It’s difficult to work with what cannot be conveniently defined. But for Lamonte Goode, disregarding genre, though less secure, has propelled him into spaces (and shapes) that are entirely owned. A lifetime of movement studies has given him a lot of rules to break and territory to thus explore. Goode has synthesized so many modes of dance, acrobatics, and more that, almost out of necessity, a new movement had to be born. He calls it Cyberyoga, which is not the several styles sewn together, but the thread itself which binds them. Over the phone, Lamonte, who is based in LA, and I in Brooklyn, discussed his love of movement, predilection for the hybrid, and his obsession with evolution. On Growing Up I didn’t really have father figures in my life, so my influences and leaders came from films. Superman and Batman were like my fathers and my heroes. That was the closest thing to a role model for me. But that has it’s limits, you know? What happens when they’re not around? I still had all of this anger and hurt bottled up. The only way to release that was through something. Animation by Rauf Yasit/Rubberlegz At the time my parents didn’t have money to put me into LA martial arts schools. So b-boying and breakdancing was the closest thing. I met some other breakers and that’s what set everything up for me. I felt that I could always go there when I was working through something. It was never going to hurt me. It was never going to talk down to me. I trained like seven seven days a week. That was my only salvation, and it was always there. If you’re having a bad day, put the anger into your training and you can create something positive. It’s important to find ways to vent; whatever you’re going through. The Consistency of Change I’ve always felt like you can only go so far in one training method. I’m a fan of the hybrid. I’m a fan of learning everything. So I was into breakdancing and house dancing and doing flips here and there. But aside from that, I felt like something was lacking, and I was fascinated with the circus and acrobatics! The circus has that discipline that the b-boying and breakdancing didn’t. So I thought, “OK I can learn this circus stuff and apply it to my b-boying, and what’ll happen? Let’s see.” Then, some years later, I came across a yoga magazine and was blown away by this guy’s practice. I mean, he was super flexible. Older white guy… but he was amazing. Photo by Katrin Leo Pako It was Richard Freeman. I was so fascinated by him that I bought one of his D.V.D.’s online. This was back in like ’99 or 2000. At first it was about the physical ability. I wanted that flexibility. But when I purchased his D.V.D. and heard him talk, and the way he held himself, I knew that there was something deeper than just the physical movement. I needed that in my practice too. On Shapeshifting There are parallels between the b-boying and yoga for me. The concept of the b-boy practice is that we always have to create new moves and new sets every day to battle our opponents. Now, my form of creation is handstands and unlocking new symbols and poses. “Cyberglyphs,” I call them, because the shapes give off a certain frequency. They’re like encoded messages. It’s one long evolution, so I look at my practice as a sort of martial art. On Handstands My concept is to master the basics and then break the rules. It’s like Neil (from the Matrix). It’s the same thing. He understood the matrix. He knew that he could bend his own reality because he understood the foundation of everything. Learn your foundation and know that handstands are one small part of yoga. It’s one small piece of it. A lot of the hype comes from how yoga is marketed. I see tons of ads where they’re going into handstands, or the lotuses or whatever. But I say that it’s good to have a foundation and remember that all the asanas are just one small part of the whole pie. Still, you can’t shoot somebody down because they want to learn that first. Everybody has their passion, and passion has all spectrums and forms. Every time that I get on my hands and balance, I feel a surge of energy going through my body. I feel like I’m getting a recharge– it’s my meditation. “That’s not yoga” I’d like to change the judgement in yoga. I’m judged constantly on my practice. And actually, I get most judgment from other yogis and yoga teachers. Not from normal people, not from b-boys, but from yogis. I hear a lot of “Hey, that’s not yoga,” but nobody knows my background. Since I started the Cyberyoga movement, I’ve been feeling a lot of this. I don’t really believe too much in systems that enforce limitations. A yoga practice can evolve. It doesn’t always have to be a certain way. Just be open. Why not be everything? Learn it all and keep an open mind about everything in life. Lamonte’s Instagram: @cyberyoga and Youtube: /cyberyoga
