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SHAKE IT LANE — One of the charms of New York City is the abundance of raw talent that lines the streets in the form of buskers and street performers.
When a crowd gathered around b-boy dancer Marcqiese Marc to enjoy his sick moves, some may have noticed what appears to be a couple of cops joining the show, perhaps keeping an eye on the crowd.
But one of the officers couldn’t resist the beat, and soon the performer and one of NYPD’s finest are in an epic battle.
At least that’s what the video initially leads you to believe.
It turns out that while it is a spontaneous dance battle, it takes place during a break on a movie set (thus the racks of clothes) full of dancers and stunt doubles.
The “cop” is b-boy Josh “Elusive” Vinyard, who was cast as a stunt double for the film, according to Vinyard’s brother and Vinyard himself on Reddit.
Cop or no cop, Vinyard absolutely wipes the floor with Marc.
Vinyard’s spinning handstand and reverse, upside-down worm alone are enough to make me forgive Marc’s attempt to fool us with the video title, “Street performer battles NYPD cop to street perform.”
To add inspiration to awesome, it turns out Vinyard couldn’t even hear much into his teens. He was so enamored by the movement that he began to teach himself dance moves before he even knew that music was used to keep a beat. Basically, it’s extraordinary Vinyard is a dancer at all.
So enjoy the fruits of a human who beat the odds to do something he loves.
