B-Boy Dee Rock:
Born and raised in San Francisco, California, Dee Rock spent his youth outdoors, hanging out with friends, neighbors, and family. He loved playing tag and basketball, especially at the park. He started his dance journey in the 3rd grade, finding his passion in breaking (commonly known as breakdancing).
In the early years, he attended house and garage parties where teenagers from around the neighborhood partied and danced, usually without any parents around. These parties showcased a variety of early styles from housing to popping to breaking.
​​By 12, Dee Rock would join the breaking crew, the Renegade Rockers, which had been established in 1983. Learning from first-generation OGs like Shleprock, Chris Lopez, Aki, Blueboy, and Vic, he would hone his skills in breaking. This simultaneously marked a transition from dancing at house parties to competing in battles, an increasingly vital part of breaking.
For Dee Rock, battles were not friendly recitals where you shared your latest moves. Just the opposite, battles were intense struggles between dancers, and the preparation leading up to them would consume his every waking moment. As Dee Rock saw it, the dancer in front of him was “trying to take [his] pride.” And since the time between battles could last months, the consequences of the results were significant and long-lasting. Breakers came to these battles filled with passion. Dee Rock remembers how battles at the time had a “raw feeling,” which unsurprisingly would sometimes result in fights.
By the late 80s and early 90s, breaking was at the height of its popularity among the public. Dee Rock remembers seeing the movie “Breakin’,” which was a commercial success but portrayed breaking as a street style outside of the traditionally accepted forms of dance. While the media and public outside of the breaking world may have seen it as negative, based on the way breakers dressed and acted, including the music they used, Dee Rock and his crew saw it as “always a good thing, there was never a negative within us.”
As Dee Rock continued breaking, he realized the extent of its influence on his life. “It’s a lifetime project,” he reflects and plans on doing it “until the wheels fall off.” One aspect that makes breaking so influential is that it is so difficult. In fact, Dee Rock believes that breaking is “one of the hardest dances,” and to be great, there is no shortcut, so a dancer must practice, practice, practice. But from this never-ending practice, Dee Rock has learned the true meaning and value of hard work.
While in the earlier days, breaking meant competition and proving yourself, as the years passed, Dee Rock began to view breaking as an art. This transformation occurred slowly over many years. According to Dee Rock, even when “what you’re doing is top tier,” you still “don’t want to stop,” and so you start “doing a lot of practices by yourself.” For Dee Rock, this is how breaking, which started as something to dominate, turned into an art.
Now a teacher for over 10 years, Dee Rock has always found himself mentoring others. Whether it was helping a young Renegade Rocker with his windmills or teaching a breaking class at CY Danceworks in San Mateo, students consider him to be a natural instructor.
From house parties to battles, breaking has taught him to work hard and persevere. At Renegade Rockers, he learned from first-generation breakers, then taught countless others afterward, and continues teaching. Breaking became an art, and Dee Rock a professional artist whose passion for breaking has kept him actively paving the way for future generations to cipher, battle, and party.