ENGLEWOOD — Torrence “Tea Buggz” Griffin was preparing to dig into his favorite meal — a hot bowl of ramen noodles — when he received a phone call from the 3Arts Foundation.
An official with the nonprofit asked Griffin if he was ready to receive good news: He’d been selected as a 3Arts award winner and would receive an unrestricted $30,000 prize to continue his artistry as a dancer.
Griffin decided the noodles could wait.
For nearly 50 years, Griffin has electrified city streets around the world as a dancer, teacher and mentor. His signature style of popping, including a dance he developed in 2002 called Egyptian Bang, has taken him from Vegas stages with West Side magician Walter King Jr. to Columbia College classes with aspiring students. He’s formed legacy dance crews like the original Electric Funkateers, Shadow Puppetz and Robot M.A.F.I.A., a local all-star popping crew.
Growing up in Englewood, Griffin had no rhythm and despised dancing, he said. Then he saw an episode of “Soul Train” and his world exploded.
Now, Griffin hopes to use his $30,000 award to pass the lessons he’s learned in his storied career to the next generation, he said.
“Dance is one of the hardest things that you’ll do, but as long as you have that love and passion for it, it’ll be worth it and you can succeed,” Griffin said. “If a kid with no rhythm from the South Side of Englewood can do this, you definitely can, too, and you can do it better.”
‘A Legitimate Art Form’
The year was 1979.
Griffin, then 17 years old, was in his Englewood home watching an episode of “Soul Train” when he saw the show’s vivacious dancers hitting the “Electric Boogaloo.”
The moves, smooth and precise, transfixed him, Griffin said. He went to a house party shortly after, and people were doing the Electric Boogaloo there too, he said. He knew he had to learn it.
The Electric Boogaloo requires intricate movement, combining popping, a stiff-like dance form, with localized rolling of the body. Griffin, who didn’t have rhythm, was “the worst dancer ever,” he said.
Then, in the summer of 1980, he met his first teacher, JD3PO, and learned how to catch a beat.
Griffin used to go out on Rush Street to dance for extra cash, he said. One hot summer day, JD3PO, a heavy hitter in the popping scene, passed by and “took pity” on him, Griffin said. The California-bred dancer took Griffin under his wing.
JD3PO taught Griffin the foundations of popping dance styles, beginning with the robot, another form that requires stiff movements of the joints, Griffin said.
JD3PO taught Griffin the King Tut, a “hieroglyphic style of dancing” that incorporates precise movements of the hand seen in ancient Egyptian art, and waving, a style that, while meticulous, requires the limbs to flow gracefully.
Outside in the Englewood heat, Griffin learned the cobra and animation, a move where dancers blend styles so their motions resemble animated characters. They practiced at a playground in Englewood.
“I remember it clearly because he was insane with it and it was torture,” Griffin said. “We were working eight hours a day, five days a week, and he would have me out in the hot, blazing sun because we didn’t have dance studios.”
Griffin was raised in a single-parent home by a mother who worked hard to become successful, he said. He internalized her work ethic and applied it to his dance style to stay focused and not stray from his goals.
By 1983, Griffin was skilled enough to win the Mendel Talent Show, one of the biggest events on the Far South Side, which helped pioneer the explosion of House music and brought artists from across the city to compete for gold.
At the time, Griffin was known as “Touché” in small dance circles, he said. After the talent show win, everyone knew his name.
Griffin began performing professionally to earn more money, he said. At one performance, his skills caught the attention of Walter King Jr., or Spellbinder, one of the first Black magicians to headline a Las Vegas residency. Griffin started touring with Spellbinder on what would become a 25-year gig, he said. The two still work together, Griffin said.
Going from dancing in an Englewood park to touring the country in just a few short years was a “culture shock,” Griffin said.
Griffin didn’t speak much when interacting with other professionals because he was used to the lingo he’d perfected on street corners with his friends.
As he reached broader audiences, he wanted to keep his act authentic to his Chicago roots, but he struggled with convincing others that popping was a legitimate art form, he said. He told people to consider it “hood-style ballet,” Griffin said.
After “fading from the limelight,” Griffin decided to reemerge in the dance scene with a new name, he said.
Touché, as he was formerly known, was Griffin in his “rough era,” when he was comfortable getting in people’s faces and challenging them to dance battles, he said. Now older and more laid-back, he wanted a name that set the tone for who he’d become.
Griffin used to do the “Bugs Bunny Tutting,” moves inspired by a video of Looney Tunes character Bugs Bunny dancing between fleeting hieroglyphic images. A friend of his suggested he keep the “T” from Torrence and combine it with “Buggz” as an homage to his favorite dance move, and “Tea Buggz” was born, Griffin said.
‘Find Your Rhythm And Dance To The Beat’
Griffin returned to Chicago full time in the early 2000s to teach dance lessons, judge talent shows and mentor younger people, he said. He continues that work today, including with online classes in popping that have reached aspiring dancers in China and beyond.
When Griffin started his career, his skills were unmatched, but his mental health struggled and he missed opportunities because of it, he said. Now, as a mentor, he works with kids to teach them how to mentally and physically balance their passion for dance in a healthy way, he said.
Griffin plans to use his $30,000 3Arts award to sponsor dance battles and workshops, fund scholarships for kids at local dance studios and continue his mentoring work, he said. In May, he’s funding an international dance battle for popping stars around the world.
In winning the grant, Griffin achieved a goal he established nearly four decades ago when he left his Englewood home to hit the big stage: getting people to recognize his dance style as a legitimate art form. Popping, animation and the robot dance styles are globally recognized and celebrated, he said.
“Dance is life and life is dance,” Griffin said. “Everything has a rhythm to it, and what you have to do is find your rhythm and dance to the beat of your drummer. Move to that and be ready to always be flexible. Sometimes you get a different beat. Move to it, but never lose yourself.”
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