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.

Comment [M1]: Interesting figured world and like who you explain it in your way AA Comment [M2]: Good opening sentence and figured world to observe.RR

Comment [M3]: Good job giving background information for someone who doesnt know much about this figured world. -AF

Comment [M4]: Good sentence to describe how this figured world works. RR

Comment [M5]: The rules was so clear for me and I think you can did a good job on your intro AA Comment [M6]: That is good that you will compare the two groups. That will be interesting to see the differences and similarities between the two. -AF Comment [M7]: Great opening paragraph about the figured world. Sounds very interesting and it being a figured world that most of society would know nothing about, makes the entire topic intriguing from the start. MBB Comment [M8]: You did good at explaining what the actors do and what the expectations are, but you could add more about the terms for figured worlds. -AF Comment [M9]: How about explaining the place? It will be a good idea AA Comment [M10]: It might be a good idea to include a rough estimate on the amount of people that showed up. Otherwise , for people like me that dont really know anything about this figured world, I would assume very few people show up. MBB Comment [M11]: Do these moves have names? This would be a good place to incorporate the specialized language of the figured world. MBB

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

Comment [M12]: Are artifacts such as a cd player, dance floors, special attire being used in this figured world? MBB Comment [M13]: These are great notes. I like how you gave the time for everything you observed. -AF Comment [M14]: Dont forget to add artifacts and how they tie with the figured world they are in. RR

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.

Comment [M15]: How about introducing John and the place that you interviewed him AA

Comment [M16]: Good interview, you could add like a glossary of the different moves for the people that do not exactly know what they are can get a definition of them. RR

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

Comment [M17]: Does the music being played connect with the type of actors that dance to it. RR

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

Comment [M18]: Good job, but I think storyboard must have pictures AA Comment [M19]: Even though I know you have pictures of all these topics for the storyboard, for the purpose of the notes you might want to add exactly what they are thinking. MBB

Comment [M20]: Good storyboard outline RR