“Man, I’ll chew you,” Bey recalls Zigler saying, adding confidently. One day he was in his driveway practicing his steps when a neighborhood youth, Demetrius Zigler, rode up on his bike. Bey had linked up with Richmond dance group Housing Authority, and was taking classes at Oakland’s Alice Arts Center. In 2000, Jeriel Bey, a dancer, educator and promoter originally from L.A., moved to West Oakland, next door to the Wood Street studio of musician D’Wayne Wiggins’ (of Tony Toni Toné). (Carlos Avila Gonzalez/San Francisco Chronicle/Getty Images )
Jeriel Bey teaches dance techniques to Toby Hall at Berkeley High School in 2007. Originally, turfing was known as gigging, and was practiced by inner-city youth and even some adults as a form or creative expression - and a way to resolve hood disputes without resorting to violence. It was more balanced than boogaloo in terms of upper- and lower-body movements, and typically didn’t incorporate breaking’s established footwork routines or power moves like windmills or headspins. Turfing added its own moves and aesthetic of expressive storytelling to the boogaloo blueprint – free-form Brookfield glides, buoyant West Oakland bounces, backflips, ballet-like jetes and en pointe maneuvers, as well as “bone-breaking,” or disarticulation of limbs. But its cultural roots date back to the boogaloo era, which introduced now-ubiquitous moves like creeping, tutting, ticking, animation, and “the Oakland hit” (which became known as “the pop” when it traveled down to Southern California during the 1970s).
Some accounts date it back as far as the mid-’90s, as an improvisational, informal neighborhood dance that started in West Oakland’s Lower Bottoms and adapted stylistically as it spread to other parts of the city. The exact origin point of turf dancing is unknown. Media reports have mistakenly pegged turf dancing as a derivative of breakdancing, and until recently, many in the dance community assumed popping originated in Los Angeles, not Oakland. And yet its influential history – which includes turfing – is frequently overlooked. Oakland’s street dance culture started with boogaloo in the 1960s, and predates the emergence of hip-hop dance by almost a decade. The dancers in my generation, right now, are bringing it back to the people.” “Actually, it’s at a point of reviving, and keeping itself alive. With renewed attention on the culture coming from multiple sources, “I feel like turf dancing is at a renaissance point right now,” says Intricate.
And this year, the Oakland Museum of California featured turf dancing as part of its 2023 Black History Month events. In 2020, GoDaddy produced a mini-doc on turfing, featuring Ice Cold 3000 and T7, founding members of iconic Oakland crew the Turf Feinz. founder Johnny “Johnny 5” Lopez a cultural ambassador, and spotlighted Oakland turfer Yung Phil in a mini-documentary. Platforms like TikTok have introduced turfing to a new generation, and this month, E-40 - who included turfing in his landmark “Tell Me When to Go” video - brought back turf dancers for his newest video, “ The Bay.” For the second year in a row, Red Bull’s Dance Your Style has chosen Oakland as one of its host cities around the globe. Indeed, turf dancing has undergone a resurgence, returning to local repute and national stages in the past few years.
“It’s a very rich culture in the Bay Area that obviously needs to be exposed more to the nation and to the world.” Hector ‘Intricate’ Ascencio wins the Red Bull Dance Your Style competition on Friday, May 12, 2023. “Just winning for Oakland and in the Bay Area in general means so much, because we deserve to get put on the map,” Intricate said, a few days after his victory. Though he didn’t win, owing to tough competition and a song selected by the DJ that wasn’t especially turf-friendly (Ghost Town DJ’s “My Boo”), he represented the Bay to the fullest. With a flurry of Wing Chun-esque hand motions, floor drops, pantomimed gut punches, and expressive footwork, Intricate earned the right to compete in the National Finals, held in Chicago on May 20. When the smoke cleared, Oakland’s rising star Hector “Intricate” Ascencio stood alone at the top. After a rained-out Oakland contest, Red Bull’s Dance Your Style had reconvened in San Jose, and turf dancing - the Oakland-originated street dance form integral to Bay Area hyphy culture - took center stage. T was a hard-fought dance battle in front of a live audience, with some of the region’s top turfers competing against an array of styles, from popping to fusion. Khadra)Įditor’s note: This story is part of That’s My Word, KQED’s year-long exploration of Bay Area hip-hop history. In recent years, turf dancing has undergone a revival, extending and building upon its hyphy-era origins. Icecold 3000 of the Turf Fienz, dancing near the Port of Oakland in 2019.
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