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They spend their days popping, locking, jamming ‘n’ hip-hopping all around the Island, but now they’re ditching the moves and telling Jersey how to put groove back into the Island.
Today, the Total Mayhem Breakdance Crew – each with their own flow, lingo and special names - tell Express what five things they would change about Jersey. But first, leader Slo Moshun – that’s Scott Mills to you and I – shares a little of their story.
It all started in a squash court in St Ouen – big shout out to Mr Hawson (RIP), who offered his court for Scott (Slo) to begin teaching a handful of youngsters the energetic dance. Since then, the crew has grown and moved to Samares school, where they train to this day, gaining recognition at events including the St Helier Fete, Groove de Lecq and Reasons, as well as competing in UK-wide battles and workshops.
Pictured: Check out those moves! The Bboys show what they've got.
But the Bboys (breakdancers, learn the lingo!) are dancers with a conscience. They’ve got close links with Tiny Toones too, a school in Cambodia using dance, DJing and graffiti as a medium for free education for disadvantaged kids in the capital Phnom Penh.
Here’s how they’d help Jersey…
Safe and Status having taught themselves many fundamental moves of the urban sport. They would like to see an Urban Centre for alternative sports and activities to the mainstream ones in Jersey. The Centre would involve sports and activities such as: Bboying, Trampolines/Gymnastics, Parkour, Tumbling, Tricking, Acrobatics & Aerial skills, Skateboarding all with foam pits, which would help with more "bigger and badder" moves.
Pictured: Safe and Status (Chase and Ethan), who not only love Bboying, but parkour too.
“Scott, was lucky enough to visit such a place in Liverpool last year. He said the place was amazing, with so much to do, learn and have lots of fun.” So if anyone is interested in helping this happen here in Jersey, we have plenty of ideas!
Whether he along with the crew are learning, practising or performing, their hip-hop music booms from a laptop, ipod or DJ. While he loves the DJ spinning and scratching while he performs, Slick would like to see "more Hip-Hop artists to come to Jersey for the events which he and the crew perform at". Like any music, it's always best served live.
Pictured: Slick (Michael), who loves Bboying, popping and robotics.
He enjoys both his old-skool and new hip-hop music. "Scott only plays us old-skool hip-hop tunes, maybe because of his age, and he always goes on and on about how it's better than music today. I would really like it if Grandmaster Flash could come to Jersey for one of our events, and it would be amazing to see Eminem, 21 Pilots ad Matty B in Jersey, so I can break on stage with them!"
After all the hard work and pressure of training and performing, Force likes to relax by swimming and having fun with his mates.
Pictured: Force (Finley) only started this year, but has already performed at the St Helier Fete and Groove de Lecq.
"I would really love it if we had a waterpark in Jersey. Every time we go on holiday, I always ask to go to a water park. I've been to the Centre Parcs in France and England, which is so much fun. But if Jersey could have ones like in America, that would be sick (amazing!!!)."
Flow has the Flow. Simple as that. He gives everything when bboying, and while he loves performing, his favourite part is battling against other crew members.
Pictured: First generation Bboy Flow (Finley) in action.
"It's great battling my crew mates, but what I would love is to have a battle against another crew from another place like Guernsey, England or France. That would be out of this world, and maybe we could go visit where they live and battle them there!”
Slo is passionate about Bboying, and doesn’t want it to be lost in future generations, so is keen to spread the “pure hip-hop way” across the Island. "I set out to teach as many kids as I could, providing many many hours of free taster sessions throughout the Island. While establishing Bboying workshops in schools, hall hire was never issue if providing an after school activity for the pupils' of the school. However since hall hire costs were introduced, they have risen to quite an expensive hourly rate. I completely understand schools have resources which they hire out to contribute to raising funds for education".
Pictured: Slo Moshun (Scott) does breakdance workshops in schools to help kids gain "confidence, determination, freedom of expression, patience, ability to overcome, controlling frustration, and increased concentration span.”
"However this had a detrimental effect for parents by way of increased workshop fees. My Bboying Ethos is so important to me, and it really does affect me when some kids can't come to my workshops simply because their parents' can't afford to send them. If hall hire costs were reduced for 'providing after-school activity clubs for school pupils', this would in turn lead to a reduced workshop fee, which I know for a fact would allow more kids to attend. This isn't just for my workshops, but also for any person or club who brings their knowledge and skills for the benefit of enhancing kids exposure to different sports and activities.
Video: Total Mayhem Junior Crew will next strut their stuff at Spice Festival in Millbrook park on Saturday 9th September.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and not those of Bailiwick Express.
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