Given the film’s title, the dance moves in Kickin’ It Old Skool are central to the movie’s theme. For Director Harvey Glazer, those break dance routines were a huge part of the fun for everyone on the set, and he feels it will be for audiences as well. “I can break a bit myself still,” admits Glazer, laughing. “I definitely got the worm on lock, I got a little poppin’ and lockin’ going on as well, and my newjack is up to speed. I can even bust a running man with the best of them…NOT”.

So how did Glazer get his actors to kick it with style? He hired a man with style to spare – the legendary Shabba Doo.

Dubbed “The Bob Fosse of the Streets” by US Magazine, Adolfo “Shabba Doo” Quiñones is an award-winning choreographer and director who has amassed an impressive 30-plus years of experience in the entertainment industry. It was he who found all the dance talent for Kickin’ It Old Skool and it was his choreography that infused the film with its edgy attitude.

“Most of the dancers came out of a casting call in Los Angeles, but the young man Alexander Calvert, who plays Jamie as his younger dancing-fool self was a special discovery,” remembers Shabba-Do. “As for the dancers in the big dance contest at the end, I think Jesse “Casper” Lee Brown, who plays the lead dancer of Ice Cole Krew, was exceptional. I had to fight to keep him because he was a relatively self-taught unknown, and this was his first acting role. But he turned out to be amazing, doing his own stunts and some pretty awesome moves. That kid brought everything he had to the role, as did all the dancers.”

Jamie Kennedy, no stranger to dancing himself, having had to maneuver through some pretty tough moves in Son of the Mask, is very proud of all the dance sequences he participated in. In fact, he found them quite exhilarating.

“I did have to pay the price though,” Kennedy admits. “You know the old saying, ‘no pain no gain,’ well, let’s just say my ribs didn’t gain much when I did a crab across the stage, which looks like you’re walking on your hands. It was painful, but cool looking, and if my body didn’t gain much, at least I think the film did.”

As for the rest of the stars of the film, Shabba Doo says that his best “student” was Aris Alvarado, who portrays the adult and rather oversized Hector. “Aris put in 110%,” recalls Shabba Doo. “He had something he wanted to achieve, which was to show that big people can dance, and I think he proved that they definitely can.”

Alvarado, who concedes that he was trying to show young people that weight doesn’t have to get in the way of dance, says he had a great time, but that tackling the role of Hector didn’t exactly come without a little fear. “Since we were break dancing, I was a little concerned about actually breaking something,” laughs Alvarado. “But as the saying goes, I think everyone in this film truly ‘broke a leg,’ and we had a blast doing it.”

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SYNOPSIS
He may have worn hi-tops and parachute pants instead of a top hat and tails, but 12-year old Justin “Rocket Shoe” Schumaker and his killer moves could dance his way into just about any girl’s heart.