LIL DAVE

 

David Vega , also known as “Lil Dave” started dancing in Bushwick Brooklyn back in the early 1970’s. His first experience with Rock was from seeing his cousin Papo  dance. Dave wanted to learn it and asked Papo to teach him so he could go out and dance with him but, his cousin didnt want to because Dave usually got into trouble in the street. Because Dave liked the dance so much, he learned the dance by imitating his cousin Papo by rocking in the mirror at his home, after that he just started dancing out there in the neighborhood. Dave would dance at house parties, sets, block parties, and ultimately,  clubs like ,The Revival, The Bazooka, The Sugar Shack, The Wooden Nickle, The Orange Peel, The Garden, The Last Stop, The Red Light,  and Jerry’s Place,  where at that time, the admission was 50 cents. 

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Lil Dave regularly danced in contests at some of these clubs.  He then started the “Lil Dave Rockers” crew around 1976. At one time, there were more than 75 members in the group, including girls who represented “Property Of Lil Dave Rockers”. Dave taught most of the time in his mother in laws basement on George St. between Cypress and Wyckoff and also at a friend Dennis’ basement. Other places Lil Dave Rockers danced were at St. Martins and St. Barbaras, …they would do routines and practice regularly.

 

They would Rock at Linden Park, Grove and Knickerbocker, Putnam Park and many other local parks in Brooklyn.  Lil Dave brings a wealth of dance experience and history with performing teaching and lecturing with the VII Gems Rock Dance Division. Dave believes that “only people that know about old school Rock Dance should be the ones passing the dance down, and If you dont know what your doing, …leave it alone.”