Thomas Guzman-Sanchez

Thomas "T-Bopper" Guzman-Sanchez Author, Director, Producer, O.G. Dance,Master, Choreographer, Urban Dance Scholar/Historian/Anthropologist. As co-founder of the O.G. Dance Group Chain Reaction, T-Bopper helped pioneer the Locking and Popping that has influenced generations. Raised in Reseda, CA he was fortunate to have been at the center of the creation and innovation of Urban Dance.The creator of "Seven Levels: The Chain Reaction System;" he is also founder/Sr. Director of the International Urban Dance Master Association and has both choreographed and appeared in countless TV shows, videos, commercials and film projects, including "Fame," "Salsa", "Xanadu" (with Gene Kelly) and many more. The dance company he formed in 1984 called the United Street Force featured Chain Reaction, Electric Boogaloo and Blue City Strutters. It was the only Urban Dance company to have ever performed at the White House. In 1992 he began to direct and produce the feature documentary, "Underground Dance Masters: Final History of a Forgotten Era". The film is based on the book he wrote with the same title. His work is respected world-wide as the definitive study on the history of Urban Dance. It was in 1999 he wanted to give others a chance to experience what it really takes to be a part of the legendary dance group Chain Reaction. He created the Urban Dance Training Camp. This hard-core event exposed others for the first the time to the highest level of locking and Popping. By sharing his secrets he hopes that Urban Dance can evolve even higher. He now sits on the Editorial Advisory Committee of the American Heritage Dictionary after winning a nine year battle to get "Locking," "Popping," "B-boying," "Rocking," "Break" and "Urban Dance" added. His study has been adopted by such universities as Ohio State, UCLA, UC Urvine and many more as the curriculum for studies in American Pop Culture and Urban Dance History. He is a guest Professor for outside studies at UCLA and Cal Tech. He continues to tour the world teaching the history and leading the future of Urban Dance. His book is "Underground Dance Masters: Final History of a Forgotten" (Praeger/ABC-Clio).