My conversation with Don Campbell (creator of locking)

[MikeyP]

Y'all need to hear about this. I"m going to paraphrase the convo with me and don.

During my time in LA this weekend i had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Don Campbell (who incase you dont know, created Locking) I took alot away from the man in just a half hour or so of picking his brain. Being that i'm just such a nice guy, i'm gonna pass on his wisdom to you:D

The main thing i wanted to ask Don about, and what we talked about for the rest of the time, was what he thinks about locking's current state of affairs. Where he sees it going and where it should be heading.

Don was talking very heavily about doing something for the times and evolving the dance. He wasn't too happy with people who tend to stick to the norms and past with locking. "thats how we did it in the 70's. It's 2008. Make it your own!" Locking had a few set moves but alot were borrowed from social dances in the time. Why not borrow social dances from this time and work that into the locking formula? Evolve the dance.

Its important to learn the basics and get the foundation down so that what your doing IS locking.
but so much of locking, then and now, is YOU! Watch any original lockers routine. They are never really doing the same thing, and if they are, there are still big variations in how they approach a movement. Majority of their "routines" were freestyles with some basic structure. Freestyle freestyle freestyle, individual individual individual.

Now with that i'll segway into what i saw in freestyle sessions this year. LOTS of tallent, lots of the same. Everyone in the competition approached locking in a similar fashion (with a few exceptions), majority of those people did not make it through the qualifying rounds into the battles. The ones who did were the ones who projected not locking, but THEMSELVES. Locking hasn't become as homogenized as some other dances, but it does exist. And that's kinda missing the point.

Locking is a dance based on social dances and freestyle. Not conformity and applying a formula. Reason why the OG lockers dressed as weird as they did was to get attention. to STAND OUT! Locking isn't about fitting in, its about standing out. Different isn't bad, different can be good.


Now my personal thoughts. I agree with Don 100%, except for a few things. Those of you who know me, know that i am a dancer that is all about the individual and doing things differently. Don is that extreme. However foundations and form are still extremely important in locking. Locking moves make locking locking, and not social dancing. But you can make any move a locking move if you present it correctly. If creativity dosn't happen the dance will be stale, and be lost in a see of normality and disinterest.

It really comes down to the choice of the dancer. Do you want to mold your style around someone who's already locked that particular way before? Or do you want to push forward and break new ground and get a little hate and backlash along the way? Do you want to be all form, or all funk? Or do you want to be a li'l of both. Neither one is right or wrong, or better than the other. Its what YOU want.

It takes a really brave, or stubborn, person to make something new or change/go against the momentum and direction of something. You'll illicit alot of hate and people telling you your "doing it wrong. It needs to be this way or else it isn't locking" It takes a certain type of person to listen to the negativity, but know that this is what they want to do and just do it. People dont write history books or autobiography's about people who did stuff normally or followed the formula exactly. They write about the innovaters. Don is that type of guy. And i'm happy to have finally met him.

The man started a dance that we all love. He started a dance that everyone around the world can partake in and communicate with eachother without a single word. He was the first person to demand money from soul train by putting them on there every week. Thus paving the way for all street dancers to be legitimized with contracts and paying gigs. He's touched a million lives and given so many people something to work on and be proud about. People he'll never meet. Having done all this he still lives in a small house in LA, drives a beat up car and went back to working at the post office once the lockers disbanded. He changed the dance world and modern world forever. And he wants nothing from that.
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He just wants you to push his dance forward.
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and remember. He accomplished all this by screwing up on the funky chicken one day.....by accident.:D

[SantaCruzIce]

So legit when an innovator lives just like the rest of us. Not about the bright lights, just about what dance means to us.



Though bright lights are nice from time to time. ;)

[Larry Pink]

good stuff, mikey p!

yeah, when i spoke with Don @ Up Jump the Boogie - i just asked him simply, "Who can i watch NOW that emulates what you guys were before?" He looked at me and said, "Locking is a dance about how the dance affects you. I picked the other six lockers to be in my crew cause they WEREN'T doing what i was."

How funky is your chicken indeed, Don.:D:D:D

[pringles]

wow! this is valuable stuff to know...definitely something i'll be thinking over in the days to come. thanks for sharing it with us, mikey.

[DocLock]

I told you this write up was awesome bro. Very inspirational and all too important.

Am so glad you all got to get with Don that Saturday before the jam. Really wished I was able to make it.

[Funky Robotnick]

There was a post recently on WCP from OG Skeeter Rabbit, that may or may not be related to your thoughts Mikey. I thought I'd copy paste though cause its an interesting POV and way to breakdown locking (social dancing vs. performance dancing)

We all remember getting up on Saturday morning to watch COUPLES facing each other or dancing down the soul train line to the beats of Marvin Gaye or James Brown, that's right couples no pre plan ! just dancing, some gyrations, some fancy footwork and yes SOME pointing and Locking, Now we can all remember about a year later. turning on the television and watching a group of dancers on a stage facing and audience and performing a pre planed routine which consisted of some individual solos and some pre planned unison steps.. Umm there is a difference between dancing and performing. And that difference exist today also. That is not to say that one is better than the other. Not all great dancers become great commercial performers as classical dancers. And not all dancing performers are great dancers. A great performance can be exciting, unique, intriguing or comedic to and audience. But a great dancer does not necessarily need an audience it is inner and expresses itself outward. He or she can be intuitive, spontaneous , have a sense of rhythm or passion with the ability to communicate that passion through movement, they have the ability to be inspired or to inspire, to feel the lead or to follow, To create or respond. That is where many of today's lockers are lost they want to be great locking performers or entertainers and not conscious of becoming great Locking DANCERS

Well lets not be confused as to what came first. there is a reason Don Campbell teaches the freedom of creation and the improvisational side of Locking. And that is because that is where it came from, But that part of the dance came from the creative side of the social party dance scene, NOT THE PERFORMANCE, and that is where Don, first implemented it at , not on a stage.

you see the social party was on the dance floor of the clubs and dances. while on the dance floor (not the stage) we were free to create. We would do the social party dances as couples and in between the established moves and steps, we would create our own styles and steps. This included what became Locking moves. Don was the very first streetdancer to interject various social gestures (these came from the social messages in the music). He did this along his unique freezing style of the funky chicken. These things were added to the other social dances and moves and WHAM ! You have the beginnings of Locking. While couple dancing you either improvised ,responded or followed and that was what was done, not only by the partner but often by others or sometimes the entire room joined in. Many of steps that people loved to follow on are the steps that eventually became unison steps. And the moves and gestures that were responded to was the body communication between two or more people. This is when one dancer does something on the DANCE FLOOR and his partner or another dancer answers or responds to it. with the same or another move

This Social or Party dancing is the ROOT of what eventually became a performance. This is what came first as locking then continued to evolve .

During these social parties couples or even the entire room communicated through body movements. Guys and girls flirted, Dancers acknowledged each other and the expression of the LYRICS were mimicked. These were all for the most part spontaneous actions. And this is the part Don Campbell emphasizes with such great passion. And how can you blame him this was a wonderful part of the dances history. But it is not the ONLY part of the dances history.

But now came the development into a PERFORMACE or ACT of Locking. And that also came from the elements of the party dancing. At first it was still done social and spontaneous and not for money. The combination of the improvisational social steps and locking moves had naturally merged with unison steps These steps developed while following the moves of others on the dance floor. And contrary to what many believe were not PLANNED steps for a performance. The first small performances also develop spontaneously as small duos and trios of locking dancers (such as the GoGo brothers) would gather on the party dance floors. Others would stop and encourage them to respond or follow each other. These became the first impromptu mini shows .Many of the original pioneers were so used to dancing around each other and together in the PARTY scene that they could improvise and put together a small routine on the spot.

These mini performances, began to spread to basketball courts, street corners, and parks .But it was still a spontaneous STREET dance that was moving toward a performance. and now dancers could preplan parts of their routines for talent and other local shows. But the spontaneity was not totally restricted

This attracted the professional commercial market dance moved to a paid professional ACT Professional Promoters could now visualize the marketability of a structured LOCKING performance.. Now the essence of of its creative origin was lost. Each and every count or beat had to be accounted for, Dancers had to be exactly on camera que. routines and every beat in the music was preplanned , Even solos had to be choreographed, and exact positions blocked. This was not the freedom of creativity us street dancers or the dance itself had drawn its power or purpose from, however it is what we as street dancers are willing to accept. Some of us for the fame, some for the money. But I would like to think that some for the opportunity to allow this great art form to be documented and passed down So now The ORIGINAL ARTFORM of Locking (or OG LOCKING) as a performance and a historical dance was NOW complete. And it is what you see on stage , but lets not forget it was inspired by many elements and people. Not just the performance. It is what is the foundation and guideline for the structured classical dance of locking

But lets not forget the creativity involved with the social dance of Locking is NEVER COMPLETE it is just as it was when Don instituted it and many implemented it many years ago. It evolved on the social party scene many years ago. And it SHOULD continue to grow. And HOPEFULLY other creative moves and steps will find their way into this wonderful art form, and give today's evolution of Locking a much needed universal purpose again

[AsiatiC.GroovMekanex]

yo i love this convo. very good information for the masses. i guess what holds true to lockin', holds true to life.......BALANCE...in this case, RESPECT for what has been done before (since it took energy and determination to make this dance what it is), those who pushed themselves so we can understand something. And, then to those who knew no boundaries. those people are the ones who went passed rhythm, emotion (to express and give us a feel), and maybe those who had to push past judgement and even perhaps color (on any shade). I respect those who stayed true to lockin' 'form' bc they kept the dance grounded and i admire the ones that can create right where they stand bc they instantly lay foundation to someone else's imagination.....just dance fool! take this lockin embrace it like it was the most precious thang and then let go. 'HIT IT and QUIT IT' .....peace chaz

[ceech]

thanks for the post funky robotnick. loved it.

[nik]

Yes, yes, it's quite a phenomenon how hip hop and locking and everything has largely moved into the Performance space rather than, just, grooving on the dance floor. This is an evolution in dance itself, an interesting one not to be dismissed.

It's uncanny how nowadays choreographed dance is surpassing social dance at a fast rate. You have Funkanometry SF along with the masses of collegiate hip hop teams (Kaba Modern, etc.) competing with intricately choreographed routines. You have America's Best Dance Crew emphasizing not freestyling and grooving along to the music, but showcasing labored-over premeditated dance pieces. Nobody wants to watch a bunch of people grooving to good music on television a la Soul Train anymore! People want to watch flashy acrobatics, Lil Mama declaring, "Y'all KILLED it," and other such melodramatics on MTV. People's expectations for entertainment have just skyrocketed.

How did street dance get onstage in the FIRST PLACE anyway? Who decided it was really marketable, thus setting off a chain reaction of the creation of the multitude of performance-based groups that exist now?

Who will all be performing at All the Way Live. Who's going. I'm going.

Nowadays, hip hop IS performance.

[MikeyP]

Yes, yes, it's quite a phenomenon how hip hop and locking and everything has largely moved into the Performance space rather than, just, grooving on the dance floor. This is an evolution in dance itself, an interesting one not to be dismissed.

It's uncanny how nowadays choreographed dance is surpassing social dance at a fast rate. You have Funkanometry SF along with the masses of collegiate hip hop teams (Kaba Modern, etc.) competing with intricately choreographed routines. You have America's Best Dance Crew emphasizing not freestyling and grooving along to the music, but showcasing labored-over premeditated dance pieces. Nobody wants to watch a bunch of people grooving to good music on television a la Soul Train anymore! People want to watch flashy acrobatics, Lil Mama declaring, "Y'all KILLED it," and other such melodramatics on MTV. People's expectations for entertainment have just skyrocketed.

How did street dance get onstage in the FIRST PLACE anyway? Who decided it was really marketable, thus setting off a chain reaction of the creation of the multitude of performance-based groups that exist now?

Who will all be performing at All the Way Live. Who's going. I'm going.

Nowadays, hip hop IS performance.


sorry it took me a while to respond to this. but i'll answer the question of "how did street dance get onstage in the first place?"

As i said in the origional post, Don was the one who streamlined that. when soul train was huge and the lockers were on their all the time as just soultrain dancers, they weren't payed. They would show up just like everyone else, not get payed, get a free lunch, and leave. As the months went on the lockers started to realize that they were getting mroe airtime, and were getting positioned to have good spots on TV. They stepped up and asked to be PAYED for their time on soul train. They weren't at first and boycotted soul train. This was when don assembled the orgional locker's group and started touring and getting MONEY. Before this point, no street dance was seen as something marketable. And because of their airtime on soul train, people knew about them and they started riding that gravytrain baby.

again, another reason to respect this man.

[MikeyP]

It's uncanny how nowadays choreographed dance is surpassing social dance at a fast rate. You have Funkanometry SF along with the masses of collegiate hip hop teams (Kaba Modern, etc.) competing with intricately choreographed routines. You have America's Best Dance Crew emphasizing not freestyling and grooving along to the music, but showcasing labored-over premeditated dance pieces. Nobody wants to watch a bunch of people grooving to good music on television a la Soul Train anymore! People want to watch flashy acrobatics, Lil Mama declaring, "Y'all KILLED it," and other such melodramatics on MTV. People's expectations for entertainment have just skyrocketed.


Nowadays, hip hop IS performance.

oh, and MTV and the media in general, will always dum something down to the lowest common denominator. It's easy to look at large chorio groups as an outsider and be impressed. Everyone is in sync and doing BIG impressive looking maneuvers! Joe shmo on the street will know that this is entertaining to him, and MTV will reinforce that belief by declaring "Y'all KILLED it."

I have nothing against chorio, its ****ing hard as hell! But dance is art, and art is hard to market without focusing in on one point, or declaring a standard. MTV has set the standard for what is good for the TV audience. Because the TV audience dosnt' know any better, they turn to the judges to say what is good. What is good to MTV is what will make them the most money. You have to understand that MTV dosn't care about progressing dancing forward, they care about what is marketable. Go online on MTV's ABDC site and see the crews taht didn't make it. alot of them are crazy impressive, with great solo dancers coming together to make great routines, but they were not marketable, you coudln't put them on a bilboard and have people, within a second, know who they were. Like a white mask, or a lettermans jersey.

i'm rambling. i'll revise this later, but its lunchtime:o

[DocLock]

What's that about the masks?

http://www.medeasirkas.com/indexphototowebsite2.jpg

Though this image is recent (years), this was what was being done since back in the early 70's.

[MikeyP]

yea nto sayin their bad.

just saying that its good to have that as a lightning rod.

[DocLock]

Haha MIkey, I never thought you were suggesting a negative.

Was just pointing out that some concepts were already out there long before. What you stated overall is very true as is for radio. Some of the crap we are forced to listen to makes the TOP 10 because someone says it should. Not because we actually like it.

Unfortunately, that has never really changed throughout time.

Don't mean to hog your thread. Would rather get back to the real subject of how beautiful the locking experience is.

[nik]

sorry it took me a while to respond to this. But i'll answer the question of "how did street dance get onstage in the first place?"

as i said in the origional post, don was the one who streamlined that. When soul train was huge and the lockers were on their all the time as just soultrain dancers, they weren't payed. They would show up just like everyone else, not get payed, get a free lunch, and leave. As the months went on the lockers started to realize that they were getting mroe airtime, and were getting positioned to have good spots on tv. They stepped up and asked to be payed for their time on soul train. They weren't at first and boycotted soul train. This was when don assembled the orgional locker's group and started touring and getting money. Before this point, no street dance was seen as something marketable. And because of their airtime on soul train, people knew about them and they started riding that gravytrain baby.

Again, another reason to respect this man.

interesting, interesting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!