Breakin' 2 Electric Boogaloo Trivia

The history of the "Breakin'" movies and breakdancing goes back to about 1974. A very young Michael Jackson appeared on television doing a dance he invented called "The Robot" to the Jackson 5 hit "Dancing Machine". In the summer of 1977, another powerful influence came along, Shields and Yarnell, who were two very talented mimes. They were first seen performing in San Francisco's Union Square, and went on to make a number of guest appearances on television, culminating in their own summer show in 1977. They did their own version of The Robot, moving only one part of their body at a time, and gliding across the floor like they were on wheels. Many people who were watching the show saw not only Mime, but Dance. Life was given to the new Robot dance style, and more and more people started doing it. In 1977, four young Mimes saw Shields and Yarnell perform on television. They were very impressed with what they saw. They read as many books about Mime out of the New York library as they could, and videotaped all of their shows.They formed the first Electric Boogie dance group called The Harlem Pop Lockers. They were originally discovered on their way home from a movie in Greenwich village. They weren't performing at that time, just messing around, but they were an immediate success, and went on to perform on television, dance clubs, and even did a video for German MTV. By the time the Harlem Pop Lockers were formed the Electric Boogie had added the "Float" move. The Back Float or "Moonwalk" was first made famous by James Brown, then Jeffrey Daniels of Shalimar in the early 80's, and most memorably by Michael Jackson. In truth, it was Jeffrey Daniels dancing on the television show "Soul Train" that was most responsible for it's success. He was such a good dancer that when he did it, everyone wanted to do it. Other influences have been prevelant in the growth of the Electric Boogie and the big Californian influence was Boogaloo Sam and Poppin Pete (who appreared in the first Breakin' Movie). In 1977, the Solomon brothers came to Long Beach from Fresno and danced at the Noah's Ark club and Hutch Youth Club downtown. Soon, they had started the west coast poppin sensation. The late 70's and early 80's also saw big advancements in the fields of electronics and computers, and as a result, the danec style being very futuristic, lent itself perfectly to the times. An Egytian dance style called "The King Tut" probably grew from the comedian Steve Martin doing a dance on Saturday Night Live. The Lock came from "Rerun" on the show "What's Happening?". By the end of 1984, thanks in part to the "Breakin'" films, Breakdancing suddenly became a dance craze and spread to every major city. Now it can be seen in films, music videos and commercials.

Sabrina García, Turbo's love interest, only appeared in this movie and "Body Rock" in 1984. We'd have liked to have seen more of her.

Ozone and Turbo (Adolfo Quinones and Michael Chambers) appeared in another video, Chaka Khan's "I Feel For You" (1984)

Susie Bono, who plays Ozone's ex-girlfriend Rhonda in the movie, is the host of the famed cable network show about home gardening!

Donovan Leitch who starred in 'The In Crowd' in the 80s was a dancer in Breakin 2. You see him in the part when they are in Miracles and dancing on stage.

Adolfo Quinones was married to celebrity actress Lela Rochon and, when she confronts Kelly at the dance club, Ozone's ex is leading the way!

On the scene at the dance club, right before Kelly was approached by Ozone's ex-girlfriend, Ice-T can be seen on stage performing while smashing a record!!

The things on the wrist of the poppers were called clackers. They were to make a clink noise, to show the hard snap that the better poppers showed off in the days of these movies. Expert Poppers had to show who could hit harder, whether it be their arms, shoulders, legs or just a simple body pop!!! These things made a sound like they were hitting iron to a metal bar or something like that!

The young children dancers (flourescent shirts) in and around the hospital and miracles scenes. Some of the teens are from 2 of the West Coast largest dance groups. The children were from "The Rockin Wizards" The others were from the Inland Empires "Breakmasters" managed by Linda Gay - ex-Chip & Dales manager. They were some of the REAL best dancers in Southern California. Too bad the movie had them their for extras not like "Beat Street" where the real breakers were brought in.. to keep it real.. At that time there were two of the East Coast big time dancers from the group "the incredible body mechanics" they were "Tiny" & "Flash" they were better than your average west coast breakers, at that time new york breakers had a great edge.

Michael Chambers wasn't the person who taught Michael Jackson the "Backslide" (what it really is) NOT the moonwalk.. the moonwalk is slow motion moving forward.. The guys' name is "Henry" he is from Santa Ana California and was about 17. He is famous for the visit from Michael. It is sad to see that Shrimp recieved credit for such a simple thing. These guys danced very seriously. Another correction, The "robot" was done by another one of the LA lockers in 76' before Michael, before most of you'll saw the real thing. His name was "Charles Robot" or "Charlie Robot" from the lockers.. I have the footage... you can talk with Adolfo about that he knows the history; I am suprized that slipped through, knowing he was in "the lockers".

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