Wayne 'Frosty Freeze' Frost Break Dance Legend
Newspapers from coast to coast and many online news services announced the death of 44-year-ild Wayne “Frosty Freeze” Frost at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City April 3, reinforcing the prominent place hip-hop has taken in dance history. As a member of the legendary Rock Steady Crew, Frosty Freeze came to fame in 1983 and helped to inspire a world wide break-dancing craze in the film “Flashdance,” which in spite of poor reviews at the time is still the U.S. third highest grossing film of the 80s.
Frost passed away after a long undisclosed illness said Jorge “Fabel” Pabon, a senior vice president of the Rock Steady Crew.
Born in Manhattan on December 4, 1963, Frost came to star status in 1981 when his photograph appeared on the cover of The Village Voice with an article by Sally Banes, “Physical Graffiti: Breaking Is Hard to Do.” Frosty Freeze was derived from the dance style itself, which finishes with a freeze. Among the most well-known of his trademark moves was “The Death Freeze.” The “Suicide” dance move that Frost created involved a flip that ended with him flat on his back.
Frosty Freeze of the Rock Steady Crew
Frost got his start in 1976 with the Rock City Crew group, which later became part of The Rock Steady Crew founded in the Bronx in 1977. The dance form started on the streets of the Bronx and Harlem in the 1970s and emerged as an element of the hip-hop culture, which included graffiti and rap.
During the 80s with members that included Frost, Pabon and other B-boys (beat or break boys), Frost toured internationally. Benson Lee, director of the documentary film “Planet B-Boy” said, “Frost was one of the most charismatic B-boys that ever lived. He embodied the purist spirit of B-boying. He had so much fun with it.” The group was honored in 2004 at the VHI Hip-Hop Honors.
From all accounts, Frost was a likeable fellow who gave back to his community. He was known for his daredevil moves, and a fellow classmate remembers him as a student at PS 84 in Manhattan, swinging and doing acrobatic moves, grabbing onto a gated basketball fence and landing on top of it.
In 1983, The New York Times wrote: “Frosty (Wayne Frost, when not dancing) is well-known in the world of break dancing, the current preoccupation in New York’s discotheques and clubs. He is lean-faced and limber, with a wisp of beard. Had he been born two generations earlier, he might have been the king of boogie-woogie, or a jitterbug virtuoso.”
Pabon said of Frost, “He helped to preserve the rich history of urban and hip-hop culture. He was constantly educating people and was the walking hip-hop encyclopedia.” During his career he appeared in hip-hop music videos, including “Buffalo Gals.” In addition to “Flashdance,” Frost appeared in the films “Style Wars” (1983), “The Freshest Kids” (2002), “Five Sides of a Coin” (2003) and “Wild Style” (2003) with the Rock Steady Crew.
Wayne Frost, Frosty Freeze, is survived by a brother and two sisters.