January 15, 2021
"Adolfo 'Shabba-Doo' Quiñones, who grew up dancing in a bleak public housing project in Chicago and went on to become a pioneer of street dance in the 1980s..."
"... and one of its first celebrities after appearing in the hit movie 'Breakin’,' died on Dec. 29 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 65.... He shimmied in the video for Chaka Khan’s 'I Feel for You,' and he was the choreographer and lead dancer of Madonna’s 'Who’s That Girl?' world tour in 1987. He also choreographed (and appeared in) the video for Lionel Richie’s 'All Night Long' and advised Michael Jackson on the video for 'Bad.' Us Weekly called him the 'Bob Fosse of the Streets.' 'Shabba-Doo was an absolute Los Angeles dance legend,' the rapper Ice-T... 'We throw that word around. But not anybody can say they invented an entire dance style.' Even before 'Breakin’,' Mr. Quiñones had made a mark on the dance world in the 1970s. He danced as a teenager on 'Soul Train' with an influential ensemble called the Lockers. That group... became known for its development of the 'locking' technique, typified by rhythmic, freezing dance movements...."
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12 comments:
Danced with Rerun! I remember him from some variety show where he and crew had a segment...
Was he the moustache guy or the shorter guy in the video? I liked the shorter one a little bit more.
The beginning of that video was a little rough...lots of cuts to give the impression that Chaka Khan was dancing. Felt like I was watching a Liam Neeson action movie for a second.
Shabba-Doo was tall and skinny. With a mustache.
Breakin and Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo were very important movies to me, and I really wanted a dangly earring like Shabba Do until I finally got one in high school and realized I couldn't pull it off.
One of the co-founding members of The Lockers and their manager was Toni Basil. Most people remember her for Mickey, but Basil is one of the most influential figures in street dancing and really helped get it a mainstream audience. She's worked with just about everybody in the business, but I think my single favorite piece of work of hers was choreographing David Byrne for the Once in a Lifetime video.
Strange how you can read that teaser sentence fragment and automatically know that the article is an obituary. It would be nice to start an article that way and have something good happen by the time the sentence ended.
Sad to die at 65. Rerun died at 52. Even sadder.
"One of the co-founding members of The Lockers and their manager was Toni Basil. Most people remember her for Mickey, but Basil is one of the most influential figures in street dancing and really helped get it a mainstream audience. She's worked with just about everybody in the business, but I think my single favorite piece of work of hers was choreographing David Byrne for the Once in a Lifetime video.
She also appeared in a small part in FIVE EASY PIECES.
Toni Basil was a Laker Girl at the start of her career. Really lit up the court!
Since college can all be online now, let's convert all the buildings to public housing.
Wow, Toni Basil and Paula Abdul got their starts as Laker Girls. Shabba Do is a cool name, I guess, but he'll always be Ozone to me.
He doesn't look that old in the video. But then I realize he died at only 5 years older than I am now. Hmm...
Toni Basil was in an Elvis movie too, as I recall. She's had an extraordinary career.
Flash the scent, but make it contrived so we can think we are not animals.
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