This last train show should just show Bill Bratton
the rest of either it's the police committee or the news people
so just show them that what we're doing is a great thing
and they're trying to end it
so they will have nothing but one great video
to continue to look at
and just realize that we ended something good
As much as they want to bring down the criminal level
I'm not saying me and my group
are going to go on and do anything criminal minded
because that's not where our mindset is
but there are people who use the trains
to get away from certain violence and certain criminal activities
that they may have to go back to
because that's the way their lifestyle is set up
They don't have a choice
and they're going to basically think in their minds
that they have to go back to whatever they were doing before
and whether that is negative or positive
you just don't know
and you just hope that in the end it'll be okay
But yo, I'm tired of dancing on the train
The cops and the news when they give me a lot of pain
- How's the Litefeet? - Cool!
- We are the WAFFLE - Cool!
We cool like whipped cream
We are the H-I-P the hip-hop team
H-I-P we're the hip-hop team
That behavior is not appropriate on a subway car
that it's very dangerous both to the acrobats themselves
as well as to the riding public
Come on, you can't have fun no more?
Bratton adhered to what you'd call the broken windows theory
Even the smallest crime would be handled very seriously
Little things become big things
By showing that you won't let people do these minor transgressions
People won't do the more serious crimes.
Police are cracking down on what they call "quality of life crimes"
like traffic violations and public drunkenness
We're not just going to go after murderers and robbers
We're going to go after graffiti artists!
- Things like street drug deals - and prostitutes openly at work
Police say these performers are endangering riders
By focusing on "quality of life" infractions
like subway acrobats, they can stop more serious crimes in their tracks
They've announced a new crackdown
Enforcing the written law
which says dancing and other performances
are permitted, except when on or within a subway car
As skilled as they may be the potential risk to themselves
and to the public is too great to ignore
We are a very assertive police force
We want to show people improvement in the quality of their life
The kids who dance on the train and do the positive stuff
Why is it that they pick us out to put negative words on us
and say we are the ones who committed criminal activities
along with dancing on trains?
My name is Dashawn Martin
I'm from the Bronx, New York
I'm 20 years old
It was always gangs but when Litefeet came around
people would stop their gangs to make these dance teams
Like people who were once in a gang
they didn't really hang with the gang any more
They were hanging with their dance teams and they were going to events
and they were going to parties to do the dance style of Litefeet
and let everybody know they were one of the best who could do it
And people were always like-- that's when people became big
on getting their whole name up like getting their name up in the NYC area
as a Litefeet dancer
and it was a good thing because people stopped the violence
for just a few years, like just a couple of years
people stopped the violence and they just wanted to dance
and show Litefeet to the world
like they wanted to show Litefeet on their block
all day, and it kept people off the street
kept a lot of people out of trouble
But as far as battling, you know, it's a lot
that comes with battling
that it's important to work on your craft
when it comes to like going up against somebody
to show your style is better than theirs
When people dance, you're viable for another person
so their style may make you feel some kind of way
just like you get so excited by it's just so happy
by just seeing a new move or a certain move that they did
that you know is hard for them to do or for them to think of
Where there's over like 50+ people coming together and staying off the street
staying out of their neighborhoods where it's very dangerous for some people
and they get to come together and they share something
They share a passion for dance
and it doesn't like hold anybody back
It's important because dance can take you far
It wasn't about violence at that time
You know, no matter where you were from
It wasn't like you're from South Bronx and I'm from uptown
so we have a problem
It was "oh, you got this Litefeet move, I got this Litefeet move
Let's show each other the Litefeet moves and just have a good time
Let's battle without
It's all love At the end of the day
they did it for the love of Litefeet
And that was really important
My name is Andrew Saunders I go by Goofy
and I am the leader of the WAFFLE Crew
It stands for We Are Family For Life Entertainment
I tell them, man, we've got to be a positive group
not a negative no matter what
Anybody can do whatever they do but when it comes to WAFFLE
we do stay positive
We've got other young people looking up to us
so we've got to stay positive
Within all five boroughs, Litefeet mainly grew between Harlem and the Bronx
It was like a feel-good dance
It's all expression, all about expression
Recognizing that the law was made
was really like something like an eye opener to me
because it's weird but it's interesting that they actually made a law
that basically is banning people from expressing themselves
This law and the statements that were being made behind the law
definitely incriminates us and puts a negative vibe and a negative aspect
on the people and the personalities that are on the train dancing
and performing
At some point in time you realize that Litefeet is not a bad style
like people are contributing the negative aspect
there's always that bad apple, you know
The majority of the people are all positive
There's nothing negative about what we do
I even told my mother one day
like she was just basically telling me
that she saw something about the dancing on the train on the news
and I'm just like, "Ma, you have to understand
"that I'm the one who's on the train
"I actually see what's going on
"I actually know for a fact that what they're saying
"about us dancing on the train is true or false
Like, I'm down there in the midst of it all"
There's actually so many Litefeet dancers
who don't dance on a train, you know?
Like people may assume that every person who dances Litefeet is a train dancer
but that's not what's going on
There's people who knew how to do Litefeet
and at a time when dancing on the train first got popular
people would only go on the train and do Litefeet
but being that Litefeet is such a freestyle dance
you're free to like use anything within the movement
people saw the pole as an opportunity
wake people eyes up
these guys actually do more than just the Litefeet style
What happened with dancing on the train was a group of Litefeet dancers
began to realize the money that could be made
while dancing on the train
and the way the media is big with everything in the world
other people began to catch on by being on social networks
and listening to people talk about dancing on the train
and they basically took it as an invite, you know
that was staying like, "oh, if you get this sound device
that plays music on the train
and you do these certain moves on the train
and you feel like, "okay, I can go and do that too"
Now these guys also bring people from their neighborhoods
who have criminal mindsets
or just people who are looking for the quick buck
and now it's gotten so big
that so many people have gotten on the train
and put in all that negative energy into the air
that it gives the news and it gives the media no choice
but to bad-name the whole dancing community
or everybody who dances on the subway
when it's completely false
and that was the big thing about why WAFFLE came together
to basically separate ourselves from the bunch
They're trying to end something that's positive
that's beautiful, they're trying to end the art
People are just reported from videos on one show that they saw
You haven't seen every show
This is going to be crazy right now, right?
Showtime, showtime, folks, what time is it?
It's showtime!
We are the worst show ever, yes
and this is the last show we are going to do
Alright, let's do this!
Give up! Giving it up
No more, WAFFLE are no longer going to perform on the train
This is the final, the final dance!
I get a kick out of seeing somebody, out of making someone's day, you know?
Having someone tell me they weren't feeling too good
and after my show they're a little happier than they were
To their eyes, I was amazing I did something, I changed their life
in a way that they want to capture that moment
Like I learned from the train,
the train trained me to be like a better person in life
Being a better people person
I'm really shy when it comes to a lot of things
People might not notice but I really am shy
so me dancing on the train in front of people
is just like me coming out, facing my fears
People could call us dirty
People can make all these statements about us
and we're just going to keep doing what we do
because we know all those statements are false statements
We're going to keep moving on
and WAFFLE is going to blow up real soon