BURN ONE

 

Burn 1 started Rockin and writing in the mid-70’s. He was inspired by music of James Brown, The Jackson 5, and various other soul artists.  His dancing inspiration came from older dancers such Aaron and Spice from the J&R dancers, Lucky Dancers, All Star Dancers, and the IND’s (Independent Dancers).  Burn1 is the from the Park Slope section of downtown Brooklyn.  He started dancing long before the media hype and was going to jams when they were free.  This included church jams, school jams, and block parties.  Burn repped with rocking crews such as T.I.D.’s, Allstar Dancers, Grandmaster Dancers, Galaxy Dancers, The Master Dancers and Lucky Dancers. Burn got into writing because the guys who rocked also wrote on trains.  They had names such as Spice, Dine 2, Bel, Dust 7DS, Fred 14, Sono, Ked, Rico, Kilo, Lil Star, Noto, ES Thor (The Hero of Rock – 7DS) Roca, Twin, Z-Kore, Nako, Jade,  Sinko, etc…

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The first time Burn saw B-boying was in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn at a “Disco Enforcers” jam.  Transitioning into B-boying was easy for Burn because he was doing moves from rock that were also incorporated into B-boying such as corkscrews, spindowns, sleepers, helicopters, and shuffles.  Later on he would start going to clubs.  The first club he ever went to was Dixon’s which on Union between 6th and 7th Street in Brooklyn.  He start going to other clubs such as Funhouse, Roseland, Roxy, Inferno, Danceteria, Broadway International, First Class, Ozone Layer, Park Villa, and Illusions to name few.   He was affiliated with crews such Scramblin Feet (L.E.S), Crush City (L.E.S.), Fresh Style Rockers (Staten Island), Freeze Force, Nasty With Rock, Float Committee, Ebby, Alfred (Dynamic), and the world renowned Rocksteady Crew.

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Burn maintains consistency and has represented as a rocker, b-boy, and writer from the mid-70s into the 2000’s.  He is currently the Director of the 7 Gems rock division NYC.  Burn has taught dancing in Europe, Japan, Canada and Brazil. In April of 2009 Burn One was a Choreographic Consultant and Principle Dancer for the first traditional Rock Dance Theatrical performance entitled “Rockin It”. “Rockin It” toured the United Kingdom as part of Sadler Wells’ Breaking Convention Tour 2009, which included dance workshops, lectures and film screenings.

He represents for New York City everywhere he goes and strives to the keep the traditions alive without watering them down.  He says, “without the unknown guys the known guys wouldn’t be known.”