Shedeck – Breakdancing

Neither of today’s stories have to do with that old portable building, but they’re both Shedeck-related and they’re two of my favorite stories from that era. The other one is a better story, but this one is such a strong memory that I wanted to post it as well.

Throughout grade school (and especially elementary school) it was extremely rare for a student to lobby an idea and have it accepted by a teacher — so rare in fact that I can count the number of times it happened on one hand. For example, in ninth grade we were assigned to bring a poem to class and read it; I argued that since song lyrics were poems, we should be able to bring the words to our favorite songs. After mulling it over our teacher decided that it was a good idea, and changed the assignment to reading the lyrics to our favorite songs in front of the class.

Each year of elementary school, we did a Physical Education (P.E.) Program. Each grade of the school focused on one activity — jump roping, playing with a parachute, tumbling, jumping on a trampoline — and then on one night we had a huge program where we performed said skills for our parents.

On March 25, 1983, Michael Jackson debuted “the moonwalk” during a performance at Motown on live television (YouTube). (If you don’t watch the whole thing, at least jump to either the 3:30 or 4:30 mark.) On March 26, 1983, I and a million other kids across the country began trying to moonwalk. In 1984, Breakin’ and Beat Street were both released. Breakdancing was everywhere … even Yukon, Oklahoma.

So when our P.E. teacher asked us (her sixth grade class) what we wanted to do for our portion of the P.E. Program, I stood up and said, “Breakdancing”. At first she said no; then she said maybe. It was decided that we (some of the kids) would perform a “tryout” session for her. We divided up into groups and performed some of our most awesome moves for her. She must’ve been impressed (or at least entertained) because the next day she announced that the sixth grade class would be breakdancing at the 1984 Shedeck P.E. Program.

I, Jeremy Smith, and Jason Lee formed a three-man breakdancing troupe. I seem to recall we had nicknames, signature moves and other goofy bits, but I can’t really recall all the details. What I do remember was working on our routine a bit during recess and after school (we all lived in the same neighborhood). Just like the movies, each of us had our moment in the spotlight while the other two moved to the background.

The day of the show finally came, and, dressed in our best ripped sweatshirts, parachute pants, fingerless gloves and hightop shoes with sweet neon shoelaces, we got to breakdance to two songs: “There’s No Stoppin’ Us” and “I Feel For You”, both from the Breakin’ movie soundtrack. (In fact, I owned the record and loaned it to the teacher for the show. And yes, I still own the record. And no, I don’t listen to it anymore. Much.)

I don’t remember how long breakdancing was popular. In my mind it seems like ten, maybe twenty years. (Then again, I still bust into “The Robot” from time to time …) Switching to logical thinking, I don’t remember any breakdancing at Myers (4th grade) and by the time we got to 7th grade (1985), life was all about ninjas and skateboarding and breakdancing “was a memory” (to quote one of the evil skaters from Thrashin’).

As a small bonus, here is a dopey picture of my cousin, myself, my sister, and a wild west gunfighter. The shirt I am wearing in this picture is the same one I wore that night, and I secretly wish it still fit. BREAKDANCE EVERYBODY!