Interview with the Original B-Boy Dancin' Doug

                               INTERVIEW WITH THE ORIGINAL B-BOY DANCIN' DOUG

                                                             

                                                          conducted by 

                                          Sir Norin Rad (The Intruders Crew/Germany)


                                                      on June 9th, 2017




Norin Rad: "Where did you live at when you started to attend Kool DJ Herc's parties?"

Dancin' Doug: "I lived in Harlem...I lived in the Polo Grounds Projects."

Norin Rad:"Who or what made you aware of Herc's parties?"

Dancin' Doug:"What happened was.. I got to go back a little bit....
.Rob...Teenie Rock..who was my breakdance partner later on...His fam was from the Bronx and had moved to Harlem on 154th Street—a block next to the Polo Grounds. .  He took me up to the Bronx where he used to live at... to 183rd street and Davidson Avenue. So when I went there we met these girls that he knew.. Toni and Levitha. Levitha is Duesy's cousin..you know the B-Girl?? So Levitha became my girlfriend...she lived on University and Burnside then... She later moved to 173rd street and Jesup Avenue. Her family and Duesy's family lived in a Two-Family-House.I would go by there all the time  and you know guys would come through there to hang out. So I heard about Herc's parties from them. I met EZ Al...Duesy's older brother.. there too. He was one of the Burnside Boys who used to come to Herc's parties and dance. Danny, Jerry, Norm....There was a bunch of them but they wasn't breakdancing. They would do The Bus Stop and The Hustle. The Hevalo was down the street on Burnside and Jerome Avenue. Duesy and Levitha lived on University and Burnside so The Hevalo was about 7 blocks walking up hill from there. I started going to the parties at The Hevalo..I was still young..but I started going to The Hevalo . Herc also had another club called The Twilight Zone which was on the other side of Burnside... A lot of people don’t mention the TwiLite Zone—but I remember those long stairs to the top. It would be packed and Herc would stand at the top saying who could get in. He always pointed me out and told me to make it to the top. I used to get the two places confused in my memory—but I was definitely dancing at BOTH! We started breaking at The Twilight Zone and The Hevalo and then it went further south to Mount Eden Avenue where the Executive Playhouse was. That's where breakdancing really took of and became like a real artform because we used to break a little bit at the Twilight Zone and The Hevalo but when it came to the Executive Playhouse everybody would come and break. That's where everybody got their reputation from."

Norin Rad:"Where did you get that name Dancin' Doug from?"


Dancin' Doug: "What happened was.. when you went to Kool Herc parties if you were one of the original breakdancers Coke La Rock would announce you... like Coke would be on the mic most of the time..Herc said a few things but usually it would be Coke all the time...he said, "Dancin' Doug from Downtown!".. 'cause Harlem is considered downtown from the Bronx..." Dancin' Doug is in the house...just koolin' out...turn the motherfucker out!" You know?! That's how I got my name... I would be breakdancing and I was killing everybody back in them days."

Norin Rad:" And do you recall where you got that name? I know you got it at a Kool Herc party but I mean at which location?"

Dancin' Doug:"It was at the Executive Playhouse 'cause I remember when I use to go to the Twilight Zone he still used to call me Doug from Downtown...Dougie Doug..Doug from Downtown...then at the Executive Playhouse it became Dancin' Doug."

Norin Rad:"What was it like to enter the The Hevalo or The Executive Playhouse as a B-Boy back then?"

Dancin' Doug: "Soon as I came in they would say, "Dancin' Doug is here! Get the circle ready! Where's the circle?" So I walked right in and go right to the circle." 

Norin Rad:"From your perspective..where does Breakin' come from ? Burnin' was first, right? And then it gradually evolved into Breakin? Trixie said it started around 1970/1971? What's your perspective on that?"

Dancin' Doug:"I think it started around that tIme, too. We would go to parties and burn people, you know!? We would trip them or mush them or put our hats in their face after we did a spin. We started gettin' the circle then. We would dance against the best dancers and after a while they just wanted us to dance in the circle alone. At least with me that's how it was.  I used to burn guys and girls but it started with the girls. After a while you couldn't get a girl's phone number though because you embarassed them. That's how we got chased out of so many parties back then. The girls' brothers or boyfriends would get mad and then a big crowd of them would slowly assemble and they would start talking shit. Next thing you know we were out of there.  At The Twilight Zone it was more of Burnin' and then we started evolving from Burnin'...By the time we danced at The Hevalo it became more of Breakin.  Then we started to do something funny and then we started doing a spin on the move itself. The first floor move that I remember you would jump backwards with your legs in front of you..cross your leg over top...left over right..and then hop, hop, hop. That was the first move done on the ground.  I think you need to clarify that Burning wasn't a "dance" all by itself. It was what people did to be creative and separate themselves from others as good dancers. Breaking was more of a dance. It evolved to that." 

Norin Rad: "I understand. Certain components of that Burnin' vibe transcended into Breakin' right? Like doin' gestures to humiliate your opponent...?"

Dancin' Doug: "Absolutely."

Norin Rad:"From what I have heard doing routines and impersonations of certain characters like Dracula was also part of original breaking. Could you please describe two or three routines that you used to do back then? Chip told me you waere famous for your motorcycle routine." 

Dancin' Doug: "I would do Charlie Chaplin....that was my favourite one...I would do Charlie Chaplin...I would do the Frankenstein... I also did a Mexican routine where I acted like I had a Sombero , and did a Mexican dance around the Hat and acted like I had the snap things In my hand as I held them over my head. The motorcycle one where I got like a motorcycle and go VROOM VROOM I started shaking the motorcycle, I popped a wheelie and would go to the person like I'm rididng a motorcycle and then I would break..drop to the floor, spin, flip, flip come back up and everything.  But Charlie Chaplin was my favourite one. That would require more skills."

Norin Rad:"What would that routine look like?"

Dancin' Doug:"I would do Charlie Chaplin, you know? I'm spinning the stick and  I'm walking with my feet to the side and jump up and hop from clicking my heels together. Play with my hat and walk up to the guy like Charle Charlie walked slew-footed and when I got close to him then I dropped into my break."


Norin Rad: "Would you and your partner Teenie Rock also have like tag team routines?"

Dancin' Doug: "Oh yeah! What me and Teenie Rock did..Carl Wright.. his brother..he came he said, "You know what you should be doing? You should be doing The Charleston!" And he actually made us learn The Charleston. We would combine it with the Lyndy Hop. That's how we got Trixie and Wallace!"

Norin Rad: "When you think back to the Kool Herc party days who were the most outstanding B-Boys to you and who of them did you battle against ?"

Dancin' Doug: "The best..let me tell you...the best was Trixie and Wallace! Trixie and Wallace!  And I don't know why they don't get the credit they deserve. Sasa was bad! But me... I never battled Sasa at all...I used to see him dance but we never battled against each other.. Bobo! These were the big names! Teenie Rock and Dancing Doug against Trixie and Wallace. That was like the real big one. And then I  would also be breaking on my own. Clark Kent was good! He would do the Underdog thing and he was kind of fly with it and other stuff too but we never battled though.. Coke would say on the Mic, “When Polly’s in Trouble, I am not slow—its Hip Hip Hip and away I go! and  Clark Kent would act like he was in a phone booth and come out and do the Underdog break! The Twins was good, too! They just wasn't on our level at the time, you know? They were too young to battle me. They became number one...that's when we left. It was us first. We were the main attraction. When we got older and started going other places they became the main attraction." 

Norin Rad:"Did you have any students in Harlem that continued your legacy after you quit?"

Dancin' Doug:"Nah. Everybody did their own thing. Black Tom was good. There was this guy named Eddie Davis from Polo Grounds..he was real good! Carl Wright  We would go party in Harlem, too but  because my girlfriend was in the Bronx I would always go back to the Bronx."

Norin Rad: " I have heard that later around 1977 those DJs Donald D and B-Fats fromThe Sapphire Crew out of Drew Hamilton Projects were the first DJs to bring that Bronx formula of rockin' Breakbeats to Harlem. They rocked at the Renny (The Renaissance Ballroom)...  Do you recall whether Breakin' would go down at The Renaissance Ballroom?"

Dancin' Doug:"Definetely. We used to bring it to The Audobon Ballroom, too. I used to break at The Renny and The Audobon Ballroom! See we lived in Harlem and we went to the Bronx..so when we came back to Harlem we did the same thing. People in Harlem started breakin', too. It started in the Bronx though! People in Harlem started because we were going all around in Harlem doing it! Chucky's boys mob....They were called The Wild Bunch out of 140th Street...They were a bunch of rough kids. Chucky, Sammy, Dutch The LA Boys from Lenox Avenue....

The Renaissance Ballroom a.k.a. The Renny

Norin Rad: "Who were the members of the LA Boys?"

Dancin' Doug: "Poppy, Skeeter. These were those that could dance. They used to sell drugs though. They were known for selling drugs...they were a bunch that could dance, too."

Norin Rad: "Which years are we talking? When did The Wild Bunch and The LA Boys dance?"

Dancin' Doug: "Like 75, 76... They wasn't early like the Bronx kids was. They came a little bit later. But Kurtis Blow and them...Billy Bill, Blue, Danny That crew was doing it early, too. They would come to parties. We used to meet them on the train!  See, if you came from Harlem..let's say you going up to Marble Hill..we used to break in Marble Hill, too..You gotta take the train. We took the D train downtown to 145th street and there switched to the A train uptown to 168th and then switch to the 1 train Uptown to 225th street / Marble Hill station. So we would all meet there at 168th Street! We'd be there on the platform..It was like 15 of us, you see like 15 of them.  "Ey yo, what's up?! Where you going?" "We're going to Marble Hill!" You know, we'd get in to the train together and then go to the party and tear the party up. But Billy Bil and them they wasn't in the Bronx a lot. They used to be at Chuck Center a lot.I was in the Bronx like every weekend. "

168th Street Subway Station

Norin Rad:"Where would you see the LA Boys and the Wild Bunch dance at? At block parties?" 

Dancin' Doug:"They would go to The Renny, to The Audobon they would go to the P.A.L. on 123rd Street. They had parties there. At Drew Hamilton.. they had parties there.. the block parties, original block parties.. the LA Boys would come to the block parties that was around Drew Hamilton. Black Tom was from Drew Hamilton, Dancin' Doll was from Drew Hamilton. So LA Boys from that area..they were from 143rd street and Lenox Avenue.. and Drew Hamilton is from 141st street to 144th street between 7th and 8th avenue. So that's LA Boys territory, you know?!"

Norin Rad:"This is such precious knowledge!! So music wise at those parties at The Renny and The Audobon the DJs  would play the same  tracks that had the Bronx B-Boys go off, right? They would also play Give It Or Turn It Loose, It's Just Begun..So the DJs woud basically use the same formula, right?" 

Dancin' Doug:" No, no!! They would play some of them. Harlem had a little bit of a smoother tip to it. They would play some of the kool joints in Harlem and then throw some breaks in there whereas in the Bronx it was heavy heavy on the breakbeats."


Norin Rad:"It wasn't just breakbeats all the time at a Kool DJ Herc party, right?  

Dancin' Doug:" Herc would play cool stuff, too. We would do The Hustle, we would do slow dances. Herc exposed us to a lot of good music. People don't realize that! He exposed us to a lot of good music! "Body Talk" by Eddie Kendricks we would be doin' The Hustle to that.  It was actually three phases of The Hustle. The very first Hustle actually was at The Hevalo. That's the Backwards Hustle. The Burnside Boys were kind of the masters of that. Then there came the second phase which was the Side-To-Side Hustle. That was at The Hevalo, too. That guy Billy Pimp..he was called Billy Pimp not because he was a pimp but because he had many pimples in his face.  That was his dance! You would see people doing these dances first then it evolved into Disco Hustle and then into the Latin Hustle. But we didn’t make that up there, we made up the breaking stuff. People knew how to do slow dancing... People knew how to grind and do the 500 and be good with that, too. 500..They would go side to side, goin' down.  That was the 500."

Norin Rad: "What were like the top five Kool Herc certified slow jams that had all the B-Boys and Fly Girls doing The Grind ?"

Dancin Doug:" He always started with For The Love I Gave You. That was his number one tune always! He put on Love Maze by The Temprees, Seven Days by The Moments.. uhm...What's the other one?  (sings) I Wanna Go Outside..." 



                                                 

Seven Days by The Moments

                                          
    
Norin Rad:" That's "In The Rain" by The Dramatics!"

Dancin Doug:" Yeah, anything with The Dramatics! He would play The Bells by The Originals..He would also play...( sings "I´m So Proud" by The Impressions.) Herc had a bunch of songs but my favourite song which was the type I was gonna play at my wedding was  Baby I'm For Real by The Originals. That were some of the killer songs that Herc played. Herc he always played slow joints!! He ALWAYS played slow joints!! That's why when people are sayin' they are breakin' only I'm like. "Yo! Your culture is wrong, brother!! YOUR CULTURE IS WRONG!" The original culture involves slow jams, too!"

Norin Rad:"People who have this kind of attitude miss out a lot of great music. Now since we got the slow joints down...I asked Sasa and Trixie the same question..what were your top five breakbeats to get down to?" 

Dancin' Doug:"I kinda like'em all so I hate to say five....but Give It Up Or Turn It Loose is number one....The Mexican is the second one and Listen To Me is my favourite of all of them..I love that song! Then It's Just Begun...Shaft In Africa, too....Oh no, no, no..Forgive me..The New Bell !! Only because that was me and Teenie Rock's song (hums the melody of The New Bell) "Ma Teenie dip... Dancin Doug du dum dip." They had the whole crowd singing that. I got to give that one up. That's my five right there!"