Idolator

Wayne "Frosty Freeze" Frost, a member of the Rock Steady Crew who was featured in both Wild Style and Style Wars and who helped bring breakdancing to the pop-cultural mainstream when he showed off his moves in Flashdance, died in New York City earlier this week of an undisclosed long illness. After the jump, an excerpt from a 1983 New York Times interview with Frost in which he talks about his moves.

''Breakers'' perform rather than engage in social dancing. Their routines are a series of spins and athletic maneuvers. Whirling on their hands, backs, shoulders and heads, they progress from one move to the next - the windmill, the float, the hand glide.

All of this is done on the floor and requires great balance, flexibility and an innate knowledge of elementary physics. If a dancer's hand, his fulcrum, is not in the right position to support his whirling body, he collapses on the hardwood, a tumbling knot of arms and legs.

Often, these acrobatics are augmented by pantomime, which to the uninitiated can make break dancing appear to be a version of musical charades.

Mr. Freeze explained: ''I begin my performance with the walking-atomic-dog routine. My partner comes up and pretends to put a chain on me and walks me forward. From there I go into the car routine. I'm on the floor in a ''W'' and he pulls me forward like someone had hold of a bumper. Then I would come up into the snake and finish it off with a Frosty Freeze dance.'' 'Man With the Most Freezes'

Between movements, he pauses, a mannequin with an expression frozen on his face. Hence his nickname. ''I'm the man with the most freezes in the whole city,'' he said.

Frost was 44 and survived by a brother and two sisters.

Frosty Freeze and Kid Smooth Break For Fame At Roxy Disco [NYT, sub. req.]
Wayne Frost, Pioneering Break Dancer, Dies at 44 [NYT]
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