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The Massive Monkees Blog

Some insight on the life of a Massive Monkee

Maps & Legends

My feeling was anxiety headed down there. I wanted everyone to see me, the doors I've unlocked and how my dance has changed. I had some feelings as to why we shouldn't do the competition because of lack of time to prepare. I went to Vegas two weeks before FSS with some Canadian bboys, and got loose down there. I remember what it felt like to just dance. No pressure to win a title. Just doing what I liked to do because I liked to do it. It was a test to see how my dance had evolved. Actually it was more of an experiment. I still had that charge when I got back to Seattle. It's supposed to be fun regardless, that's what I was feeling.

I use every opportunity to dance as training. I was at 80s night at War Room every Wednesday. That positive flow was still with me when we got on the plane. I had that look like many years ago when I had the cornrows and looked fresh out of prison going to jams. I had that Hulk rage. Like an any other family, it wasn't just about me, I had the Crew's back. But people weren't really listening to me about the issues. I was seen as negative, but I'm not gonna be phony so I had to speak out to my family members that I felt we were under prepared. I would have preferred not going to Freestyle Session, but it was important to certain members to be there, so I went. My Crew is my crew, and now look, we were all down in the dumps when it happened.

Tournaments have up and comers trying to get on the map, and established crews trying to be legends. The first day, it was a unique location and bboys from everywhere are getting down. They were all trying to be top-dog. Everyone knows each other from watching online, and in person it clicks, but they are still your competition so you can't get too friendly. It can be awkward. On the floor it's heated. Off the floor we go eat together. It didn't feel like we weren't ready the first day, the qualifying round was relaxed. All we had to do was show the judges we know what were doing. The Massive Monkee magic was there.

TWIXX
08/29/08

tags: Freestyle Session, Massive Monkees, B-Boy, Training, Twixx, Dance

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Not 100%

I knew I had to work twice as hard coming off a knee injury. I wanted to hold it down for the crew, using a new arsenal. I didn't tell anyone until after the jam, but I wasn't supposed to go 100% until September. I trained religiously twice a day on my own moves. I listened to my body though. But it was three a day practices leading up because I had Crew practice at night. I needed to build confidence in my knee. I did the coosh viral video shoots, went to New York to shoot the Way of the Bboy tutorial scenes. The whole thing was a marathon. Everyday I was hoping for the best. Mentally I had to get right. I had to do my part to get the whole crew prepared at the same time; my role is organizing when the battle is close. People listen to me, I have to motivate and get the individuals in their own zone. I do what I can. If they want to me shut up, sit down and just dance then that's what's up. It takes a little extra work to come up with strategies, and it burned when it didn't go well.

JEROMESKEE
08/28/08

tags: Freestyle Session, Massive Monkees, B-Boy, Training, Jeromeskee

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Hungry Monkees?

Sometimes events have brought us together and got us working hard. That's what I want for us. We are all better than ever. I am only concerned that we are as hungry as in the past. The extra little bit of effort counts for a lot. I was waiting for Freestyle Session for a long time. Our training might be running its course, prepping for routines for the entire practice hasn't helped much. We set a standard for those routines and living up to that burns us out. We should be getting together and training. I wish we had made up a few new routines, rather than remixing old ones. There is more purpose and less walking through the motions. We need to be excited about showing some new stuff on that stage.

We hadn't had those accidental moments when we just come up with fresh shit. That when we are messing around not taking things too seriously. They weren't coming because we were too busy. I know the Crew is better; we just can't be about the same thing as the past battles. Preach a new philosophy. We are family with our own families, our foundation works together, but now individuals must gel as a unit. When the individuals change the unit should too. That forces us to stick together rather than focus on our selves. We landed Friday and stayed 20 minutes from the venue, but that's Internet time, which translates to 45 minutes in LA traffic. We were playing under water games at the pool, racing without breathing the night before and things were good.

JUSEBOOGY
08/27/08

tags: Freestyle Session, Massive Monkees, B-Boy, Juseboogy

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Mom Comes First

Note: Anna did not attend freestyle session; she took the time to reflect on life as a mom:

For most of the past 3 years, I have been an inactive or at best, part-time b-girl. Not that I fell off or anything. I just had a baby. B-boys have babies all the time - and I'm sure it's life changing as well. But they usually still dance/travel, etc... If you're a b-girl though and you have a baby, it's WAAAAY different. Everything changes. At least for me it did. No more doing whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. No more dancing - I stopped a month after I found out I was pregnant. It's like having an injury but not in a bad way; you just know you have to stop for a year or maybe more. No more free time when the baby popped out. It was time to be super-responsible, work as much as I could and have everything ready. But that was all my choice. The baby became the most important part of my life, and that felt right for me.

While I was prego, I still went to jams. Not so much to practice though. It felt weird just sitting there watching everyone else dance. I didn't want to get used to that feeling. I was planning on picking up where I left off when the time came. My breaking life was on pause, not over. I was never unsure about that. Life after the baby was SOOOO hard. Alaina was not an easy baby! She was the best, but it was crazy hard for me. I went a little nuts.

ANA BANANA FREEZE
08/26/08

tags: Massive Monkees, Ana Banana Freeze, B-Girl, Family

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Rawness

Freestyle Session is arguably the most prestigious event in the world. It has a huge stage battle yet in my opinion still has that rawness that makes a bboy event what it is. FSS was also the first major event that we entered as a full crew. When we entered FSS6 in 2003 it introduced the whole Massive Monkees Crew to the scene and at FSS8 we established ourselves as one of the top crews in the world takin' out some crazy all-star squads yet we still fell short at both events taking 2nd place twice.

My physical preparation consists of training my body, eating right and practicing. Mentally I am staying focused making sure to give myself time for meditation and staying disciplined by cutting out my vices. Also, I am making sure to give my family time and getting ahead on business so that I don't have anything weighing on my mind at the competition...

IRON MIKE BRYSEN
08/24/08

tags: Freestyle Session, Massive Monkees, B-Boy, Battles, Iron Mike Brysen, Training

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