B-Boying Legend Crazy Legs To Take Over The Decks at F Bar

A founding member of the Rock Steady Crew, Richard “Crazy Legs” Colón is the man behind some of the moves invented by the Bronx-based b-boying group that is credited with spreading the dance form across the world in the late 1970s and early ’80s. Even though he’s retired from competitive dancing, as the president of the Rock Steady Crew, Crazy Legs remains breakdancing’s foremost global ambassador, and he’s finally made his way to India via a tour organised by Zomba, the hip hop division of Sony Music India. The “Godfather of b-boying” will perform a DJ set at F Bar, Lounge and Diner this Thursday, June 28, and if the audience at his free workshop at N. M. College was anything to go by (he also conducted one in Dharavi), then you can expect the dance floor to be taken over by the city’s b-boying community tonight. We spoke to Crazy Legs about his visit and his gig, where there’s a good chance he will step out of his console for a while to show the crowd how it’s done.

His reaction when he was invited to teach and perform in India
“When I first got the call from [former Sony Music International head] Richard Sanders, he explained to me that they were focusing on the emerging b-boy scene here and how we can be a part of it. I think anyone’s who is up to date on current affairs should know enough to say anything India, China, Asia, you want to be a part of these days.”

How he manages to dance the way he does despite being over 45-years-old
“It’s just a matter of training and trying to maintain a respectable weight that’s going to allow you to be somewhat agile and flexible and have some speed. I love to dance; I’m not saying I’m going to be doing it for the rest of my life because that would be kind of impossible only because your body dictates when you stop. If you’re going to be competitive, there’s going to be wear and tear in the body. Doing workshops and teaching, that’s easy for me. I love that. That can last for a long time.”

Why he thinks b-boying has caught on in such a big way in Dharavi
“The reason why they adopted it is very simple. They don’t have options. This costs nothing. Even if you don’t have a sound system, it can come down to playing a beat on a piece of wood or a table, or making beatbox sounds with your mouth. You can’t really take this away from them because they don’t need radio stations, they don’t need television, they don’t need anything because it’s already proven that it will sustain itself whether the media is covering it or not. When a child in a slum or a ghetto or the hood sees the energy that’s involved with this dance and they’re loaded with all this energy, how can they not be excited and say ‘I want to do that! That’s fun!’ You put a bunch of eight-year-old kids in here right now and I start breaking, you’re going to see them try to imitate me immediately.”

Why he started DJing and what we can expect at his gig tonight
“As I started throwing events, I realised that for the most part DJs show up late to the gigs that they’re hired for. So I had to start DJing more in the ’90s just open up for my own events until the DJ got there. It kind of became a survival thing. I’ll be playing funk, soul, R&B [and] rap. It depends on the crowd too. I think a lot of b-boys will probably be there [and] will probably expect me to play certain breakbeats. I’ll try and keep it uptempo for them because I don’t believe that b-boys should just go to a party to only break; people should dance with women too, not just jump on the floor and start spinning. It all depends on the vibe but I’ve been known to jump out from the turntables and go and dance.”

F Bar, Lounge and Diner

LocationOne IndiaBulls Centre
Third Floor
Next to Gold’s Gym
Senapati Bapat Marg
Elphinstone Road

Phone6650 5820

Relevant DatesThursday, June 28

Hours10pm

Ticketing & Price InfoRs300