The Art of Boogie Frantick

Boogie Frantick, born in 1982, is widely considered to be a master of a style of street dance called “popping”. He started dancing when he was a little kid, and kept training on a daily basis to this day. Aside from touring around the world to showcase his art, he is also an influential teacher whose classes and workshops have inspired a whole generation of dance enthusiasts. In this following essay, I want to offer my own perspective of Boogie Frantick’s unique dance language, wishing to understand the beauty of his art beyond the surface.

Boogie Frantick is an expert in the techniques of popping, which is obvious to any audience familiar with this dance style. For example, in his battle against Marvel during Summer Dance Forever 2016, his flawless and subtle control over his movement clearly proved to the audience that he was a dancer with a much higher level of skills. During the second round of the battle, Marvel imitated Boogie Frantick tying his shoelaces as a mockery. When it was Boogie Frantick’s turn, he began with a series of subtle and calm movements, establishing a solid starting point. Then, he started walking slowly toward Marvel, showcasing an enormous amount of well-articulated details and emotional energy in his movement. By walking in slow motion, he also built up the audience’s anticipation, drawing everyone’s attention to what he would do after he reached his opponent. As he bent down and tied his shoelaces, returning the mockery to his opponent, his movement was also perfectly in sync with the music. After he completed this whole sequence of movements with such spontaneous creativity and flawless execution, the audience was absolutely blown away.

Another aspect of his performance which often captivates the hearts of the audience is his unique sense of humor. For example, in a battle against SOUL (ArtefaktLife Viewer's Choice Exhibition Battle 2016), his dance came across as being incredibly funny yet very graceful and effortless. Especially during the third round, his spontaneous interpretation of the classic rap song “Doggy Dogg World” is effortlessly humorous, without sacrificing the quality of the dance moves themselves.

A third key aspect of his dance which is often not fully displayed in these battles is his incredible ability to tell stories as a movement artist. Due to the nature of dance battles, dancers are usually required to show off flashy moves one after another to impress the audience. As a result, it is rarely possible to tell a thoughtful story in a 45-second long dance battle. However, in many of Boogie Frantick’s solo showcases, he is able to interpret a whole song and tell a compelling story without being interrupted. One of my favorites of his solo performances is his judge showcase at The Dance Fight on March 12, 2016. Interestingly, the song that he chose (“Black Magic Woman” by Santana) is not a typical piece of popping dance music in any sense. There are no aggressive kick drums, loud claps, or heavy bass in the song. Instead, the smooth and alluring melodies of the song gave Boogie Frantick the perfect props to reveal his unmatched power as a movement storyteller. It is noteworthy that Boogie Frantick never rushes through the story that he wants to tell. For example, during the whole intro section of the song, all that he did was a long sequence of seemingly simple moves, patiently luring his audience into his story. Then, the line “I got a black magic woman” came as a surprise, and a whole sequence of expressive moves followed, expanding the narrative. The lines “you got a spell on me, baby” and “turning my heart into stone” are two golden moments of the performance where the dancer intentionally slowed down his movement to dwell upon the lyrics. In this amazing performance, Boogie Frantick showcased his deep understanding of music, his mastery of storytelling, as well as the versatility of his dance language that goes far beyond popping itself.

However, in my opinion, this is still not the best of Boogie Frantick’s art. Sometime in 2016, he danced to DJ Shadow’s “Blood On the Motorway” in front of a handful of his students after a workshop in Hartford, CT. One of the students uploaded a video of that 8-minute long solo performance. As of today, that footage has only been viewed about one thousand times. In other words, I seem to be one of the few people who are aware of the existence of this incredible masterpiece. A main reason why this particular performance is so special is that it was a private event. There was not even a stage, let alone a sizable crowd. He did this performance simply because he was in the mood for it, instead of trying to convey anything to an audience. In fact, it appears in the video that his eyes were closed at least half of the time. Apparently, he was totally absorbed in his internal world to the extent that he almost forgot about the entirety of the outside world. The connection between his movement and the music was deep and intense. Instead of interpreting the music, he almost became the music itself. As a result, there was a degree of vulnerability that is not often seen in his public performances. He began with a very long series of slow and contemplative movements spanning almost one third of the music. These movements are deceptively simple yet deeply emotional, expressing an enormous amount of pain and struggles. After a moment of silence, a male voice sang: “Have not betrayed your ideals. Your ideals betrayed you. What are you gonna do?” Again, naturally and effortlessly, Boogie Frantick has lured us into his stories. This time, the story that he is sharing is one with deep meaning. Pacing back and forth, he seems to be lost and frustrated. Yet, he does not intend to give up searching and trying. Facing setbacks and defeat, he gets up again and again. Finally, as the drums come in, he finds the strength within him, which dissipates fear and self-doubt. This whole piece is profoundly touching and empowering. With every single movement carrying so much energy and meaning, the narrative of the performance almost becomes metaphorical and metaphysical. Every movement seems to be totally abstract, yet every heartfelt emotion also appears to be infinitely tangible. For me, this “unknown performance” is an undeniable masterwork.

There was another private performance as such that took place in 2012 at Versa-Style, a dance school in L.A. There is no need to analyze the performance in detail. All that I want to say is that the footage of this performance was one of the dance videos that inspired me to start dancing. Moments in the video such as 5:56 and 6:21 are truly sublime. Even before I started dancing, I could sense something incredibly powerful and profound in these cathartic moments. After exploring dance myself for over three years and performing with a professional dance company for two years, I have come to the realization that expressive moments like these are exactly the very essence of dance. Aside from the performance itself, I also find myself amazed by how much the audience were enjoying it. My guess is that Boogie Frantick’s class must have enlightened the students and opened their eyes to the true beauty of popping dance, which enabled them to appreciate every detail of the performance.

My wish is that, by writing this essay, I may be able to offer some fresh insights into Boogie Frantick’s art, which may inspire more people to explore the power and beauty of dance on a deeper level.

September, 2020