Preparing for Battle Section 1, as worded by Alien Ness

As bboys, I am sure many of us will be interested in the method which Alien Ness used to practice in preparation for battles. Well, despite the misleading title, Alien Ness did not reveal his session routine. Instead, he simply drew an outline as to how and where you should practice. The personal schedule is up for your imagination. Even though this section of the book lasts exactly two pages (with size 14 font + all caps...).

Despite the short length of the section, this section definitely made me think harder than any other sesction of the book. As an up and coming bboying, preparing for battles are really what concerns me the most due to the fact that the amount of jams I can attend to is very limited to do school work and such. Given the limitation, I want to make each and every single opportunity counts. With that said, the preparing process for such golden opportunity is really what I want to know. Nonetheless, even though Alien Ness himself didn't go into details, I was able to take a few minutes off of my studying and think about how to make a practice/session productive. Here is his outline!

Level 1: The Creative Process
Alien Ness believes that the process of creating a set/run should be done at home in PRIVATE. Now, I did not just capitalize the word "PRIVATE" because he capped that word in his book. I want to emphasize on the importance of the word "PRIVATE". Recall a couple posts ago I compared the advantages and disadvantages about sessioning alone as oppose to sessioning with a group. The post is here: http://suburbaknightzcrew.blogspot.com/2011/02/just-some-food-for-thoughts.html . Do check it out if you need a reminder!
In level 1, this is where all the magic begins. This is the step that will define you as an individual and differentiate you from other bboys with your style. This is where you can come up with a blueprint of your set before you test it out in your practice spot. Personally, this step is truly the enjoyable part for me. I would come up with a couple things that I would want to try out next time I go session.

This step is also the place where you can think about how and what you can do to improve in general! Be it foundation, power, combos, or anything. Personally, I am starting to dig the idea of having a little handy dandy notebook with everything I know written in it. That way, it will allow me to look through my list of my arsenal and perhaps have an epiphany.

Level 2: Training
This should really be very very obvious. This is the part where people would refer to it as "in da lab!" This process is where you put your ideas to a test and see if you can do it. This should always be done at 100%, as if you are battling someone. I call this "shadow battling", named after "shadow boxing". This process is to pretend that you are battling another individual. This mindset will allow you to practice your set/run at 100%, if not more. Should always try to make this happen as many times as possible.

Keep in mind that even if you can pull it off successfully on the first try, it does not mean that you have it down solid. Explore the possibilities. Pretend that you fail to do this one particular move and you crash, what would you do then? Make several possible scenarios and grow on it. That way, you can build on to your already expanding arsenal!

Level 3: The Actual Practice
"Okay wait a minute...didn't we just go over practicing?" is what you may ask after looking at the title of this level. But in reality, the two are completely different thing. By level 3, Alien Ness is referring to the place that is the absolute best place to test out what you have obtained during practice: Cyphers! Recall that I also mentioned the importance of cyphering a couple posts ago. Refer to this post if you need a refresher: http://suburbaknightzcrew.blogspot.com/2011/01/battles-vs-cyphers.html
Anyhow, Alien Ness believe that cyphers are the best place to test your sets/runs for two reasons. One of which, as mentioned above and from previous posts, is that you are at the mercy of the music, energy of the cypher, and the dangers that are all around you, familiar or not. This is the place to test your strength as a dancer under pressure and many unknown variables. Another good reason pertains to those that plan on battling at jams right after cyphers. If you keep on cyphering on and on, it makes people/judges eager to see you battle. By building up the anticipation, you can play a couple mind games with the judges/potential opponents in such a way that it may be advantageous to you. I will cover mind games in later posts.

Well that's about it for now! It maybe awhile until the next post is available due to the fact that finals are coming up in 2-3 weeks...and Breaking The Law: Elev8tion is next weekend! Rest assured that I will update on the event on this blog right after...but perhaps it will be more of a picture/video oriented post ^_^

Until next time!

N-dure