The South Florida Rave Scene: A Dancer's Viewpoint

          The Perfect Circle
                 

In conjunction with a wish of preserving memories of a particular era in South  Florida, I am writing these stories as a dedication to an underground culture, vast and spiritual, The Rave Culture of South Florida (from the early 90’s to the early 2000’s.) This viewpoint is not just from a patron of these parties, but, to speak frankly, a dance icon of my era, wrought from countless battles and trailing a history filled with moments of pure, dance madness, in environments that can only be considered “otherworldly”. I am Otto, otherwise known as Aquaboogy from Miami, and this is my summarized story – of a time and place that will remain as one of history’s craziest, party and event scenes of the manic 90’s.

1993: The Warehouse Raves

So while Grunge and Alternative Rock was living its hay-day (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, STP) I was dealing with my newfound manhood at eighteen. One day fate led me to a Rock party thrown in a warehouse, in an isolated and remote industrial park. In these obscure parties, bands would crank their music hoping the cops wouldn’t prematurely end their set. I dabbed into the Rock Scene when Hip Hop started getting too hood for me (I was trying to steer away from gang-related activity). I started hanging out with “Rockers” and I was even in a band for a while. I was going through quite a rebellious stage in my life.

The Rock party ended at 3 am or so. And then a few odd characters came in to set up some DJ equipment. To my ignorant mind, they were dressed a little funny, with too much glitter and flash. Most of the Rockers frowned and started setting off, as a new crowd ushered in, just like the odd Club Kids that had set up the sound system. Intrigued by this new crowd, I stuck around, rocking a plaid flannel in the middle of summer.

When the music cranked on, there was a massive beat that took over the crowd and everyone went absolutely crazy. Most of them were on something (I didn’t know that they were on Ecstasy at the time) but everyone was so friendly versus the moody attitudes of the Grunge kids.  I was taken by the music and soon I witnessed a dance circle appear. Instantly, dancers jumped in and started battling each other, while occasionally interrupted by a kid dancing with glow sticks. I was mesmerized; I was taken back to my childhood experimentation with Street Dance in the 80’s. So immediately after this experience, and a few others, me and my close friends at the time started dancing at these new Rave events.

1994: The Edge Nightclub in Downtown Ft. Lauderdale

As I began getting plugged into the underground Rave Scene, I began hearing of a Ft. Lauderdale nightclub that hosted all-night Raves every Saturday night. A good friend of mine Julian (who was an established Club Kid and few years my senior) took a group of us out to the Edge one fateful evening in 1994. I was there every night thereafter! Only the circles in the Edge were much bigger and there were many, many dancers competing for attention and respect. I was honestly “shook” for a while. It took many months of preparation, practice and hard work to finally get the courage to represent in the “Pit”.

Like a gladiator arena, the Edge had a sunken dance floor, which the dancers called “The Pit.” And if there was anywhere to test your resolve as a dancer, it was there, in front of the veteran Club Kids & dancers (plus the thousand plus spectators that were watching from all around and a second story balcony). It was a menacing place, only meant for gladiators of the dance floor. It was here that I was tempered, until a life altering experience called Zen: A Gathering of the Tribes occurred.

"The Pit" The Edge Nightclub, Ft. Lauderdale

1995: My first Mega-Rave

Imagine it if you would – you’re driving up to a great fair ground, thousands upon thousands of cars are parked everywhere, just a few guys with flashlights directing traffic. In the distance, you think you hear thunder. But it’s not thunder, but the booming bass from music far away. The nervous anticipation builds a strong tension in your neck & shoulders, just knowing that somewhere out there, in the middle of an army of drugged out maniacs, was the Perfect Circle.

What was the Perfect Circle? It wasn’t small; a side circle to get your practice on. The perfect circle is one that opens up in the hottest, most lively arena, at the fever pitch of a song or act. They were massive, like 20 or 30 feet in diameter (or more). The crowd would be live and supportive, sometimes cheering their faces off if you were good. The best dancers and crews would join these get-downs and compete to win the crowd, to out-shine one another. They were performance circles, where you wanted to shine the best. And, just the thought of the Perfect Circle, and what dancers would be rocking them, used to steal sleep from me the night before these events. When I pulled up to my first Mega Rave, the anticipation almost made me throw up I was so excited.

If the Edge was a wave, Zen was a tsunami. Like a large wall of energy, pulsating in the night like a beacon, drawing us in. In the distance, you could see smoke rising above lights…there were so many lights…lasers, strobes, neon lights, it was amazing. Then you could hear faint screaming, like people riding a rollercoaster. But there were no rides, not at this Rave. It was just people enjoying themselves.

By the time we arrived at the front entrance, me and my friends implemented contingency plans (remember, it was 1995 – few people had cell phones.) Most of us had pagers but you couldn’t relay adequate messages so you had to set rules. Rules like: if we get separated (& we knew we would – there were 15 of us) we had to meet by the main entrance at say 9am. No matter what state of mind, or where we were - we had to drop everything and meet to coordinate our departure back to our hotel. This was serious business folks. In a fair ground with multiple arenas, with over forty thousand attendees, you could loose someone for an entire night. If you add drugs into the picture, the prospect of getting stranded at one of these functions was great. I saw it happen many times and it was scary. But I rolled with seasoned Party Kids, who had all the bases covered. I was taught by the best.

So, my dancing friends and I would engage in expeditions for these ultimate circles. And when you found one, you could hear the cheering from a great distance away. Then you had to push through layers of tightly woven spectators to get to the edge where you could launch yourself into the cipher. Sometimes, unless you were a known head, you wouldn’t get close enough to the edge to be able to get loose and break it down center stage. Some people were mean. They wanted a show – if you couldn’t give them one, you were ushered out.

The excitement these circles produced was unbelievable. Eventually when you got known, people would open a path for you and “roll out the red carpet” as they did & do for me. These people want to see you dance, and possibly battle some fool that’s trying to hog the circle. Zen was an eye opener and the first of many, many Mega Raves for me.

It was here that our names were wrought, battle after battle. Until Florida dancers, from the bottom of the peninsula to the top, knew who we were. They showed us mad love everywhere we went. By the time the infamous Pro Am era began, I was a seasoned battler, ready to take on the world. And that’s what I did. The Rave kid went full fledged into the Popping scene, when there finally was one again in the mid – to – late 90’s.

Jose, Otto(Aquaboogy), Mike Littlefield (RIP), Haviken Hayes, Oreo, Jimmy, Myra (1995)

1997-2000: An Old School Revival

The late 90’s was an era that will forever be marked as some of the best & worst times of my life. The Rave scene down here had a resurgence of an Old School 80’s flavor. We (my crew of dancers) started rocking Adidas suits, Shell Toes, Fedoras, Big Apples, looking like we were straight out of an old Breaking movie. It was a remarkable time down here.

Dance enemies I had made in the Underground Hip Hop Scene in Miami (The Deadly Venoms), figured out why the Rave was such a dope environment to hone your skills. Ok…yes…there were drugs. But to us dancers it really wasn’t about that. It was all about the pounding music, the overloading of senses, the lights fantastic - it would induce such a hype, that it would allow you to free your mind through dance, to create like you never have before. It was a pure release of your creative mind. That is why the circles then were so different than the circles in the competition circuits of today. Because back then, the movement was pure – unconditioned – uneducated on style restrictions – just a bunch of kids releasing their souls on that concrete or wooden dance floor, nothing more – nothing less. We wanted to prove that we were the best, not for money or a trophy – but for respect. It was a simple get away for us.

On the flip side of all these wonderful, fairy-tale memories, are the tales of a hard-core, underground dance scene. Let me tell you about Miami. How serious did we take dancing down here? Serious enough to draw blood; fights were frequent. We used to gather on 10^th and Ocean, for many years, to practice in front of a live, South Beach crowd. When dancers from all over the world came to Florida to experience Pro Am and the beaches, they always visited our ciphers on 10^th & Ocean (and the gazebo on 7^th). It was a legendary place for us street dancers to call each other out. I battled Play Boy Eddie (L.A.) and Domino (Boston) out along that famous, South Beach strip. But here is where altercations, some that ended in blood shed, occurred. It was a gritty scene; no place for a punk. Battlers would mud sling and shit talk, disrespectfully, in your face. Sometimes, someone would loose their cool and snap on somebody, fists would fly and the whole scenario would become chaotic.

True Story: I was at a small jam once competing for a couple, hundred dollars with some homies, when a rumble erupted between two rival, Asian gangs. We got caught in the crossfire. Bullets shattered all the glass of the pool hall the event was being held at, screams erupted like a scene in a movie. In my head I kept on saying, “this cannot be happening.” Literally dodging bullets, flying chairs and debris, we escaped out the kitchen of the spot, to an alleyway that led us away from the mass hysteria. By the grace of God we were uninjured. In the terrible aftermath, two (or more) people had been shot and rushed to the hospital. We were out as the cops were rushing the parking lot. We were not sticking around to get details. It was a truly a terrifying experience. 

True Story: I was at an event once (it will remain nameless – only if you were there will you know) – a Breaking battle – where a fight between two rival crews erupted. As the rumble reached its climax, the crowd turned on the merchandise vendors! They rushed the booths and robbed them all! The vendors struggled to fend off these multiple culprits and we assisted all we could, but the entire scene was out of control and nauseating. The hood-ass attendees just took advantage of the chaos and robbed these supporters of our culture. It was truly a sad day. I’ve never seen anything like that again. It served as a testament on how ignorant things were down here. There was truly no safety at some of these functions. Although these events were not in the majority, they occurred - & it tarnished our Underground Hip Hop Scene. So the Rave was a solace for me, a haven, where I could express myself and I usually walked away unscathed by knuckles, blades or bullets.

The Freestyle Age & The Old School Age

The Rave scene in South Florida had various icons: Mike, Milton, Shabazz, The Fever Crew (Manny Risco, Chocolate, Jay-C, etc.) Shadow Drum, Eddie (Mr. Clean), Jimmie (Floor Killa) Mike & Maylene, Rudy, Elf, Mike Littlefield, - names that carried styles that would mix elements of House Dancing, Whacking, Vogue & Liquid with acrobatic Freestyle dynamics. Early on, only a small portion was messing with Breaking, Popping & Locking.  But soon that would change as my crew’s popularity grew and we began booking major shows at these Mega Raves. Our style was all based on Old School Foundations, even our garb; so soon thereafter we (and our arch-nemesis’s The Deadly Venoms) bred a grip of clones. The Freestyle Age in our parties down here (‘93-’97) was replaced with the Old School Age where many dancers were trying to Pop, Lock, Break, Old School Booty Shake, etc. This continued until the scene died in the early 2000’s. While there still were and are parties, it is but a fading shadow of the way things used to be. The Golden Years of the Rave Scene in South Florida is roughly from 1993-2000. These mega parties bred the phenomenon I coined as the Perfect Circle. These sometimes spiritual encounters between music and dance served as a blueprint of how harmoniously some elements blend so beautifully - like a union of two, powerful forces that became the soundtracks of our lives, and to so many that have passed, our deaths.

I’ll conclude with this: Since around 2001, I’ve had a wonderful, professional career as a dancer and choreographer, reaching over 20 countries in magnificent world tours where I represented Popping, Locking & South Florida to the fullest. I have been fortunate to be in Off Broadway productions & worked with countless artists. I have been truly blessed. I made it out - I took my skills and ran with it.

However, my journey of excellence is far from over as I reach every year for new heights and will continue to do so, as a testament to the true dance expressionist. And I am proud to say it all truly started in the grimy, maniacal Rave circles, with crazy fools screaming for you as that rushing feeling of invincibility takes hold of your soul as you destroyed that song that made your hairs stand on end. That feeling could only be classified as an unparalleled moment of glory, of which, my life has had many.

This article was dedicated to all the real dancers in both the Rave Scene & Underground Hip Hop scene in the 90’s that made South Florida an exciting place to come up in. Big ups to the many heads I battled. I hope I didn’t crush too many dreams – ha ha – I love you all. Seriously, you guys made me who I am. For those that have passed on & for those that are still with us, I’ll be searching for my Perfect Circle for the rest of my existence. I hope you find yours – now - tomorrow - & in the hereafter.

Peace, Love & Respect,

Otto (aka Aquaboogy)

Miami & Ft. Lauderdale's Locking & Popping History

Since Day One
Miami

& Ft. Lauderdale's Funk Styles History

            My name is Aquaboogy, and I belong to a generation of Poppers & Lockers that hail from South Florida, specifically Miami & Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. This small peninsula has produced as much talent in both the music and the dance world, yet I feel it’s seldom acknowledged. The purpose of this report is to inform the world, and South Florida, of its rich and vast history in Funk Styles (i.e. Locking & Popping) so that we shall be unanimously held as a pillar of this culture and its coinciding art forms.

            I am 42 years old. I grew up in the 70's & 80’s. I was a kid when I first learned about Popping, Breaking & Locking. I had some of my terminology wrong, like many people. I used to call Locking…Body Rocking…named after a movie I remember seeing. I had the correct term of Popping (I was taught by a school friend) and Breaking, I watched all the movies as a kid and loved shows like Soul Train, Solid Gold Hits. I loved groups like Captain Crunch & The Funky Bunch, The Electric Boogaloos, Rock Steady Crew, New York City Breakers…these were legends for me. We watched Street Dance come from the streets, clubs, to national television, movies and in front of our nation’s leaders (i.e. NYC Breakers performing for Ronald Reagon) this culture was so amazing to me.

            Then I remember watching “What’s Happening” and trying to mimic Rerun (aka Penguin from the Lockers), enthralled by the funkiness. Michael Jackson, Prince, P-Funk, Afrikka Bambata, it was a legendary time in music and Street Dance. I remember watching Poppin’ Taco, Poppin’ Pete, Shrimp & Shabadoo in Breaking, it was a magical time for a kid growing up in Miami, with Street Dance and Hip Hop all around him.

I grew up in Hialeah & Carol City, two neighborhoods with more emphasis on hood that neighbors; so these activities were cherished avenues that steered us away from trouble. I had mastered my arm as a kid in Elementary, after watching the movie Breaking. I was attempting to Robot and Pop. But, these hobbies were replaced by others as I grew up due to my religious ministry family's disapproval of the Hip Hop music and dance culture and also because popular styles changed. I remember rocking my Cross Colors suit one day, looking at my friend’s high-top fade saying, damn things have changed since the times of Parachute Pants, Kangaroos, Adidas suits with Shell Toes and fat laces. I changed with change and so did my dancing, until the 90’s arrived and it all came back full circle.

            Let me stop you here, for as I was involved in these school party scenes, I would catch murmurs of bygone dancers, stories of dancers that older folks used to pass on to us. But I never witnessed them first hand, for I was too young and too involved in my own world. I would not learn of these pioneers until much later on.

Back to the 90’s, the Rave Scene brought me back to dancing and pulled me away from a life with gangs in high school. It introduced me to massive arenas, audiences for me to hone my craft. It was 1993 when I was hooked again into dancing, music, and consequently, an exhausting life of parties. It was not long before it brought back the little Locking, Popping &Waving I used to mess around with as a kid, and I began a new quest to learn the arts I cherished so much.

These wild circles in nightclubs like “The Edge” in Ft. Lauderdale, The Fever Parties in South Beach’s Diamonte & War Saw, were defining moments for me as a dancer. It was a time in the early 90’s when dance had no rules. You would battle all kinds of dancers back then…it was not genre based.

As I started learning names of styles, I began seeing the differences of an ever-evolving culture in dance within the Rave scene. But while many cats began redefining styles like Waving, evolving new approaches based on the new techno music of the times, (which I did for many years) the newer labels like Liquid (and who remembers the French guys and their Wave-Dancing of the early 2000’s) did not win me over. I decided to go back to the 70’s & 80’s, to search for the real Funk again. And the search has led me to today, where now I sit back and remember the decades involving my love for Street Dance. Now that I got my little story out of the way (I felt compelled to do so to establish an understanding of my personal history) let’s get to the meat and potatoes of this prose.

Dancers that are 10-20 years older than me have educated me in a bit of South Florida history I would like to share. While Breaking History is well documented in Miami through events like Bboy Masters Pro Am, not much is known of our history, the Poppers & Lockers.

Locking in the 70’s

            There were two predominant races in the first generations of Street Dance down here: Blacks & Hispanics. Caucasians, Asians (& other Races) were involved, but as a minority down here. I only mention this for you to understand the Caribbean flavor that affected our dancing in South Florida. It’s a very tropical place, filled with a myriad of flavors and spices that is personified in our dance. So we’ve always had our own style even though we were doing a West Coast dance.

Miami had some amazing Locking crews back in the early 70’s. Mighty Tiny aka The Disco Kid (now known as Kid Dynamo) was introduced to Locking in the late 60’s by watching Don Campbell on Soul Train. He began Locking in Miami and he was thrilled to see that a Locking scene had blossomed. Dynamo later was recruited by his cousin and they began a crew called the Warlocks. They were known for their flashy suits and even flashier dance routines. Kid Dynamo and his cousin also did routines on roller skates, a big hit back in the day in South Beach. Dynamo later moved to New York and was heavily involved in professional dancing and Disco competitions in the 80's – representing Locking to its fullest.

Then you had another legendary crew called: The Ghetto Dancers. Whose leader, an OG Locker by the name of Sport, began terrorizing nightclubs from Miami to Ft. Lauderdale. I was told of legendary confrontations on the dance floor (to live funk bands in those days) where the Warlocks went up against the Ghetto Dancers in South Beach nightclubs. I could sadly only imagine!

Kid Dynamo left Miami and moved to Puerto Rico in 1979.  With his cousin, he helped pioneer the Locking (& Street Dance scene) in the island paradise in the 1980’s.

The Warlocks, South Beach, 1974

While Sport’s crew, The Ghetto dancers later became known as the legendary “The Amazing Wizards” the same year.

The Amazing Wizards, led by Terry Elliot (aka Terry-T) had dancers like Rico, Sport, Peanut & other lively Lockers. Terry T began Locking in 1978 at a ripe age, but later became the leader of Florida’s elite group of Lockers, some that had been Locking since the Ghetto Dancer’s time a decade earlier.

It is fair to mention that there were numerous legends of other dancers like Dancing Sam, Sand Man, Lockers that are too many to mention in this article (& forgive me if I didn’t mention you). But it was the Amazing Wizards that attracted the attention of Jeff Countach (The Lockers, Dancing Machine) and went on a world tour. The first Street Dancers that reached international notoriety from South Florida were Lockers! So our early history is filled with many Locking & Popping OG’s!

  

                                                    Gumby, Sport, Peanut, Aquaboogy, Terry T, Rico, Kid Dynamo

                                                                      (Boogie Squad & The Amazing Wizards)

Popping in the 80’s

            Now while Miami had some incredible Lockers, Ft. Lauderdale started buzzing with a new generation of dancers in the early 80’s. Popping, and its many sub-styles, erupted hard in Ft. Lauderdale hoods. On the top of this movement was Timothy Johnson (otherwise known as) Mechanical Master.  Mechanical had legendary battles with the Amazing Wizards as a new clash of styles occurred, Robot, Waving & Poppin versus Locking. These legendary foes went to the floor in battles that filled my head with exciting recounts of epic moments in Ft. Lauderdale nightclubs, battling for shoes, money or just a name. Mechanical began taking his animated styles to nightclubs and dance competitions up and down the peninsula, eventually landing him in Los Angeles, where he further evolved his Popping style and was the first Popper that battled nationally.

                                                Timothy Johnson (Mechanical Master)

Mechanical Master was an icon of the 80’s Ft. Lauderdale dance scene, like Terry T & the Amazing Wizards were icons of Miami. These legendary dancers lost contact with the dance scene in the late 80’s/90’s until I reunited them decades after. These once rivals are now OG’s of a remarkable scene that blossomed unannounced to the rest of the world.

Other generations of Poppers sprung: The Deadly Venoms of Miami (Chillski, Zero, Cuba), who were my arch-nemesis’s in the 90’s, were wrecking their scene early on in Miami history. They birthed several generations of Poppers that battled many of my own students. Mechanical Master was one of my teachers and mentors coming up in the 90’s. While other famous dancers like Devee (Who Can Roast The Most) came from his teachings as well.  

All in all, Miami & South Florida has been known as a Mecca for Breaking since so many ground-breaking crews hailed from this sea-side city (Street Masters, Flip Side Kings, Ground Zero) and it’s rich history that blossomed from the 80’s. Slowly, the scene became a Breaking scene when these styles were revived by Europe in the early 90’s. Miami Poppers & Lockers became the vast minority, until later generations have been wrought by the blood & sweat of local heroes that the world has yet to know. I am but a link in a long line of them. That is why I felt the need to write this bit of history down, to let the generations of Street Dancers in South Florida, and the rest of the world know, when it comes to Locking & Popping, we down here, have been doing this since day one! Since Day One!