JOHN LEGUIZAMO (VOICEOVER): Yeah, I
don't look a day over 35, but I actually grew up
in the '70s in New York City.
At the time, hip hop was the dopest thing on the planet.
And through the culture, I met amazing people
like my friend Crazy Legs, a pioneer of the art form
that white people call breakdancing and everybody
else calls breaking.
Crazy Legs started dancing at age nine.
He was part of the legendary Rock Steady
Crew in the early 1980s.
He was even Jennifer Beals' body
double in Flashdance because she sucked at breaking.
He was instrumental in turning breaking
into a worldwide phenomenon.
Crazy, what's up?
What's up?
I like the Tainos hat.
That's dope.
So, look, you're called Crazy Legs.
Yup.
And I'm called Johnnie Legs.
Yup.
Is that why we're friends?
First, I was like, yo, why you biting my name?
- Oh, you thought I was biting. - No.
No, you did. You did.
It's OK. You're a little competitive.
You've always been a little competitive.
[laughs]
So-- so how did you get the name Crazy Legs?
I would practice after school in the auditorium.
And the captain of the cheerleaders
saw me practicing.
And she was like, ooh, he got some Crazy Legs.
But now that you're older, do you think you need to change
your name from Crazy Legs to something a little more
mature like Stable Legs?
Yeah, definitely.
Crazy has kind of, like, become an ableist term.
So maybe something like neurodivergent legs,
something like that, not--
[laughter]
- More like Give It Up Legs. - Yeah.
- Yeah, pretty much. - Right.
When did you meet me?
I met you on Avenue A at a club.
Shortly after that, we connected on Freak.
JOHN LEGUIZAMO: Yes, we did. Yes, we did.
CRAZY LEGS: For the choreography.
JOHN LEGUIZAMO: Oh, my god, you made
me look like I could really do shit, like I
could do damage on stage.
I hurt myself. - You did?
- Yeah, like-- - I'm pretty broke right now.
I tore my hamstring. [laughs]
I didn't know that.
Breakdancing means you're going to break something.
Goes with the territory.
Yeah, yeah.
That look dope.
Yes.
Don't be shy, man.
Oh, god damn, they brought these.
Thank you.
You know, we've both been involved with the Puerto Rican
community forever, you especially working
on the island for relief.
Yeah.
And I've been cast as a Puerto Rican by Hollywood.
You think I'm believable?
I think any Latino from New York is believable because--
For real, that's true.
--we're so interchangeable with each other.
We understand each other's accents.
So you got the Boricua cosign.
JOHN LEGUIZAMO: Honorary Boricua--
- Yes, yes, yes. - --seal of approval.
Oh, my god, it's delicious.
So hip hop culture, man, it started underground.
Nobody knew about it.
It was a Black and Latino thing.
And now suburban-- one out of five suburban dads
want to breakdance.
And they be like, you know, yeah, I can bust a move.
Yeah, I can do that breakdancing thing.
It's fantastic.
For us to come from nothing and create
something that has impacted the globe, it's pretty amazing.
We're looking at dancing in the streets of the Bronx
to breaking going to the Olympics in 2024 in Paris.
[cheering]
My current mission right now is to see how much money I can
raised to support some of the dancers
to have the same equal playing field in the Olympics.
Really only takes about $100,000 to secure--
Just-- just $100,000.
When you think about for the year,
that gets him to national and international qualifiers.
It allows them a trainer, a meal plan--
JOHN LEGUIZAMO: Wow.
--and just to, like, not have to work.
Can't be driving an Uber and still doing a--
you can't do both.
Everyone else who has that ability to support,
hit us-- hit us up. Hit people up.
You heard that right here. Hit us up.
Send the money to me.
Yeah, John got it.
He can distribute.
- And I might give it to him. - Yeah.
- Might not. - Maybe.
Depends.
You know?
Ooh, what?
God.
[spanish] in the house.
Back in the day, they said breakdancing started when
kids who had beef, they would settle
their fights through breakdancing,
through battling.
Well, here's the thing.
That was a fallacy about us solving beefs with dance.
Oh, was it though?
They were dancers.
If you disrespected me, I'm not going to-- hey,
man, we're going to dance now.
[laughter] No, man.
I'm gullible, man. I believe anything.
But I get it.
I mean, you know, you got information late.
You're from Queens.
[laughter]
Well, that's cold blooded, man.
I think we're going to have to settle
this beef the old-fashioned way, by break b-boy dancing.
Oh, we're going to battle?
Queens against what?
BX versus Queens?
Come on!
[laughter]
[bell]
[cheering]
We got John Leguizamo in the buidling tonight!
We got Crazy Legs in the building himself.
[music playing]
Get his ambulance on a standby, please.
Was it really a good idea to have a big Puerto Rican lunch
before we did a dance off?
We're gonna pick a winner right now.
If you think Crazy Legs won, make some noise.
Clap it up one time.
[cheering]
If you think John Leguizamo won, make some noise for John.
[cheering]
The winner here tonight, John Leguizamo.
Make some noise.
[cheering]
I really won.
I got it like that.