Steve da Silva', better known as Suga Pop, is an American "

street dance Street dance is an umbrella term for a large number of social dance styles such as: breakdancing, popping, Locking (dance), locking, house dance, waacking, voguing, etc. Social dance styles have many accompanying steps and foundations, created o ...

" practitioner and choreographer based in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. He is known for his work in "popping" and "locking", styles of dance collectively grouped under the umbrella term "

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

styles". These styles are associated with the U.S. West Coast, particularly California. He has been affiliated with the performance groups

Electric Boogaloos The Electric Boogaloos are a street dance crew responsible for the spread of popping and electric boogaloo. The name "Boogaloo" came from a song called " Do a Boogaloo" by James Brown, which was also adapted as a Boogaloo street dance done from O ...

and

Rock Steady Crew {{Infobox musical artist , name = Rock Steady Crew , image = , landscape = yes , caption = , alias = , origin = The Bronx New York, Manhattan New York, U.S. , genre ...

.Henderson, April K. "Dancing Between Islands: Hip Hop and the Samoan Diaspora." in ''The Vinyl Ain't Final: Hip Hop and the Globalization of Black Popular Culture'', ed. by Dipannita Basu and Sidney J. Lemelle, pp. 180-199. London; Ann Arbor, Michigan: Pluto Press, p. 200,

History

Suga Pop worked with artists such as

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

Lionel Richie Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of the Motown group Commodores; writing and recor ...

Janet Jackson Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and dancer. She is noted for her innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows. Her sound and choreogr ...

, and

Sheila E Sheila Cecilia Escovedo (born December 12, 1957), known under the stage name Sheila E., is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Regarded as one of the greatest musicians of her generation; she is known for skills as a multi-instrumental ...

in the 1980s and 1990s, touring as a dancer, featuring in televised performances such as

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...

's performance of " Rockit" at the 1984

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

, and appearing in such seminal pop musical videos as Michael Jackson's "

Beat It "Beat It" is a song by American singer Michael Jackson from his sixth studio album, ''Thriller (album), Thriller'' (1982). It was written and composed by Jackson, produced by Quincy Jones, and co-produced by Jackson. Jones encouraged Jackson to ...

" and " Thriller," and Janet Jackson's " That's The Way Love Goes." After touring as a dancer with Lionel Richie, and then with Sheila E in support of

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

Purple Rain Tour The Purple Rain Tour was a concert tour by American recording artist Prince (musician), Prince and The Revolution (band), the Revolution following up on the success of his sixth studio album ''Purple Rain (album), Purple Rain'' and his 1984 film ...

of 1984-1985, Suga Pop ventured into music collaboration and production. He has subsequently played live with such acts as

A Tribe Called Quest A Tribe Called Quest was an American Hip hop music, hip hop group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985,Q-Tip< ...

De La Soul De La Soul ( ) is an American hip hop music, hip hop group formed in the village of Amityville on Long Island, New York (state), New York in 1988. They are best known for their eclectic sampling, eccentric lyrics, and contributions to the evoluti ...

, Amp Fiddler,

Cypress Hill Cypress Hill is an American Hip hop music, hip hop group formed in South Gate, California in 1988. One of the first Latin groups to gain mainstream recognition in hip hop, they have sold over 20 million albums worldwide, and have obtained multi ...

Brand Nubian Brand Nubian is an American hip hop group from New Rochelle, New York, composed of three emcees ( Grand Puba, Sadat X and Lord Jamar), and formerly three DJs ( DJ Alamo, DJ Sincere, and DJ Stud Doogie). Their debut studio album, '' One for Al ...

LL Cool J James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968), known professionally as LL Cool J (short for Ladies Love Cool James), is an American rapper and actor. He is one of the earliest rappers to achieve commercial success, alongside fellow new school hip ho ...

, Third Bass, and the Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E., in addition to recording and releasing his own material under the band name Pop's Cool Love, and mostly recently, under the name Pop. A video for the single "My Suga" was loaded to YouTube in 2011, and the single is available on iTunes.

Legacy

Suga Pop is recognized as a key contributor to the international street dancing scene, regularly teaching and delivering workshops on the dance forms of locking and

popping Popping is a street dance adapted out of the earlier Boogaloo (funk dance), boogaloo cultural movement in Oakland, California. As boogaloo spread, it would be referred to as "robottin'" in Richmond, California; strutting movements in San Francis ...

around the world. He is recognized by other dance practitioners as playing a key role in teaching these West Coast forms to dancers in New York in the early 1980s, and in subsequently teaching the New York street dance form b-boying or breaking in Los Angeles, after returning from the East Coast.

References

*Culture Moves: Suga Pop. 2005. Center for Pacific Islands Studies, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa. 9 April 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Suga Pop American male dancers Popping dancers Living people People from Honolulu Year of birth missing (living people)