The figured world I intend to observe is the B-boying or Break dancing community or culture.

Even though the break dancing community does not have an official set of rules or any that are concrete there are still unspoken basic practices that the majority follow. The first is footwork, although as you become more experienced the amount of footwork you use may vary, every actor of the dances community will agree that before you begin doing the more advanced tricks, spins and flips you first must learn the basic fundamentals from which the dance began. Another unspoken rule is creativity which ties into another, probably the most stressed, practice within the culture. No imitating. These two go hand in hand because the entire point of break dancing is to express oneself and often new actors have trouble with this in the beginning and it usually results in them imitating or copying others. Most senior actors understand and overlook these actions, but if they persist for too long they run the chance of potentially being excluded from the figured world until proving themselves. The last rule of the figured world of break dancing is one that normally is not acquired until and actor has had some experience. It is the thought of the fact that you are not simply dancing to impress others and gain recognition, but to realize that you are a part of beautiful culture. The two main discourse communities I expect to see within are the newer actors and the experienced actors.

Observation 1. Neighborhood Park(Friday) 2:30 mostly new actors show up, everyone begins stretching 2:50 more experienced teach/help new actors with basics while more the experienced start to practice around in a circle 2:50-4:00 the more experienced actors are doing more dangerous moves separate from the newer actors 3:00 the experienced actors that were helping the newer actors join the others while the new actors begin working on stuff on their own 4:00 new actors begin to migrate to where the more experienced are. Just sit and watch for the most part 5:00-5:45 after everything calms down a bit and the more experience actors start becoming more fatigue the newer actors begin entering the circle more frequently 6:00 people start to leave no particular order

Interview: John Love How long have you been dancing? -First day, no previous experience What did you practice/learn? -Top rock 6-step, Footwork Foundation basic freezes pretty much all the stuff you do before the cool stuff starts Were there and specialist languages/terminology used that you didnt understand? -Initially yea there was a lot. Mostly just the names of different moves, but there was also some to describe different types of break-dancers like power-heads, style-heads, hybrids and biters Did you enter the circle why or why not? -Yea once and that was mostly only because I know people here and most are relatively new like me Do you prefer tricks or foundation? -Windmills, flares, flips the cool stuff What did you expect? -Knew what I was not going to be doing anything crazy because I have come before but didnt participate just watched Do you normally practice here? UNC? NODA? -First time, but I probably will only seriously practice here for now at least because I dont see much point in going to unc or noda when I just started unless I am just going to watch. Dont want to embarrass myself.

Observation 2: NODA (weekend) 8:00-8:30 actors begin showing up, mostly people that have been dancing for awhile 8:43 most actors are done stretching/warming up 8:56 session begins all the actors crowd around 9:00-11:30 wide variety of moves and different styles are displayed 11:30-1:00 everyone becomes less energetic, the one big group turns into small groups or pairs of actors helping one another improve(the different groups can be broken into parts such as more trick oriented

groups and more footwork oriented groups). Actors begin exploring other dances other than breakdancing. The music selection changes drastically from traditional breaks to whatever someone plays. 1:00 people begin to leave

Storyboard: -What they think -what it actually is -stretching -building core muscles and upper body -learning basic footwork -top rock -Six step -baby freeze -beginner tricks -handglide -windmill -Branch off into whatever direction you like