On October 20th, I ventured over to Union Square Park to interview an “artist”. After numerous futile attempts with art vendors, I asked Tylone and Jerry, two members of an elaborate acrobatic break dancing crew, for an interview. This was our conversation:
How did you get into acrobatics at first?
Tylone: Through my friend.
Yeah? What did you initially do and how did you elevate that to where you are now?
Tylone: I was always tumbling, always tumbling but you know um slowly but surely I started dancing and I came to contorting through my uncle. My uncle helped me on that part and after that I was doing yoga so I was somewhat aware of what I was doing. People taught me secrets; my friend showed me a couple tricks; I was always flippin’, I just enhanced it. [I] sat in my room, thought about putting a show together; bam! 10 million views online and [we] got the best show in New York City
So, how do you guys practice?
Tylone: Well, I don’t practice. He (Jerry) does. When I get my practice on is when I’m actually performing and I will try new things and no one will know. But he practice everyday.
How does he [Jerry] practice?
Tylone: You gotta ask him. Jerry! How do you practice?
Jerry: How do I practice? Umm, when it comes to flipping now in the very moment I just throw myself around and he [Tylone] tweaks its. Umm, also we’ll just try stuff here and we already know since it’s concrete, we gotta be careful as possible but at the same time be as loose as we can be. Because when you’re on regular floor, it’s smooth and it doesn’t fight back as much as concrete. You don’t want to hurt yourself at the end of the day.
So, Jerry how did you get into this [acrobatic break dancing] ?
Jerry: Umm, one of my friends used to be a popper and he used to be involved with another dance group. I got involved with that. I liked it at that time but I never realized how much work it was then one time, around Christmas, a couple of my friends got together and said “let’s get together and try it ourselves”. We thought we knew how it went, then we we failed trying. We became desperate but that’s when we ran into him [Tylone]. We met without really knowing him but the first thing he did was give us a helping hand. He pretty much gave use of the gist of how to go about things and he helped bring people [an audience] to us. Then he gave us a breakdown and after awhile we started dancing with him. And, you see a big difference in dancing with him and other people. One, it’s definitely more fun here. Two, it’s like you build more than just “let’s get together and dance”. Slowly but surely you build a family, you really see a deeper meaning to it but people see the face values of things. But really, this is work and what I realize is that a lot of people come to New York to see the dancers. So if the dancing stopped, that’s another part of New York culture and history that dies. So, when he [Tylone| made me realize … I never looked at this until a couple days ago. When he [Tylone] asks people, “why do you do this”. Everyone’s answer is the same “I do it for the money; I do it for the girls; I do it because I love dancing “ At the end of the day, everyone does it for the money because if there was no money, nobody would really do it. Second, yeah everybody loves to dance. If we didn’t dance out here, we’d dance someplace else. But when he [Tylone] shed some light on that view [preserving New York culture], it opened my eyes so much more. So now, Im like “wow I’m a part of that history”. Some people started because somebody pulled them in. If I can do that [pull somebody in], that’s good enough for me. I want to help keep it [street acrobatics] going.
It’s about keeping culture alive.
Tylon and Jerry: Yeah, exactly
Jerry: This [break dancing] is a different type of culture that people may not respect as much they think they do.
Tylone: This [break dancing] is the first element of Hip Hop. Then mc’ing, graffiti, fashion etc. etc.
How many hours a day do you guys work?
Jerry: It’s like a regular job. 8 hours or less sometimes. But it really depends on how the flow goes. This is a job, I take it as a job. I go home, I stretch and make sure I am ready for the next day. I don’t come out here saying how many hours I’m going to work. If the flow is good, the flow is good.
Jerry: What happens if there are any weather problems like snow or rain?
Jerry: We are out here no matter what. But, umm we have to attack that accordingly. If it rains, we’ll chill by the hut and wait it out. If it rains during the show, we’ll finish but we’ll just be as careful as possible because it does get slippery.
So, what is your outlook on the future?
Jerry: I don’t really look too far ahead because I don’t want to get my hopes too high. As in, what I would want pretty much take this on a bigger scale. As of right now, I don’t know what it is because I am still new at it. This does it for me. I get to take care of myself doing this and I get to enjoy myself doing this. I don’t have to hate what I am doing because I’m dancing, chilling, making money all at the same time.
With only ten minutes of time together, I learned more about persistence and the pursuit of happiness than any textbook could have taught me. Art is not simply paint on a canvas; it is the product of emotion, passion, and persistence. Tylone, Jerry, and the rest of the team definitely are artists and I am so blessed to interview such phenomenal people.
