Shine Magazine Original B-Boy Series: Speedy Legs

By Lisa Dumas
Co-Editor

As one of the first break dancers to hit the Miami b-boy scene in the late 1970's, Speedy Legs started dancin' when he was just 15 years old.

Shine caught up with this original b-boy to find out what he's up to now, and what was poppin off in M-I-A back then.

Shine: What made you want to be a b-boy?

Speedy Legs: I was into martial arts first, in the early 70's when the whole Bruce Lee phenomenon was goin' on. I was real competitive and I had all this energy. I met this dude that introduced me to the culture of what b-boyin' was, and the whole attitude behind it attracted me to it.

Shine: Who were some of the other popular b-boys at that time?

Speedy Legs: You had Rock Steady Crew, the Dynamic Rockers, Floor Masters, you had a bunch of crews. Down here there were no crews. I was the first b-boy to be influenced by a New York b-boy.

Shine: Do you still dance today?

Speedy Legs: Yeah, I encourage the kids at the youth centers around here. The original roots of hip-hop dance is what I teach. Competition-wise, I'm not as competitive as I used to be. My body's kind of taken its toll.

Shine: You've been in movies, broadway shows, and countless concerts. Did you ever think being a b-boy would provide as many opportunities as it has?

Speedy Legs: In the early days, I was very naive. I was doing stuff for $50...sometimes for nothin' at all. I really had no business sense. In the early 90's, Ken Swift and some cats, they were doin' theater stuff. But that wasn't really me. I was always a competitor. Competition was the thing I was really into.

Shine: Break dancing has recently made a major comeback. Do you see any differences in today's b-boys?

Speedy Legs: B-boys now are too caught up with acrobatics. They want to outdo themselves physically, instead of with style. If I had to go up against any of the guys from my time, it was style first. That's the difference today.

Shine: Usually people think of New York when you mention the early days of break dancing. What was the b-boy scene like in Miami back then?

Speedy Legs: Miami preserved the original style that came out of New York. The b-boys in Miami, they took it more serious than the New York b-boys, and people don't even know they existed. It became like a real serious thing down here. In New York, everybody kind of got lost in the stardom of it, while in Miami, we were actually livin' it. We would go to this club where there were battles every Friday--The Beat Club.

Shine: As one of hip-hop's original b-boys, do you have any advice for the new generation?

Speedy Legs: My advice to them would be: Be innovative always. It's been the most superior dance ever, and the least to get recognition. The first thing they have to do is have respect for themselves and the dance. And always remember the essence of style.

For more information on SPEEDY LEGS and HIP HOP ELEMENTS visit:

www.hiphopelements.com

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