RJZafra
RJ is one of the 4 elements of eCSentric crew. Being the youngest dance-wise, RJ wasted no time to get himself up there to the level of admired dancers. He was my very first apprentice of freestyling and I grew up as a theorist of freestyle alongside him as my student. Many concepts were proven and disproven thanks to our Freestyle laboratory (F.Lab.) sessions and his eagerness to improve inspired me as well.
RJ didn’t know any particular style, all he knew was whatever i choreographed at the time. He was limited, just as how every member of eCSentric was. But the great thing about being limited is it becomes very easy to explore every possibility of whatever it is you’ve got at that particular moment in time. And this applies very much to RJ. I think it was 2 years ago, RJ wanted to learn a style and when i asked him what style he wanted to learn he answered “teach me botting.” So without any hesitation at all i did, but his lack of background became difficult for me to teach him at the pace he wanted so i stuck to teaching him concepts and theories before actually teaching him any moves or foundational steps. RJ accepted my teachings and theories and applied them to his movement. He used such concepts like “dimestops”, “Isolations” and “joint neglection and selection” to some steps in our choreography. What RJ would do is take a step from one of routines and apply dimestops other botting concepts to make the step his own and then add them to his own repertoire of steps he can use since he didn’t know a lot of steps back then. The only step he probably knew was the “knee float” and that was it.
So he would alter the moves and make them his own and when he had “enough steps” he would use them as a foundation to start freestyling. So with every new choreography he would have new steps to “recycle” and make his own. Which is where i got the idea for his name for he literally redone my moves thus he “re-moves” them. Thus his dream of freestyling was getting closer and closer. With a good amount of moves he then asked me to teach him my theories about freestyle and so i did. And from then on he was a spouse to freestyle.
Now he takes his ability to “re-move” steps to higher levels thus increases his possibilities tenfold. He finds himself very active in battles and cyphers and never passes the opportunity to let his style shine especially in the presence of other dancers as if to boast his victory over his own limitations. RJ makes up our 4th man in the crew, 4th but not least.
The 4th eCSentric Element: DRIVE
Story.
RJ first started of dancing when one of his prof’s required him and his other classmates to prepare a dance routine to compensate for their absences, w/c they will perform in their school’s sports fest, so he had no choice in the matter because it was his grades that were on the line. So he complied and practiced with his fellow classmates, while practicing he in avertedly got a glimpse of what the other group’s were practicing and compared to their stuff, what RJ’s group was doing he felt was garbage. So due to his competitive nature, he did not tolerate his group to make a fool out of themselves so he decided to take charge and make something happen. So he watched countless music videos to see if there’s a routine that he can teach his group members. He found one and “bit” it, well it was his first time dancing so give him a break. =p During the time allotted for practice RJ was able to train in the sport that he was going to compete in and practice dance at the same time, at that moment he found a sense of joy in dancing that he couldn’t explain.
In the dance presentation his group finished 3rd but in the process gave RJ something new to take part in, something that makes him feel good. Although after graduating from high school RJ was having trouble finding an opportunity to dance, learn and improve. He was desperate in trying to find a school that teaches dance but due to the lack of resource he was unable to find anything that will suit him. So he then feared that maybe his days of dancing are over.
But of course he was wrong, during integ week the freshmen college students were required to choose activities in which they must participate in. The choices were dancing, theatre, band, and comedy. So he joined comedy (joke). The obvious choice for him was dancing so he was thrilled to find out that he was finally going to dance and perform again. Fast forward to after the performance he realized that he really enjoyed performing and that he wanted to continue dancing.
So he joined the dance crew in his yfc org. he was then able to dance and dance and dance, but after a while he felt like something was lacking. There was something missing, at the time he was confused because he was starting to loose his desire to dance and perform.
Until one night, one of his crew member/friend made him watch an audition piece for the eCSentric crew telling him to study it if he was interested in joining the said crew. Immediately he browsed all the eCSentric videos and watched them all with enthusiasm. From watching the first video he knew that he wanted to join this crew, downloaded the audition piece in his ipod the second he got home. His friend then invited him to join one of the crew’s practices, during the practice and while being thought the choreography, RJ was never challenged more in something than he was in that day. But after that practice, he realized that he would then do whatever it takes to be a member of this crew. And now that he is an official member of the eCSentric crew, he’s main aspiration is to stay and cling on to this crew that he now considers family.
for eCSentric..
My thought on the choreography and choreographer is pretty much the same I find them to be astonishing. The things that Christian comes up with never ceases to amaze me, it can truly be considered as an art form. Hands down!