BULLETPROOF FUNK: Re-Awakening
You never actually own a style, you merely take care of it for the next generation.
What do you remember from when you were studying in college? One of the strongest images in my mind was how it felt to walk into the SAO gym on a Wednesday or Sunday night while I peeled off my layers of winter clothing and greeted young new dancers who I’d never met before who were interested in beginning their journey in street dance. Bulletproof Funk is one of my families—it has shaped who I’ve become, has connected me with people who are fascinating and incredible, and showed me a distinct power that lies within a community of people who share a common passion.
What keeps you motivated to work and to improve? To grow and learn? How do you manage the struggle of what it means to be a budding dancer which frequently takes a backseat to our other responsibilities? I think the answers to these questions are never clear, but we’ve always been able to find comfort in each other when we met at practices or rehearsals, at parties, or in the classroom. Now that many of us are in different stages of our lives and in totally different parts of the world—what does it mean for our Bulletproof Funk? Is our crew something that remained behind in the SAO gym, or do we each carry a piece of it with us, waiting for a call to arms?
I thought about how much street dance has given to me—friendship, community, self-confidence, health, and the strategies to identify and improve my own weaknesses—I realized how powerful Bulletproof Funk really is. Who inspired you to dance when you were young and when you didn’t yet have inspiration from within? When I was in high school in the suburbs, I admired the dancers who I battled from the city; in college I admired the dancers who taught me and the dancers who just continued to practice and to practice. Now, I admire the dancers who have a heightened sense of conservation for our art. I think our generation is approaching that period in our dance careers.
One of the world’s most experienced professional poppers—Acky.
Bulletproof Funk is ready to reawaken, and Boston is ready to reawaken, and I need your help to do this. With help from other members, we’ve decided that the best way to keep our communities inspired is through online video and regular feedback. Some of us have been privately sharing our practice footage with each other and have been making improvements based on each other’s feedback. Since we’ve been doing this, I feel like our friendships have rekindled and we all have a new motivation to give back to the group which was once so central to our lives. You may have seen a video that Alex made on the new website here: http://bulletprooffunk.com.
Our next goal is to reach out to our active members regardless of where they are now and regardless of their skill now and to simply reconnect. I want you to reconnect with your old friends and crew mates and practice-buddies and check in with each other. If you’re still dancing, please share it with your friends so they can be inspired to continue dancing. Keep teaching, because think of all of the young people who need something like this in their lives.
If you’re interested in dedicating a little bit of dance footage or words of advice, please let us know and we can begin planning the next step.
Anxiously awaiting your reply,
BULLETPROOF MOTHAFUCKING FUNK
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