Before Juse Boogie and Tim the Pitt of Massive Monkees started their impromptu presentation to to the kids at The Overlake School dance class, they asked if they had any questions for them first.
“Can you guys spin on your head?” was the first question.
There’s no such thing as a stupid question. “Yes,” was the answer. “But breakdancing is more than just spinning on your head,” said Juse, and that’s when the kids got schooled in the art of dance.
Not yet quite in high school, the teens had no idea that they were being taught the Six Step by two of the most seasoned breakdancers in the world. But Juse and Tim weren’t there to tell the kids about how cool they were. They didn’t have anything to prove, they just wanted to pass on the their perspective of what it means to be a dancer, a perspective they hope to preserve as future generations become exposed to the more commercialized side of breakdancing.
In 2004 they won the World B-Boy Championships that took place in London. They represented Seattle around the globe and continued to work with the youth in their own community back home. This kind of mission is why former Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels proclaimed April 26 the official Massive Monkees Day in Seattle in 2004. In 2007 they won the Mayor’s Arts Award.
