Things that I have learned through Krumping and Dancing.
I’m no writer, I speak and dance. I want to write but I am not a natural in it, even though I would want to practice and work on it, for now, I have no time to do so.
I have been dancing Krump ever since 2007. It was when I watched the documentary rize by david la chapelle that I was mesmerized by it. I remember the last scene, where the Krumpers (Tight Eyez, Miss Prissy, Lil C, and other Krumpers) were Krumping, and it was on slow-motion to the song O, Happy Day. After watching that, I stood up from my couch and I did a chest-pop. From there, It just came over me.
I Krumped ever since that day. Why and How I krumped changed though.
From that fateful day in our living room, I danced because it felt good. After that, I got into joining krump battles, and I would win, it transitioned to dancing because I always wanted to win. It wasn’t that free, there were a lot of pressure, pressure that I put upon myself from myself. From the dance coming from inspiration and a simple move as a chest-pop, it was coming from a strategic thinking process of what the music will be, what part of the music will I follow, on what part of the music will i be able to do that specific move. Krump wasn’t coming to me, I was enslaving it to fight for me. Like a gladiator, brought under the whip and forced to fight. Sooner or later, the gladiator also became tired. I was tired. I called myself then Murda-Warrior. Murda because it came from Matt Padilla, Warrior because I was fighting with my dance.
But a fight is nothing without a purpose. It is the purpose that drives the warrior to war. It is what fuels his sprint, his strikes, his resolve, his resistance. Purpose is the fuel of the warrior.
Winning battles was not a sustainable purpose. Winning could only take you so far. Sooner or later, there is no end to the battles, no purpose, winning lost its purpose. The purpose had no purpose. Winning for winning?
And without any purpose, there is no direction, why still run?
I became lost with why I was dancing. To what end?
Until one day, I was in the mountains, I tried to dance but it did not come to me. So, I prayed, asking God to help me dance. And then he asked me, why do you dance?
And then I was transported back to rize, to my living room. I danced because it felt good. But along with comparing it to how I danced the years after that day, I saw that, I danced because it felt good, it made others feel good. I danced because it was me being expressed through the movements. Me, with a purpose. That purpose being, I want to feel good and others feel good also. It was about that feeling!
It is in feeling good that I feel this is how I should be. It is in feeling good that I feel this is what God made me to be.
But this does not take away the fact that prior to that, I didn’t feel good dancing. Why didn’t I feel good? It was because I was not feeling what I was doing. It was just being done. I was eating steak, but I just swallowed it straight.
I read once in reader’s digest, it was said by author Robert Louis Stevenson, “to miss the joy is to miss all”.
I was missing out on what God gave me, what God was presenting to me. Here we are, always asking God to reveal himself, to give us those good things, but really take a look around you, really chew that adobo, really drink that water, it is when you really do these things, that you see that God is REALly there!
He always answers your prayers, you just have to see it. You don’t even have to look for it. Look at yourself now. And you could answer a lot of your questions right then and there.
It is in that day in the mountains that God revealed this to me. And he also gave me a new name, Adrum Tha Warrior. Adrum is the inverse of Murda. One of the purposes of this name change was the purpose change of why I dance. Regardless of the style, I dance to make other people win. If winning means they have a smile while they watch me dance, that’s still a winner right there. Don’t get me wrong, if we battle, I would fight you hard, fight you wildly, but it is in that fight that WE both win. It is in that challenge that I present, and that you present to me, that we both emerge victorious. That we both feel good to why we dance.
I love teaching. More than just performing, I believe it is what I was designed to be. My desire is for people to know what dance is, and to experience it. Desire reveals Design, Design reveals Destiny. I believe I walk closer to it, though it is still far, it’s a joyful walk with everything that I see.
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So that was a story, let me share to you some of things I have learned through dancing.
Do not just let the move pass you. Feel it! Sayang kung hindi.
Dance is more than movement. Dance is movement with meaning. It is in feeling the move that gives it meaning.
Dance to feel good. Make the move big so that you feel it big. Tis not just for the audience, tis for you to feel it. A pinch of burger is not the same as a quarter pounder. Mas masarap yun mas malaki. And well, don’t think you do not deserve the quarter pounder. Yes you do.
You are good enough! What is the difference between a good dancer and a not so good dancer? The good dancer knows, believes, and expresses through his movement, all of it, not just the face, that he is good. The latter doubts, so does his movement.
Remember, your mind equals your dance.
A dance battle is A. Dance. Battle. Dance comes first before the battle. You battle WITH your dance.
You win when you feel good. This could be official, meaning the judges voted for you, or it could just be with you, there’s a lot of battles that I didn’t win, that I felt good. that’s a win for me. J
When you feel good, the audience feels good. sadly, same goes with the inverse.
Life ain’t just about dancing.
Have a goal on why you dance, strive for something, if there is no purpose, there is no direction, if there is no direction, you are lost.
We were all made to be something, I was made to dance, teach, and speak. Some were made to be doctors, businessmen, singers, chefs, soldiers, poets, etc. BE YOU! If you are an artist, BE it. Do not just do it, you become it.
You find your direction through your design, we were made to be something. Strive to become it. If you were made to be a dancer, friggin go to class and learn your dance, join the events, challenge yourself, stretch, condition, talk to fellow dancers.
Faith without action is dead.
ACT ON YOUR DESTINY!
God doesn’t give you strength, he gives you an opportunity to be strong. The mere fact that you are living is already an answer to your prayer! GO FOR IT!
Men were made to be wild and dangerous. We weren’t made to be nice. We didn’t want to be nice. We didn’t want to be the cowardly security guard that Batman easily pushes away to get to the bad guy. We wanted to be batman. We wanted to fight for something, we wanted adventure, we wanted to rescue the beauty. Men, get it back to that yo! BE MEN! (this came from me reading Wild At Heart by John Eldrege)
And lastly, aside from many more, Philippians 4:13. “For I can do anything through Christ who gives me strength”
Done! Hopefully this makes you get up out of your seat and do a chest-pop! Don’t forget to feel it!
Namnamin niyo yan! :D
Godbless! Pinas Pataas!
Phillip Adrum Pamintuan
