Crazy Legs (dancer)
| Crazy Legs | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Richard Colón January 1, 1966 Bronx, New York |
| Nationality | U.S. |
| Known for | B-boying |
| Movement | Hip hop |
Richard Colón (born January 1, 1966), better known by his stage name Crazy Legs, is an American 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 most popular & commercially successful of the few original members remaining of the Rock Steady Crew, and is its current president.
Richard "Crazy Legs" Colón grew up in the Inwood 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 or "windmill", 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. Some people laughed at him for his newly invented move, but once it was mastered, they wanted to learn it as well. "Alright, my father invented this move, and when he first did it, people made fun of him, but once it was done, they saw the speed in it, everybody was doing it, everybody loved it, everybody wanted to learn it"—Bboy Kid Glyde (Crazy Leg's son). 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."
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