IRock
IRock, the 3 on 3 battle @ The Whiskey
How did you get started with bboying?
I was taking Hip hop classes from Tara Wilson and wanted to do more and did a 5 week bboy class at Decidedly Jazz Danceworks. Almost right after that Tara threw Get Down 2003 and I met a bboy there named Serge, he was super dope and taught me a lot. I also took classes with Forever Fresh that week and with what I learned from those two, I knew I wanted to do more of this dance.
After the camp was over I didn’t dance again till September 2003 taking various dances but not really focusing on B-Boying. I was dancing a lot but taking Jazz, Tap, African, Hiphop and B-Boy classes. around October 2004 I started to practice more than once a week with some of the guys from class nolove and TKO and after that i slowly started to drop my other dance classes to practice more. Eventually nolove and I started the Floor Architects, we were the only two members but later changed the name to Modus Operandi and got Cozma (now know as Madcap), H-Bomb, Mile-High and m0dE down. This is when I was really starting to take my B-Boying seriously. This summer was also when I started to really battle and travel for battles (the farthest we got was Edmonton but you have to start somewhere).
By the end of the summer we added two more members to the crew Stripes and TKO. We kept training and competing and put down B-Boy Real from Toronto while he was living in Calgary but shortly after this people started to leave the crew and really just stop getting along. I kept training but eventually the crew drama got to the point were people just didn’t want to see each other and shortly after Grim Reiminder was born.
IRock in San Francisco
What were your inspirations?
My big inspirations were Powerserge, Forever Fresh, and Whizzle rock. The Original Rudes were also a big influence initially. All the people just listed were the B-Boys that I learned from when I was just starting and had a big influence on my style and showed me a good portion of my powermoves. Storm and Ken Swift are both dancers that still inspire me. I also take a lot of influence from Charles and Mega Man from Soul Control practicing with them really helped my dancing and changed the way i approached my dancing.
What was the wackest thing you’ve ever done? (ex. Using a backpad to do windmills)
Ballet.
What do you find most challenging about bboying?
All parts of the dance are challenging I just try to stay focused on what I’m doing and not get move ADD.
How do you feel about the Calgary scene?
The Calgary scene is awsome we have jams on a regular basis (Thank you Ryan and Ill Movements) and there is almost no beef.
What was your favourite battle that you a part of?
Driven To Perform 2006 it was the first jam i made the top 8. Hat Trick 2008 was also one of my favorite jams.