Crazy Legs
Encyclopedia
Richard Colón better known by his stage name
Crazy Legs is a b-boy from the Bronx
, New York City, USA. He featured in the earliest stories on hip hop
dancing to appear in mainstream press, and as president of the Rock Steady Crew
brought the form to London and Paris in 1983. Today he is also involved in community outreach, dance instruction and dance theater productions. His pioneering status is reflected in his appearances in fiction films and documentaries, old and new. Crazy Legs is the only original member remaining of the Rock Steady Crew, and is its current president.
section of Manhattan, New York City, where he was introduced to "breaking" by his older brother when he was nine. He was an original member of the Rock Steady Crew after its foundation in 1979. Dance critic Sally Banes
in an April 1981 piece on the form in the Village Voice quotes Crazy Legs listing the best dancers extant and documents his accidental invention of the "W" move, in which the dancer sits with his legs double-backed behind him. He is also known for the "continuous back" move, in which the dancer spins on his upper back with the assistance of his elbow like a turtle move, but spins once then again and so on each time repeating a spin 3 to 4 times calling it continuous back spins. The next month saw the New York Times cover a three day conference on "Bronx folk culture". "There is a system of apprentices: a 'Lil' Crazy Legs with Crazy Legs," the Times reported, "Dance steps are performed solo to an accompaniment called rapping
- chanting voice and percussion."
His first film appearance was as himself in Charlie Ahearn
's independent release Wild Style
(1982), followed by his featuring in the early documentary on hip hop culture Style Wars
(PBS
, 1983). As a craze for all things hip hop took hold, the 16-year-old Crazy Legs, now President of the Rock Steady Crew, took hip hop dance to Paris
and London
as part of the New York City Rap Tour, with recording artists Afrika Bambaataa
and Grandmixer D.ST, graffiti
artists Fab 5 Freddie and Futura 2000
, and the World Champion Fantastic Four Double Dutch
Girls. Appearances in Hollywood films were another consequence: he was a street dancer (and also a heavily disguised body double for Jennifer Beals
' final dance scenes) in the movie Flashdance
(Paramount
, 1983) and, as with Wild Style, played himself in the fiction film Beat Street
(Orion
, 1984).
In 1991 he danced in So! What Happens Now?, "probably the first hip-hop production on a mainstream dance stage in New York City," according to the New York Times, which reflected that the production proved "street dance
is an art as demanding and inventive as mainstream dance forms like ballet
and jazz." The following year came Concrete Jungle as part of a program at the Lincoln Center which the Times called "a turning point in the evolution of urban street dance," the piece itself being "extraordinarily affecting". The "jubilantly hyperactive" and "astonishing" Jam on the Groove debuted in 1995, and in 1999 Crazy Legs instructed dancers of the Urban Youth Theater for their show Minotaur.
His connection to hip hop culture outside of theater remains strong, with hosting of b-boy contests, appearances at live events, and staging of Rock Steady Crew Anniversaries. Documentaries continue to feature Crazy Legs: a look at contemporary hip hop called The Voice of a Nation (Goldcrest
, 1993), Here Come the Drums (8mm, 1993), Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme
(Bowery, 2000) and The Freshest Kids (QD3, 2003). He joined a host of hip hop personalities in providing voice-overs for the television comedy series Kung Faux
(Dubtitled/Tommy Boy
, 2003). He is also a character in the video game Def Jam Fight For NY (EA
, 2004). In 2006 he was invited by the Smithsonian Institution
to contribute to a collection for the National Museum of American History
. In 2001 Crazy Legs retired from competitive dancing due to chronic neck injuries.
s, graffiti artists, and thousands of hip hop supporters from around the world. Under his leadership the group also holds the annual Celebrity Basketball Tournament during the yearly anniversary celebrations to raise money for the Greenwich Village
Youth Council in New York. In 2003, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg
proclaimed July 26 to be "Rock Steady Crew Day" in New York City during their 26th Anniversary Celebration at Pier 54
. Sportswear company Fila
debuted the "Rock Steady Crew 77" sneaker in April 2004.
. In 1994 he received the Hip Hop Pioneer Award from The Source
. He was presented with the Source Youth Foundation Image Award in 2003. He has also earned the 2003 AARTS Award from the Bay Shore Schools Arts Education Fund and was honored as the National Godfather of the 2003 Jersey City Puerto Rican Day Parade. He was nominated for an MTV
Award for Best Choreography for his work with Wyclef Jean
. His dance program at the Point C.D.C. for young people in South Bronx
garnered him the “New Yorker of the Week” Award from New York 1 News.
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
Crazy Legs is a b-boy from the Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
, New York City, USA. He featured in the earliest stories on hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
dancing to appear in mainstream press, and as president of the Rock Steady Crew
Rock Steady Crew
Rock Steady Crew is a b-boying crew and hip hop group that was established in the Bronx, New York City in 1977. The group was initially formed by b-boys named Jimmy D and Jojo. In subsequent years, Rock Steady Crew became a franchise name for groups in other locations. The Manhattan branch was...
brought the form to London and Paris in 1983. Today he is also involved in community outreach, dance instruction and dance theater productions. His pioneering status is reflected in his appearances in fiction films and documentaries, old and new. Crazy Legs is the only original member remaining of the Rock Steady Crew, and is its current president.
Career
Richard "Crazy Legs" Colón grew up in InwoodInwood, Manhattan
Inwood is the northernmost neighborhood on Manhattan Island in the New York City borough of Manhattan.-Geography:Inwood is physically bounded by the Harlem River to the north and east, and the Hudson River to the west. It extends southward to Fort Tryon Park and alternatively Dyckman Street or...
section of Manhattan, New York City, where he was introduced to "breaking" by his older brother when he was nine. He was an original member of the Rock Steady Crew after its foundation in 1979. Dance critic Sally Banes
Sally Banes
Sally Banes is a notable dance historian, writer, and critic.Sally Banes is recognized as an expert on the current dance scene and the new trends that are continually appearing in the art...
in an April 1981 piece on the form in the Village Voice quotes Crazy Legs listing the best dancers extant and documents his accidental invention of the "W" move, in which the dancer sits with his legs double-backed behind him. He is also known for the "continuous back" move, in which the dancer spins on his upper back with the assistance of his elbow like a turtle move, but spins once then again and so on each time repeating a spin 3 to 4 times calling it continuous back spins. The next month saw the New York Times cover a three day conference on "Bronx folk culture". "There is a system of apprentices: a 'Lil' Crazy Legs with Crazy Legs," the Times reported, "Dance steps are performed solo to an accompaniment called rapping
Rapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
- chanting voice and percussion."
His first film appearance was as himself in Charlie Ahearn
Charlie Ahearn (director)
Charlie Ahearn was born in 1951 in Binghamton, New York, and is a film director and creative cultural artist currently living in New York City. Although predominantly involved in film and video production, he is also known for his work as an author, freelance writer, and radio host...
's independent release Wild Style
Wild Style
Wild Style is a 1983 hip hop film produced by Charlie Ahearn. Released theatrically in 1983 by First Run Features and later re-released for home video by Rhino Home Video, it is regarded as the first hip hop motion picture...
(1982), followed by his featuring in the early documentary on hip hop culture Style Wars
Style Wars
Style Wars is a 1983 documentary on hip hop culture, directed by Tony Silver and produced by Tony Silver and Henry Chalfant. The film has an emphasis on graffiti, although bboying and rapping are covered to a lesser extent...
(PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
, 1983). As a craze for all things hip hop took hold, the 16-year-old Crazy Legs, now President of the Rock Steady Crew, took hip hop dance to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
as part of the New York City Rap Tour, with recording artists Afrika Bambaataa
Afrika Bambaataa
Afrika Bambaataa is an American DJ from the South Bronx, New York who was instrumental in the early development of hip hop throughout the 1980s. Afrika Bambaataa is one of the three originators of break-beat deejaying, and is respectfully known as the "Grandfather" and the Amen Ra of Universal...
and Grandmixer D.ST, graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
artists Fab 5 Freddie and Futura 2000
Futura 2000
Futura 2000 is a graffiti artist. He started to paint illegally on New York's subway in the early seventies, working with other artists such as ALI. In the early eighties he showed with Patti Astor at the Fun Gallery, along with Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Richard Hambleton and Kenny Scharf...
, and the World Champion Fantastic Four Double Dutch
Double Dutch (jump rope)
Double dutch is a game in which two long jump ropes turning in opposite directions are jumped by one or more players jumping simultaneously.While double dutch began in the inner cities of America, it is growing in popularity throughout the US and the world...
Girls. Appearances in Hollywood films were another consequence: he was a street dancer (and also a heavily disguised body double for Jennifer Beals
Jennifer Beals
Jennifer Beals is an American actress and a former teen model. She is known for her roles as Alexandra "Alex" Owens in the 1983 film Flashdance, and as Bette Porter on the Showtime drama series The L Word. She earned an NAACP Image Award and a Golden Globe Award nomination for the former...
' final dance scenes) in the movie Flashdance
Flashdance
Another song used in the film, "Maniac", was also nominated for an Academy Award. It was written by Michael Sembello and Dennis Matkosky, and was inspired by the 1980 horror film Maniac. The lyrics about a killer on the loose were rewritten so that it could be used in Flashdance...
(Paramount
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
, 1983) and, as with Wild Style, played himself in the fiction film Beat Street
Beat Street
Beat Street is a 1984 drama film, following Wild Style in featuring New York City hip hop culture of the early 1980s; breakdancing, DJing, and graffiti.-Plot:...
(Orion
Orion Pictures
Orion Pictures Corporation was an American independent production company that produced movies from 1978 until 1998. It was formed in 1978 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and three former top-level executives of United Artists. Although it was never a large motion picture producer, Orion...
, 1984).
In 1991 he danced in So! What Happens Now?, "probably the first hip-hop production on a mainstream dance stage in New York City," according to the New York Times, which reflected that the production proved "street dance
Street dance
Street dance, more formally known as vernacular dance, is an umbrella term used to describe dance styles that evolved outside of dance studios in any available open space such as streets, dance parties, block parties, parks, school yards, raves, and nightclubs, etc...
is an art as demanding and inventive as mainstream dance forms like ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
and jazz." The following year came Concrete Jungle as part of a program at the Lincoln Center which the Times called "a turning point in the evolution of urban street dance," the piece itself being "extraordinarily affecting". The "jubilantly hyperactive" and "astonishing" Jam on the Groove debuted in 1995, and in 1999 Crazy Legs instructed dancers of the Urban Youth Theater for their show Minotaur.
His connection to hip hop culture outside of theater remains strong, with hosting of b-boy contests, appearances at live events, and staging of Rock Steady Crew Anniversaries. Documentaries continue to feature Crazy Legs: a look at contemporary hip hop called The Voice of a Nation (Goldcrest
Goldcrest Films
Goldcrest Films is a British film production company founded by Jake Eberts in January 1977. It enjoyed great success in the 1980s with films such as Local Hero , The Killing Fields and Hope and Glory mostly produced by David Puttnam on modest budgets. The company also benefited from the new...
, 1993), Here Come the Drums (8mm, 1993), Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme
Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme
Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme is a 2000 documentary film directed by Kevin Fitzgerald. The film follows the art of freestyle, improvisational hip-hop. This independent release includes extemporaneous performances by artists such as Supernatural, Mos Def, The Roots, Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur,...
(Bowery, 2000) and The Freshest Kids (QD3, 2003). He joined a host of hip hop personalities in providing voice-overs for the television comedy series Kung Faux
Kung Faux
Kung Faux is a critically acclaimed comedy television and DVD series created by Mic Neumann that remixes classic kung fu movies with popular music, comic book style editing and video game style special effects, and new voice-over dubbing from primarily hip hop personalities and pop culture...
(Dubtitled/Tommy Boy
Tommy Boy
Tommy Boy is a 1995 road comedy film directed by Peter Segal, written by Bonnie and Terry Turner, and Fred Wolf. It stars former Saturday Night Live colleagues Chris Farley and David Spade. The film tells the story of a socially and emotionally immature man who learns lessons about friendship and...
, 2003). He is also a character in the video game Def Jam Fight For NY (EA
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
, 2004). In 2006 he was invited by the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
to contribute to a collection for the National Museum of American History
National Museum of American History
The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center collects, preserves and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific and military history. Among the items on display are the original Star-Spangled Banner and Archie Bunker's...
. In 2001 Crazy Legs retired from competitive dancing due to chronic neck injuries.
Rock Steady Anniversary parties
As president of Rock Steady Crew, Crazy Legs and his Backspin Productions hosts and organizes the annual Rock Steady Anniversary, a community event that honors deceased members of the crew and celebrates hip hop culture both past and present. These anniversary parties unite DJs, b-boys and b-girls, MCRapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
s, graffiti artists, and thousands of hip hop supporters from around the world. Under his leadership the group also holds the annual Celebrity Basketball Tournament during the yearly anniversary celebrations to raise money for the Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
Youth Council in New York. In 2003, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...
proclaimed July 26 to be "Rock Steady Crew Day" in New York City during their 26th Anniversary Celebration at Pier 54
Pier 54
Pier 54 in New York City is a former Cunard Line pier that is associated with the 1912 RMS Titanic and 1915 RMS Lusitania maritime disasters. It is now part of Hudson River Park.-Chelsea Piers:...
. Sportswear company Fila
Fila (company)
Fila is one of the world's largest sportswear manufacturing companies. Founded in 1911 in Italy, Fila has been owned and operated from South Korea since a takeover in 2007. Headed by chairman and CEO Yoon-Soo Yoon, Fila now has offices in 11 countries worldwide....
debuted the "Rock Steady Crew 77" sneaker in April 2004.
Awards
As part of the Rock Steady Crew, Crazy Legs won a 1992 Bessie Award for choreographyChoreography
Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" ...
. In 1994 he received the Hip Hop Pioneer Award from The Source
The Source (magazine)
The Source is a United States-based, monthly full-color magazine covering hip-hop music, politics, and culture, founded in 1988. It is the world's second longest running rap periodical, behind United Kingdom-based publication Hip Hop Connection. The Source was founded as a newsletter in 1988...
. He was presented with the Source Youth Foundation Image Award in 2003. He has also earned the 2003 AARTS Award from the Bay Shore Schools Arts Education Fund and was honored as the National Godfather of the 2003 Jersey City Puerto Rican Day Parade. He was nominated for an MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
Award for Best Choreography for his work with Wyclef Jean
Wyclef Jean
Wyclef Jean is a Haitian musician, record producer, and politician. At age nine, Jean moved to the United States with his family and has spent much of his life in the country...
. His dance program at the Point C.D.C. for young people in South Bronx
South Bronx
The South Bronx is an area of the New York City borough of The Bronx. The neighborhoods of Tremont, University Heights, Highbridge, Morrisania, Soundview, Hunts Point, and Castle Hill are sometimes considered part of the South Bronx....
garnered him the “New Yorker of the Week” Award from New York 1 News.
External links
- "'Breaking' Indoors", by Jack Anderson, New York Times, October 6, 1981.
- http://www.crazylegsworkshop.com/index.php/about-crazy-legs
- Interview at daveyd.com, 2001
- Interview at sixshot.com, 2005
- Crazy Legs pictured at E3 trade show, 2006
- Crazy Legs "Rock Steady Crew 32nd Anniversary" Interview, 07/09/09