flexing (dance)

Before FlexN gained mainstream exposure, it started out at the home of a couple called Rocky and Sandra Cummings.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/jul/06/flexing-street-dance-craze-bone-breaking|title=Flexing: the 'bone-breaking' dance craze that bubbled up from Brooklyn|newspaper=The Guardian |date=6 July 2015 |quote=They let hundreds of people into their home,” says Gray. “Sandra used to cook for us, spaghetti and Kool-Aid. It’s always been a big circle of people coming together, making a change and doing something for the youth.}} In 1992, the couple created a talent show and a local cable TV show in New York City, called 'Flex N Brooklyn'.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/user/flexentnyc|title=flexentnyc YouTube channel|website=YouTube |date=October 12, 2008}} The dance roots are traced back to reggae, dancehall, and "...a chopped-up instrumental called the 'Volume' riddim".{{cite web|url=http://pitchfork.com/features/article/9864-flex-tunes-brooklyns-own-dance-music/|title=Flex Tunes: Brooklyn's Own Dance Music|last=Steyels|first=Mike|date=April 6, 2016|work=Pitchfork.com|access-date=July 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160408124945/http://pitchfork.com/features/article/9864-flex-tunes-brooklyns-own-dance-music/|archive-date=April 8, 2016}} The producers of the new genre refer to it as FDM, Flex Dance Music. Unlike other street dance styles originating in the United States, FlexN did not come from hip-hop dance, funk music, or hip-hop culture. It evolved from a Jamaican style of street dance called bruk-up.{{cite news |last=Johnson |first=Kristy |title=Britney's Dance Dream Team |url=http://www.danceinforma.com/magazine/?p=1378 |date=December 2, 2009 |work=Dance Informa |quote=Living in Brooklyn and with my family being West Indian, I was into a lot of Dancehall Reggae music. I ended up being part of a show in Brooklyn called ‘Flex N Brooklyn’ that created another dance style we call Flexing, which evolved from a style called ‘The Bruk Up’ from Jamaica. |access-date=November 10, 2010}}{{cite news |last=Harrison |first=Darryl |title=Bone flexing in Brooklyn |date=October 26, 2009 |work=New York Post |url=http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/item_ogJ0soIICbV5KFVqQj8qJI |quote=The biggest misconception is that flexing or our style came from hip hop, and it didn’t. It actually came from reggae. It came from ‘bruk up.’ |access-date=November 10, 2010}}{{cite news |last=Love |first=Paulino |title=Power Moves: Turf and Flex Dancers Build Bicoastal Bonds |url=http://www.wiretapmag.org/arts/44082/ |work=WireTap Magazine |date=March 21, 2009 |quote=It's based on a reggae style of animation," explains Steffan "Mr. Wiggles" Clemente, one of the event's judges. "People compared it to poppin', but it's a reggae style of poppin'. |access-date=November 10, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110214130100/http://www.wiretapmag.org/arts/44082/ |archive-date=February 14, 2011 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |last=Brun-Lambert |first=David |date=December 9, 2013 |title=Flexing: Brooklyn Goes Hard |url=http://www.redbull.com/cs/Satellite/en_US/Article/Flexing-Brooklyn-goes-hard-021243360902624 |work=RedBull.com |access-date=February 28, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131226031434/http://www.redbull.com/cs/Satellite/en_US/Article/Flexing-Brooklyn-goes-hard-021243360902624 |url-status=live |archive-date=December 26, 2013 }} In a 2009 interview with WireTap magazine, dancer Stefan "Mr. Wiggles" Clemente described bruk-up as a "reggae style of animation."

FlexN is represented by 8 movement styles, with flexers often mixing the styles.

• Bone-breaking{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7i92Qn5gTPQ|publisher=The Shed|title=Flexn 101: This is Bone-breaking}} is characterized by rhythmic contortionist movement.
• Bruk Up,{{cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/meet-ghost-bedstuys-bruk-up-veteran-interview/|title=Bruk Up: The Dance That Bridges Jamaican Dancehalls and Brooklyn Streets|website=vice.com|last=Pearl|first=Max|date=May 1, 2014}} “broken” in Jamaican Patois, is a style that resembles movement of broken limbs.
• Connecting (K'nect'N),{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKmMZK7qfbs|publisher=The Shed|title=Flexn 101: This is Connecting}} is often compared to tutting, but is of different origins than popping.
• Get Lo{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=shared&v=QxW6dSNn2PE |title=get low salah atu gaya flex dance |date=2020-12-21 |last=BSV Fan |access-date=2024-10-30 |via=YouTube}} integrates movements on the floor and the levels in between.
• Grooving{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd1Nftu_rOA|publisher=The Shed|title=Flexn 101: This is Grooving}} is the foundation of the flow of FlexN with roots in Jamaincan dancehall, characterized by rhythmic movements that can be subtle or aggressive.
• Gliding{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ie8vLowG72w|publisher=The Shed|title=Flexn 101: This is Gliding}} is a style of illusion of air walking, sliding, and floating, using hand placements, body movement, and foot placement.
• Hat Tricks{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01Y8qChRH5g|publisher=The Shed|title=Flexn 101: This is Hat Tricks}} is a style that utilizes the hat for illusions, concepts, and animations.
• Pausing (Pauzn){{cite web|url=https://brooklynbased.com/2015/03/26/flexn/|title=A Brooklyn Dancer Flexes His Talents and Social Activism With New Show at Park Avenue Armory|last=Sierra|first=Gabrielle|date=March 26, 2015|website=brooklynbased.com|quote=Gray specializes in pausing, a style he created after losing a battle, coming home and throwing on a tape of himself dancing. “We will often record ourselves and watch it backwards, try to mimic that rewind style,” he says. “But I pressed pause and watched it move inch by inch. And I was like, ‘I want to dance like that.’”}} is characterized by discrete movement similar to a movie watched frame by frame.

FlexN has been performed on the third season of America's Best Dance Crew (ABDC), on the second season of The LXD, and at the Guggenheim Museum as part of the YouTube Play event. In 2011, the Huffington Post published a brief news article on flex dancers Bones the Machine and DJ Aaron.{{cite web|title=Gas-Masked Dancers Hit The Subway (VIDEO)|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/18/gas-masked-dancers-hit-th_n_901531.html|work=Huffington Post|access-date=March 5, 2012|date=September 17, 2011|quote=This music video, by YAK Films for King Bones and DJ Aaron, shows two shirtless dancers/contortionists in gas masks intertwining with each other... it's a mesmerizing, and slightly unsettling, performance.}} In 2013, NextLevelSquad performed FlexN at Breakin' Convention{{cite web|url=http://www.breakinconvention.com/artists/nextlevelsquad-usa|title=NextLevelSquad (USA)|work=BreakinConvention.com|access-date=February 11, 2013}} and Adedamola "Ringmaster Nugget" Orisagbemi performed FlexN at the Vail International Dance Festival.{{cite web |last=Macaulay |first=Alastair |date=August 7, 2013 |title=A Whirl of Premieres, From Jookin to Jetés |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/08/arts/dance/vail-dance-festival-often-influential-delivers-surprises.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=September 6, 2013}}

The 2013 independent film Flex Is Kings documents the lives of several flexers over a two-year period leading up to a dance competition called BattleFest.{{cite web |title=Flex is King – A new Documentary by Deidre Schoo and Michael Beach Nichols |url=http://streetclash.com/flex-is-king/ |work=StreetClash.com |access-date=February 28, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306203628/http://streetclash.com/flex-is-king/ |archive-date=March 6, 2014 |url-status=dead }} Flex Is Kings was screened at the Tribeca Film Festival. FlexN was also the subject of a French online dance show called "Puma the Quest".{{cite web |date=April 18, 2014 |title=Bonus NYC : rencontre avec le Ringmasters Crew |url=http://www.pumathequest.com/bonus-nyc-rencontre-avec-le-ringmasters-crew/ |work=PumaTheQuest.com |access-date=February 28, 2014|language=fr}} In 2014, The New Yorker published a seven-page article about flex dancer Saalim "Storyboard P" Muslim.{{cite magazine |last=Weiner |first=Jonah |title=The Impossible Body: Storyboard P, the Basquiat of street dancing. |magazine=The New Yorker |date=January 6, 2014 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/01/06/140106fa_fact_weiner |access-date=February 28, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140218144539/http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/01/06/140106fa_fact_weiner |archive-date=February 18, 2014 |url-status=dead }}

• DJ Aaron {{cite web|url=https://www.factmag.com/2017/05/12/club-use-months-best-radar-club-tracks/|title=For Club Use Only: The month's best under-the-radar club tracks|website=factmag.com|last=Meier|first=Gabe|date=May 12, 2017}}
• Epic B {{cite web|url=https://www.factmag.com/2019/04/30/epic-b-flex-dance-music-fact-mix/|title=FACT mix 705: Epic B|website=factmag.com|last=Twells|first=John|date= April 30, 2019}}
• Hitmakerchinx {{cite web|url=https://hyponik.com/mixes/hyp-311-mungo-x-hitmakerchinx/|title=HYP 311: MUNGO X HITMAKERCHINX}}
• Uninamise {{cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/uninamise-fdmboy-interview-flex-dance-music/|title= Uninamise Is Bringing Brooklyn's Flex Dance Music to the World|website=vice.com|last=Steyels|first=Mike|date=May 1, 2017}}

{{reflist}}

• {{YouTube|GqSoEt3m17c|Bone Flexing in Brooklyn' s Battle Fest - New York Post}}
• {{YouTube|T_GxhD0Y7Vk|The Ringmasters (crew) demonstrating flexing on ABDC}}
• {{YouTube|6xBBeg5q31Y|Seaweed: LXD - excerpt from YouTube Play at the Guggenheim}}

{{Street dance}}

Category:Street dance