a smile on your face. You’re feeling good, she’s feeling good. You get warmed up, start feeling aggressive and you go at it. You attack her. She throws a changeup. You’re all over it. You are deep in that beat. And then… the stars align, the mood is right, the timing is perfect, and you freak that beat.

It’s enough to make a popper cry. A perfect beat freak is a thing of beauty. Like a Michelangelo or a Da Vinci. But you can’t just throw it in out of nowhere. It needs context. It needs a reason to exist, a raison d’etre as the French spit it.

The beat freak is the proverbial cherry on top. Work up to it. Make sure you the layers beneath it. When you see someone else freak it so good, whether it’s Salah, Poppin Pete, Buddha Stretch, or J Smooth, look at what they were doing before. Watch how they rode the beat and then attacked it. They set the mood, got the candles lit, and THEN they freaked it.

And that my friends is how you work the beat.

The Wrap-Up

So, enough with the sex metaphor and all that. The point is this. The beat IS THE DANCE. Don’t go backwards and try to come up with the move and then put it to the music. Come up with the music and then let the move come naturally.

That’s how you love the beat. That’s how you love the dance. And that’s how the mystical journey that is popping evolves. Cuz the music made it so.

PEACE and KEEP IT POPPIN!
Otis Funkmeyer, Ph.D. of Popping

5 Ways a Dimestop Makes You Dope

otisfunkmeyer — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:34:07 +0000

The dimestop is like the crazy insider popper knowledge. Once you know what a dimestop is, what a good one looks like, and how to do one, you’re pretty much halfway there to being an insider. To being one of the real poppers.

Cuz before you know what a dimestop is, you’re just a raver, or a hip-hop dancer, or an amateur. The dimestop is what separates the men from the boys kiddos. It’s what makes somebody go HOT DAMN that boy is NIIIICE.

What’s a Dimestop?

So don’t go getting all crazy. I’m about to explain what it is. A dimestop is pretty simple in theory. It’s just the ability to stop real-clean-like. To make your movements sharp and crisp. It’s the ability to STOP ON A DIME. That’s where the name comes from.

Anybody who’s got good speed control has a good dimestop. Or a good robot. These are the styles that show off the dimestop best. In a sense, they could be called dimestop styles because they’re all based on isolating and dimestopping.

Without a good dimestop you look like some person doing a robot or trying to move fast then slow. With a good dimestop, you look crazy, not human, and super tripped out. The dimestop is key.

How Do You Dimestop So Nice?

That’s the question you’ve gotta ask. My #1 answer is CORE STRENGTH AND CONTROL. That means your abs, your hip flexors, your glutes, and your serratus anterior, which are the muscles on the side of your ribcage. These muscles give you STABILITY. And stability is what gives a good dimestop.

So I would say it’s almost as important to do your crunches and your ab vacuums as it is to actually “practice” dimestopping. But notice I said ALMOST. To get the good dimestop, you gotta practice it. And the best way to practice it is…. THE ROBOT. Make sure you have some tension and just practice moving real-clean-like. Feel like there’s NO JERK and NO SHAKE when you move. It’s just START. STOP. START. STOP. That’s what a good dimestop is. The ability to START. STOP. So get to it.

How it’ll make you dope:

1) Clean
First off, a good dimestop will make you looks so fresh and so clean. People will REALLY be able to tell what you are doing and trust me, being able to understand what you’re doing is half the reason people applaud in the first place. They’re like, OH, I GET IT. In addition, when you’re clean, you seem more “professional.” You look like you know what you’re doing because most people CAN’T DO THAT. A lot of people can throw a busted arm wave but very few can move real-clean-like.

2) Hard
A good dimestop makes you look HARD. Like OUCCCCH. That dude is a monster. It’s intimidating and serious when somebody’s got a good dimestop. It’s like… this one is not for playing. He will hurt you. And trust me. That’s what you want to convey. That you’ll hurt on somebody if they call you out. Just one or two good dimestop movements will make everyone know real quick that you are for real.

3) Unreal
A good dimestop immediately makes you look unhuman, which is the goal of all good popping. Popping is basically the dopest dance in the world because you are doing things that most people think a human body is not capable of doing. You are moving into the realm of sci-fi and special FX. This also feels super cool to be the one doing it, because YOU DON’T FEEL HUMAN either.

4) Controlled
A good dimestop means you have good control. And good control means you can switch styles and freak beats and change tempos and change levels and do all of the good things that makes a good popper good. Without a good dimestop, your movements will just all blend together into a mess. It might be a pretty cool mess, but it’s still a mess. And trust me, I know this one from experience! This is one of the things I’m STILL working on!!

5) Rhythmic
Attention beat freakers. You need a dope dimestop. When you have a super clean dimestop, you can just make small movements really quickly, which is the best way to freak beats. Without that, again, you end up just looking messy and like a beginner. Basically, at this point, everyone wants to be a nasty beat freaker, so working on the dimestop is one of the absolute most important things to get there.

The Wrap-Up

The dimestop is not the easiest thing to put into words. It’s a real subtle movement thing that’s easier to see than it is to describe. But it’s one of the absolute foundations of the whole dance. All of the dancers I have danced with over the years–Tetris, J Smooth, J Rock, and Kid Boogie come to mind immediately–have all gotten MUCH better once they started incorporating more dimestop training into their dance. It’s almost like they went from good to WHOA. That was the missing piece.

And it’s the missing piece for almost everybody. Stay patient and keep practicing it because it will bleed into everything you do and make you the ill-nasty-dopeness that you’ve always dreamed of being.

SO KEEP IT POPPIN!!
Otis Funkmeyer, Ph.D. of Poppin’

Parallel University with Mikki Willis: The Wrap-Up!

otisfunkmeyer — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 05:12:55 +0000

Our event Parallel University with Mikki Willis was our biggest success thus far! We had a totally sold out event with more than 50 people on the waiting list and the night went off without a hitch!

We had a wonderful vegetarian dinner provided by Royal T and then launched into a dynamic conversation with Mikki Willis about Film as a Medium of Consciousness Transformation. The energy was high all night and we touched on many relevant subjects, from mythology to technology to the importance of intention in the creation of art.

For Jenny and I, the evening was a growth experience in a variety of ways. We had never collaborate with so many people, and it turned out to be both challenging and incredible rewarding. It was because of the collaboration that the energy for the event was so high and the waiting list so long, and at the same time creative compromises were necessary so that everyone felt their input mattered. A new experience and a welcomed one!

Also, our intention for the night was to go deeper than these sort of events usually go. We wanted to talk about reality creation and holograms, psychedelics and plant consciousness. We learned that there is no such thing as a filler question and if you ask one, you might miss out on the things you actually care most about.

So our intention is that in our next event, we start deep and go deeper. Polite formalities be damned! We want to get immediately to the heart of the matter. Overall, the event was wonderful and it felt great to be part of such a vibrant community of people!

And here is the original flyer, for posterity’s sake:

January 10–Parallel University: Film as a Medium of Consciousness Transformation

Project Butterfly, the Funkmeyers and Royal/T present an intimate evening with award-winning filmmaker and Founder of the Elevate Film Festival, Mikki Willis.

Hosted by Jenny & Otis Funkmeyer, the evening will focus on new Paradigms for Transformational Media as we embark upon the second decade of the 21st century.

Our communication systems and media technology have reached a level never achieved before. The technology to assist in planetary and spiritual elevation is here. The question is how are we to harness these communication systems in a new way, with greater respect, responsibility and intention? How can we forge this new path? What are the obstacles? What are the next steps to be taken?

You are invited to join us to engage more deeply in this discussion… This will mark the second session of Parallel University, a lecture series exploring the space where science, art, and spirituality merge.

January 10, 2010 7PM-10PM

Contribution:$35

Location:
Royal T Art Gallery / Cafe / Restaurant / Shop
8910 Washington Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232

Mikki Willis is the founding director of Elevate Films, Elevate Foundation, and Elevate Film Festival, which challenges the international film community to create works of social and global importance. Mikki is the recipient of the 2008 Conscious Life Humanitarian Award. www.elevatefilms.com

The Funkmeyers is a dynamic creative partnership between Jenny and Otis Funkmeyer. They are performers, healers, and front line explorers of the New Reality. The Funkmeyers are the creators and hosts of Parallel University.

Royal/T is a stunning eclectic mix of contemporary art in Los Angeles’s first Japanese-style cosplay café. www.royal-t.org