Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (June 22, 1984)
(9 lb T hese breakers bop and boogie to the beat Dy Donna Siccon Put a camera la front of them ano! you can't keep them still; ask them to talk about break dancing and you can't shut them up. Lincoln's break dancers must have breakin' in their blood: At the request to show what break dancing was, about 10 dancers quickly left their pinbail and gathered in a circle outside the Game Gallery, 14th and Q Streets. After momentary noise and confu sion, the crowd quieted and the first dancer ap proached the middle. He popped his body to build some rhythm, then fell backward onto his hands. Legs flying wildly from this crab-like position, he gathered speed to finish by twisting his feet into the air, balancing on two hands. When the first dancer finished, another floated into the middle, his body waving fluidly up and down and side to side until he too dove to the ground legs and arms taking to the air in a fast rhythmic routine. By the end of the session, about 30 people had gathered some just to watch. "People usually stop to watch us when we're danc ing," said Mr. Freeze (Roland Palmer) of the Capital City Breakers. One time they got in trouble for block ing the sidewalk in front of Miller and Paine, he said. Freeze said break dancing started because it was something to do without getting in trouble. The fad hit Lincoln about a year and a half ago. The Lincoln Knights were Lincoln's first break dancing group, Dave Amerson said. Amerson is a graduate from Southeast High School who teaches a break dancing workshop at the The Dance Institute. Groups form when a bunch of friends begin to dance together and decide to get a name, Amerson said. Then groups will dance against each other in "break fights." Whoever the audience judges as hav ing the swiftest, cleanest moves wins. Groups also form as a way to let people know you are around because as a group, dancers can do performances, Stewart Mart said. Mart is a break r- n!lancing teacher at the Pershing School of Dance and was a member of the now defunct Lincoln Nor theast Freestyle Breakers. One attraction in break dancing is that it allows T il-' . 'A -j rrl- t - - lmlT -f--B''-Vir-rnTr-Mir 'ritfr ir',Tr" " ii"" '-- " "f" - 1 4 X- f - 4 J Photo courtesy NETV Big Bird and all hi3 pals from Sesame Street yak it up on NETV Channel 13 or 12 weekdays at 7 a.m., 11:30 a.ra. end 4 p.m., and Sundays at 8 p.m. On Radio KLMS AM 1 5 is not going off the air...they were teasing us, those crazy guys. However, they weren't teasing about airing the top 500 songs of all time, not including Nile Delta tunes. That songfest will begin at 6 a.m4 Saturday and last until Sunday afternoon sometime. On Television NETVs Saturday night Silver Screen Classic is a mystery a Dashiell Hammett mystery, that is. "The Glass Key" (1942) is based on a Dashiell Hammett work. It stars Alan Ladd, Brian Donlevy and Veron ica Lake. 10:30 p.m. tomorrow. On Stsjs A no-holds-barred comedy is the Community Playhouse's current adventure. "Scapino" opens tonight at 7:30 at the Playhouse and repeats at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow, with 7:30 p.m. shows Tuesday through Saturday, June 26 to 30 and 2:30 p.m. mati nees Saturday, June 30. Aroimd Town Boys With Toys rock the Stick tonight and Sat urday. A $3 cover charge should buy an evening of thrills and spills. Daily Nebraskan music critic Geoff Goodwin said of this band, "You won't stop movin' from the minute you walk in to the minute you walk out...In fact you won't even walk out youll dance out." French Leave will be opening for The Boys. Friday. June 22. 1984 1 y , Hlllll A " v - K ' m - r' - . If "Freeze tQg Floorman the dancer to build his own character and style, Mart said. Street names often arise from the way a person dances and the moves he does real well, Mart said. For instance, somebody might be called Spider Man because they do the "spider" real well, or Floorman because most of their routine is on the floor, he said. Break dancing is a combination of martial arts, gymnastics and dance, which takes a lot of coordi nation and dedication to learn, Mart said. Mart learns his moves from watching television and other people, as well as making up some of his own. One of the basic things to learning break dancing is knowing how to follow the beat, like disco, Amer son said. A person has to know how to wave his arms and body smoothly and how to step with certain moves. It's a type of dancing that keeps you in shape, said Mike Rodriquez, member of the Street Beat Connec tion. Everybody usually stretches out before they dance, he said. It is also easy to get a lot of scrapes and scratches and it's real dangerous when you spin, according to Rodriquez. Despite the danger, the breakin' dancers keep on dancing in the street. The Street Beat Connection has plans to dance at Holmes Lake on July 4 and the Capitol City Breakers will be dancing in Seward that day. Other places these groups dance are parties, football games and shopping malls. What is this section, really? Reporter heralds Arts & Entertainment birth This column runs in what is loosely called the "Arts and Entertainment" section. As ridiculous as it may sound, no Daily Nebraskan journalist to date has explained just what these terms really mean and why they are lumped together. I don't know either but I'm a pretty .good liar. Back in the 50s, there were six basic sections to the Daily Nebraskan: the news reporting section, the editorial and letters section, the sports section, the iiiy art section, the entertainment section and some thing mysteriously known as "Gidget's Corner." In September of 1957, then cub reporter Dan Ladely was assigned by veteran editor Jeff Goodwin to cover an opening of paintings and sculptures at the Downstairs Gallery. The Downstairs Gallery was Lincoln's premier art showplace in the late 50s. It was located in a rather dilapidated house near First and West O streets adjacent to the Burlington Northern raiJyard. The house was owned (rented, really) by Miss Bertha Bagworth, an elderly spinster and woman of many nicknames. Bertha (or BeeBee, as her friends Daily NcbraskGn called her) was a longtime member of Lincoln's cul terati and a devoted patron of the arts. In fact, there is even a drinking fountain in the basement of Richards Hall dedicated to her. Anyway, Miss Bag worth took a good hard look at Lincoln's art scene and couldn't find the Sheldon Gallery, so she decided to open her own gallery. The Downstairs Gallery opened in the summer of 1957 amid a strange mixture of leaky cement walls, washing machines and musty smells. In other words, "ambience." A good mushroom hunting place. The Downstairs (known affectionately as the Basement to Lincoln-area artists) was a smash. At any hour of the day, one could find people traipsing through her kitchen to explore the art shows beneath. It was at one just such show that ace cub reporter Dan Ladely, now the Sheldon Film Theatre director, was assigned his first art review. According to his personal recollections, he was fired up but a bit apprehensive about the assignment. "I was fired up but a bit apprehensive. I'd heard some pretty weird things about Bagworth (or simply "the Bag" to many) through the grapevine," he said. Ladely fears were unfounded, however, and the two struck up an easy friendship during an inter view in her kitchen over a coffee and a danish. Dan's accounts of the day are vivid. Continued en Pass 7 Pago 5