Shabba Doo – Adolfo Quiñones

Shabba-Doo (Adolfo Quiñones) was born May 11, 1955 in Chicago, Illinois and grew up in the area that is now called Lincoln Heights.[1] [2] The young Black and Puerto Rican began dancing and putting on shows at family parties around the age of 4, but his professional career took off after moving to California in 1971 when he and his sister entered a dance contest at Fullerton College.[3] It was there that Shabba-Doo met a dancer named Campbellock Jr. who invited him to join the TV show “Soul Train” as a fellow “Soul Train Gang” member.[4]

At age 16, he became the founding member of Hip Hop dance troupe “The Original Lockers” which included dancers Toni Basil, Don “Campbellock” Campbell and Fred “Rerun” Berry.[5] The group was known for their innovative dance called “locking” “which basically means freezing from a fast movement and ‘locking’ in a certain position, holding that position for a short while and then continuing in the same speed as before. It relies on fast and distinct arm and hand movements combined with more relaxed hips and legs.”[6] Shabba-Doo was nicknamed “King Rookie” by other Lockers members because of his ability to pick up new dance moves incredibly quickly.[7]

He continued his success with appearances in 1984’s Breakin’, its sequel Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogalo and Lambada in 1990.[8] He received the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Distinguished Choreography in Stand-Up Tragedy, a musical he worked on with revered stage director Ron Link.[9] After attending the American Film Institute, he directed and appeared in 1994’s Rave: Dancing to a Different Beat and was crowned “Hip-Hop’s first matinee idol” by Dance Magazine.[10] [11] Shabba-Doo’schoreography skills also landed him jobs with world-famous entertainers like Michael Jackson, Madonna, Bill Cosby, Luther Vandross, Better Midler and Frank Sinatra.[12] He He has also made TV show appearances on The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, Married… with Children, Miami Vice, What’s Happening!! and Saturday Night Live.[13]

One of his most recent achievements includes choreographing Three Six Mafia’s performance of their Oscar award-winning song “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” at the 78^th Academy Awards in 2005.[14] He also worked with actor Jamie Kennedy on his 2006 MTV Sitcom Blowin’ Up and his breakdancing comedy Kickin’ It Old School in 2007.[15]

Shabba-Doo started his own California-based company Q Media with the hopes to “integrate ‘new media’ technologies and its practices with traditional filmmaking methods, to efficiently produce visually stimulating entertainment and marketing packages that will enlighten a global audience.”[16] He has partnered with sports technology company HOPSports, Inc. to distribute fitness content to an eventual audience of 43 million students in the U.S. School System via TiVo™ and continues to teach what he calls his Funk Shway, a dance/fitness regimen that he created. [17] A book/documentary film package called Shabba-Doo “The King of Crenshaw” is in the works, and he has recently inked a deal with Network/Insight to produce Battle of the B-Girls, a reality-based dance competition TV show that will feature him as the host.[18]

Style/Technique:

Founder of the Lockers. “Locking” “which basically means freezing from a fast movement and ‘locking’ in a certain position, holding that position for a short while and then continuing in the same speed as before. It relies on fast and distinct arm and hand movements combined with more relaxed hips and legs
Creator of Funk Shway, a mixture of dance and fitness.