Suga Pop, the dancer who taught Michael Jackson, gives Calgary poppers and lockers a lesson

A small group of Calgary dancers hascomeface-to-face with dancehistory, and likely learned a move or two.

Steve da Silva, better known as "Suga Pop,"led a group of about25 dancers in a workshopat Calgary's Pulse Studios on Sunday.

The Los Angeles-based performer and dance instructor is widely regardedas an expert in"popping"and "locking"two styles of funk dance that predate breakdancing.

• MORE NEWS |'It's not about judging': Classmates of Calgary teens killed in bobsled-track crash offered support
• MORE NEWS |Decision on tall building in Calgary's Chinatown tabled until spring

"I grew up in [the L.A. neighbourhood of]Watts, and that's where the first of these funk dances started,"Suga Pop said.

"I started dancing when I was five or six. By the time I was nine, I was doing shows."

Not exactly breakdancing

Popping and lockingare styles of funk dancing that originated in California in the1960sand '70s. They involve fluid leg, arm or hip movements that often come to an abrupt, momentary stopor "lock."

The stopping motion is sometimes accentuated with a flexed muscle, resulting in a poppingmotion. These dances are also almost always performed while standing upright.

Breakdancing, or"breaking," is rooted in early '70s street dancing styles of New York. It involves acrobatic moves that are generally performed closer to the ground.

Hip hop pioneer

By the early 1980s,Suga Pop was on the groundfloor of the growing global hip-hop movement.

According to his website, he had brieflyrelocated to New York and joinedthe Rock Steady Crew, a pioneering breakdancegroupthat performed at parties frequented by Blondie singer Debbie Harry and artist Andy Warhol.

As part of his association with the L.A.-based Electric Boogaloos,Suga Pop was involved in two of the most popular music videosof the 1980sBeat Itand Thrillerby Michael Jackson.

"He took classes [from us]. He wanted to learn theartformof popping," says Suga Pop, who has a cameo in both videos.

"We worked with him briefly before Beat Itand did thevideo. And then I flew back andgave him three months of lessons up until,and duringThriller."

'Tapping the well'

Chris Clare,a local dancer and dance instructor attending Suga Pop's workshop, says he's happy to learn from an originator.

"When learning from him, you're tapping the well. He's part of that generation that started doing these dances."

"No one's ever going to do it like him and the guys he danced with, but all you can do is learn and be inspired by it, and put your own twist on it."

As Calgary grows in size,SugaPop hopes its dance scene will growtoo.

"There are some great dancers that are from Calgary that are now living in Toronto or Montreal, because maybe the scene is going on a littlemore [in those cities]," he said.

"[The idea is]to keep your people here, and people will start moving here from other places."