The year was 1984. The top movie in my life that year was Beat Street starring Rae Dawn Chong and Guy Davis. This movie represented a cultural shift of urban influence onto mainstream America. It pulled to the forefront as a relatively new style of music called rap or hip hop. Normally relegated to the ghetto, this form of culture expression was gaining momentum and this movie was more than that, it was a movement. With performances from pioneers like Afrika Bambaataa, Soul Sonic Force and Kool Moe Dee, Beat Street was seen as an opportunity for those without a voice, to finally have their say.
Right in the middle of this movie was a new form of dance taking shape called ‘Breaking’. Break dancing seemed to be just as vital of an expression as rap. And from 1983 to 1986 I was swept away with the fad. I was a regular ‘breaker’ with my track suits, baseball caps and sneakers with the big fat laces. In my room was a stash of cardboard from the local grocery store. Every chance we found, we were practicing. This was perfect timing because our favorite radio station announced a break dance contest at the mall. We were all in! We practiced and decided to enter the individual portion. Well, my turn came and I totally choked. In fact, I never stepped foot on the stage. I just stood there in the background paralyzed.
I had forgotten all about this until the other day as I shared with a client the importance of stepping up and stepping into your ‘time’. As I spoke I remembered how difficult it was for me. I instantly shared the story and it seemed to give a refreshing to their situation as well. I want to share a few principles from this experience I am embracing now:
■No matter how much you practice, nothing takes the place of execution: I had practiced and performed for my friends for days. I knew my little routine and was sure I could deliver. There was just one thing I never factored in, the people in the audience. When we reach a certain ‘stage’ in our lives, what we know and what we do becomes vital. Legends are made not from what they say they will do, but what they actually do. You were made to perform on the greatest of stages and all that stands in your way is the will to just do it!
■A team is great, but you are still accountable for ‘you’: Here’s where it got sticky. We practiced together, we hung out together and even dreamed together. But we were going to be judged individually. A team is not the place to hide from responsibility. In the end, your life is your business and you’d better get busy thinking for yourself. I have seen dozens of people left in the dust because of their efforts to hide in a crowd. Animals live in herds but graze for themselves.
■Your dream has to speak louder than your fears: As I look back from the perspective of a forty year old, of course I realize that break dancing wasn’t my life’s passion. In fact, shortly after the contest I gave it up for skateboarding. Fads come and go, but you will learn to pay close attention to those things that seem to latch onto your heart. You can’t shake it no matter what else you do. It almost becomes your obsession. The key is to spend more time pursuing those than the fads that come to distract you.
That cloudy day in 1984 taught me a valuable lesson. It taught me that you can get hyped, get dressed and show up looking like you belong. But until something becomes a passion you cannot live without doing, you will easily walk away from it. There are some of us in this life that will find our cause, our passion and refuse to die without living it. Here’s to us all!
Early Jackson, Norfolk Business Examiner
http://www.examiner.com/article/what-i-learned-about-success-from-break-dancing?fb_action_ids=4694968172078&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582
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