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Dancer Spotlight • Exclusive Interview

Anna “Lollipop” Sanchez: The Street Dance Pioneer Who Learned Directly From the Originals

From sneaking into clubs at 15 to learning locking, Waacking, and popping from the people who created them — this is a living history of street dance told firsthand.

By Dance Mogul Magazine Staff

An Exclusive Interview with Street Dance Pioneer Anna “Lollipop” Sanchez

Part One

Dance Mogul Magazine: Okay, you can start by introducing yourself.

Anna “Lollipop” Sanchez: All right. Hi, everybody. I’m Anna Sanchez, also known as Lollipop.

Dance Mogul Magazine: And can you take us on a journey through your dance career?

Anna “Lollipop” Sanchez: Oh, how much time do we have?

Dance Mogul Magazine: As much time as you need.

Anna “Lollipop” Sanchez: My brother and my sister actually started, and my parents were salsa street dancers, so I was kind of born into the salsa feeling. When I was little, I was able to get on their feet. They guided me around and did salsa steps with me. Then my brother was more into the 60s, so I got to learn all the 60s-style dances because we always had music going on in our house. The interesting thing I will mention about my very young baby years is that it wasn’t about dance; it was just part of our lifestyle. Music was always going, Mom and Dad were always singing, and all of us were always dancing and carrying on. It wasn’t like we were trying to be dancers; that’s just how we were, our upbringing.

When my brother got on American Bandstand and started doing the contests and the show, I got to practice steps with him, and he’d throw me around his back with partner dancing. He showed me all the 60s-style dances, the swing, the two-step, and all that. Then my sister came after, and she was more of a soul dancer; she liked Soul Train, American Bandstand, and also a little bit of jazz.

Then I came along with all that influence. I wanted to be very physical because I was a bit of a tomboy, so I took karate because I wanted to get a little stronger and more balanced. I loved Bruce Lee, so when I did that, it gave me more confidence and strength.

Then I saw The Lockers on TV, and that was actually my very first influence in wanting to do that style of dance. I saw Toni Basil, who looked adorable to me with her little heels and her outfit, doing what the guys were doing. But when they each stepped out and did a solo, I thought that was very interesting. I thought, “Wow, they’re not just behind these people. They’re doing this wild, physical dance, and they’re each getting to be a star for a moment,” you know, stepping out of that line and doing their own thing. And when she did it, she did her own dance with locking. So I have to say, in the sense of street dancing, she was my major influence — The Lockers and her. She did what they did, but when she stepped out, she had this cuteness and power and all these great moves, and I really wanted to get into that. So that kind of started me on my trail to street dancing, outside of the regular soul steps, party dancing, and partner dancing that I had already learned.

Dance Mogul Magazine: Were there other females in the club scenes doing what Toni was doing back then?

Anna “Lollipop” Sanchez: Yeah, but you have to understand, when I saw Toni, I was only maybe 13 years old. My professional dance career started at 13 when my partner and I started doing paid gigs for parties and stuff. We used to go to Knott’s Berry Farm to compete and practice, and other people would come up there. Actually, this girl, Debbie McKay, taught me alphas, which were these steps that you do on the ground with splits and knee drops, which was in line with what The Lockers did. I really liked that. We always got kicked out of Disneyland because they didn’t let you do tricks. They always said, “If you’re going to do tricks, you got to get out.” So we always got kicked out of there.

At 14, I met a group at Knott’s Berry Farm called The Funky Bunch. They came up and had heard about us, me and my partner, and they wanted to know if we were interested in joining their group. The Funky Bunch, believe it or not, dressed like The Lockers. They wanted to lock, they were locking, and that was the dance I really wanted to learn when I had seen it on TV. So I got all excited, saying, “Oh my God, this is the group, this is what I want to do.” And I had an opportunity. So at 15, they snuck me into my first nightclub. My sister was there and let me use her ID. She was 21; I was 15.

I went in, looked around, and thought, “Oh my God, there’s Greg, there’s Don, there’s Penguin, there’s Slim.” I noticed all of the original Lockers were there, and I was beyond myself. I couldn’t believe that my friends from my dance group brought me there to show me who they were learning from. They were spread out all over, having fun, doing their dance. And I noticed it was a little different from what I had seen from the other group. The Funky Bunch was great, don’t get me wrong. I worked with them for a while. I was just a kid and I was excited. But when I saw the original Lockers, there was something about them that was so much different and much deeper. I had to get to know them. So I got out of the group, went solo, and studied with these guys, The Lockers, in the club. So that’s how I had my first encounter, sneaking into a club at the age of 15.

The first one I really met was Campbellock Jr. because he actually liked my sister. So I had a little bit of an in there, and he was really nice. They all kind of hung out with each other, but I would say Greg, Shabba-Doo, and Fluky hung out with each other a little bit more. Don and Slim kind of hung out, and Fred “Penguin” Berry would hang out with each of them on and off. Toni wasn’t there because she used to go to the clubs in LA, but she was always working, so she didn’t really come to the Orange County club. This was down here in Orange County. So that’s how I encountered the original Lockers, and that just started a whole other ball game because I had to learn it. I became friends with all of them. They all taught me what they did, which was interesting because they all had their own style, yet they could do everything together. The club scene was so much different from the performance scene, so I got to see them perform, compete in contests with them, and also just go off in the club.

And I tell you, only the people that experienced that… it’s so hard to even share that moment because you don’t have that now. Even for us who want to go to the clubs, it’s kind of hard; there aren’t that many. But back then, they were creating it right in front of your eyes. Then the following day, they’d do it again and add something to it, or they’d change it. You got to see things happening right before you and learn it at the same time. And if you were lucky, like I was, to be friends with them, they were actually teaching me, telling me things, and showing me how to do it and explaining it. I mean, I was so lucky at the age of 15 to walk into that club because of Funky Bunch. Funky Bunch was Steve Notario, Vince Harper, and Cracker Jack — I can’t remember Cracker Jack’s real name, sorry Cracker Jack. And then me and Boo, who was Steve Wallace, who I gave the nickname Sugarboo. Those were the guys that started it for me. Even though I saw The Lockers on TV, they were the ones that gave it to me live. And they changed my life by taking the chance and taking me to this club. So that was pretty exciting.

Dance Mogul Magazine: So no one could touch The Lockers back then? They were that good?

Anna “Lollipop” Sanchez: They were so good and so free and fun. They were the best. To me, that’s my opinion on how I value my dance and how I look at dance. They had something that nobody else had. There was an essence about them that it was their dance. It was their dance, especially Don’s. You could tell when I started learning their history and everything, how he came about it. Just those few steps that he started with started this whole thing, and I don’t know what would have happened if he hadn’t done that. I don’t think it would have been the way it is. So it’s very important to understand the whole group. They all had something to offer, which was pretty incredible.

Dance Mogul Magazine: Nowadays, things are categorized under the whole hip-hop umbrella. When did you notice that starting to happen, and what did you think when they started calling all the dance styles that you guys were doing “hip-hop”? And do you think there would be a hip-hop if it wasn’t for you guys and The Lockers?

Anna “Lollipop” Sanchez: I have to be honest; I’ve heard both sides. For me, I’m a street dancer. I’ve been called a breaker, a pop-locker, a hip-hopper. Whatever was popular at the time, I was that. Even at auditions, they would say “breaking.” I had to actually call and ask, “Do you actually want somebody that’s breakdancing on the floor? Or are you talking about the style of just different street dancing?” Because they weren’t clear. It was like whatever was popular in the public’s eye, whatever they named it, I was always a part of that. And it didn’t matter to me because I knew if I went in there, I was going to clarify what I was.

So, even though they categorized me as breaking when I went to the audition, I would tell them, “I lock,” or “I do popping,” or “I do this, or I do that.” I made it really clear. I always thought, well, if I get in the door, I can at least tell them what I’m really doing — that I’m not a breakdancer, but what you’re calling a breakdancer is a street dancer. It’s very odd, but for some reason, the name “street dancer” makes people nervous. To me, that’s the most important thing of what we are. For me, we are street dancers. I was in the garage, I was in the parks, I was in the street. I did it everywhere, you know? So I am a street dancer. I’m not a breakdancer and not a hip-hopper. But if that’s what you’re categorizing me for, then yes, I’m a dancer.

I’ve also talked to people now who are really into the culture of hip-hop, and there are deeper things there than I’m aware of because I’m not a hip-hopper, if that makes sense. You talk to some people, and they’ll tell you their lifestyle, what they were about, what hip-hop means to them, and it’s deep. So I believe there is a root there, but I’m not a part of that root because I don’t know what that is. I’m a street dancer.

Dance Mogul Magazine: Do you feel that you guys were part of the uprising of it, before the actual root?

Anna “Lollipop” Sanchez: Yes, because even the people before us — like I was saying earlier, from Fred Astaire to the Nicholas Brothers, Cab Calloway — all those people were influences for me when I could see them on TV. I never got to touch them or talk to them because it was reruns; they were already gone. But they were our influences. So we have to let people remember that it goes way back, as far as each one of us can remember. We kept this form of street that has all those influences, and that’s what makes it street. So hip-hop, I don’t think, would be hip-hop if it wasn’t for the streets, because the streets influenced that movement.

You watch a hip-hopper and you can go, “Oh, I see a little of this, or I see a little of that.” That’s what makes it street dancing. The influence of every part of the street somehow weaves into it, and it becomes this blood vein that keeps us all alive. You have elements of this or elements of that, and it’s exciting, but you have to respect the dance that they’re trying to present. Like The Lockers — I look at The Lockers, and some of the steps they did were what tap dancers did back in the day. But it was a different way of doing it, and there was a whole other dance behind it, not just the step. Some kids get the steps mixed up with a dance. For me, the dance was actually starting with my brother and my sister with the 60s style. Those 60s dances influenced the soul steps. I could see the flow because I went back that far. So for me, everything influenced something, and everything evolves.

Part Two

Dance Mogul Magazine: Can you help us understand the year that you met The Lockers and started to learn locking? And from that point, when did you become interested in Waacking and why?

Anna “Lollipop” Sanchez: Okay. Well, it’s interesting because, remember I told you, in my growing up there was salsa, the 60s, jazz, the little street jazz they called it back then, the soul steps, and the partner dancing. When I got into locking in ’74, I was already doing the tricks — the splits and knee drops — but I didn’t know the dance. I just knew they pointed their hands. I didn’t quite know what the lock was. So when I started learning that, it was 1974. And I learned the locking within that year. It was an everyday thing. You have to understand, that’s where the discipline comes in. We’re not in a jazz or ballet studio, but we’re in the club and at home practicing every day — going out, entering contests, and even after the contests, dancing in restaurant parking lots 24/7.

Now, understand, there were other dances in there. There was The Robot, which I also got involved in because I love Shields and Yarnell, and I got to meet them. I love doing that style. And Slim the Robot was an incredible robot. He gave me his story about who he learned from — I’m kind of bad with names from back then, ’cause we’re talking ’74.

So by the end of ’74, I believe, is when I saw these guys doing a dance in a straight club. They were gay, they were doing a dance, and it wasn’t called Waacking at the time; it was more “punking.” They were doing this dance and they were winning, and they were really good. The thing that caught my attention was the music, the way they brought the music to life, their attitude, and the feeling. It was a whole other dance. Because I knew locking first, I felt it made me more powerful for what that dance was. Once again, the vein of locking ran into Waacking for me, personally.

So, when I saw them in ’74, I went to Toni and said, “There’s this group of people…” because I had met Toni and all of them in ’74. She said, “I know who you’re talking about,” and she took me to the club that they were at. When I saw them in the club — first of all, gay clubs play the best music, everybody’s got rhythm, everybody moves well. But this group of guys in the contest, when she said, “Here they are,” and introduced me to them, they had something else going on. It felt like The Lockers again when I walked into that Grand Hotel club in Orange County and saw them for the first time. The same thing happened to me with the Waackers, but it was punking and posing back then. Not even that, it was just their lifestyle.

I thought, “Wow, I stumbled upon something again.” The interesting part is, not all of them went to the straight clubs. It was Tinker, Andrew, Arthur, Lonnie, and Billy Goodson, and a couple of other people I can’t remember the names that actually entered a straight contest. When people asked them, “What is that you’re doing? What is that dance? God dang, it’s phenomenal, the music and the way you guys are dressed,” they’d say, “Oh, we’re just punking, punk, punk, whack, whack, pose, pose, whack, whack.” They would just describe it. Later on, I found out that they didn’t really want to be called punks in the straight world because that wasn’t a good word. So they liked the word “whacking” that was starting to take over because it sounded more like a dance.

But when I went to their club and hung out with them, just like I did with The Lockers, it wasn’t, “Oh, we’re going to whack tonight,” or, “We’re going to punk tonight.” It was just about dancing. It was about expressing who they were. It was about being themselves because back then in the ’70s, they couldn’t walk the streets and show who they were because they were gay, and it was not the best thing. It was very difficult. So when I got to meet them, they really didn’t like that I was this straight girl in their club. Things happened, but then they started to realize I was bugging them enough, talking to them and asking questions like, “What are you feeling there? What made you feel that made you do that move?” And they realized I was going a little deeper than just the dance. I told them I wanted to know about them.

Because each one of them had something different, just like The Lockers. Each of those lockers locked their own way, but they’re all influenced by each other. So they can do things together, but they can also be very separate, yet you see the dance is right there. The Waackers were the same way. It was very interesting to me; the same structure. Andrew didn’t like doing certain moves, but he could do them. He had his own form of what he did. They all had their own little clique of style, even though they could all collectively do things together. Toni used them a lot in live performances and stuff. And it was beautiful to see another form of something that was very clear — a specific dance being created right before my eyes.

So, I was really lucky. I got to be there with the original Lockers, and I got to be there with the original Waackers. Once I got into that, they started teaching me, literally explaining things, showing me, and giving me homework. They became my friends, like The Lockers did, but it was even a little deeper with the Waackers because they really explained with photos and movies the details of what they were feeling, what kind of night they were having, their mood swings, and who they were as people. I really got into that because it was very emotional, and I’m an emotional person anyway. So for me, it was perfect. The punking was even more intriguing because you had to really connect to something real. And I love that.

That’s how that came about. Now, in between, right towards the end of that, was popping for me. Once again, I got to meet the Electric Boogaloos, a group of guys that did a little bit of locking but also did this other dance, which is popping with the boogaloo. But I got to meet them, and when I met them, once again, it was this group of people that came out and I hadn’t seen anything like it. And I got to meet them. So Poppin’ Pete taught me how to pop.

Dance Mogul Magazine: Excuse me, what year was that?

Anna “Lollipop” Sanchez: I want to say ’77. Okay. And sometimes I get a little mixed up because my birthday’s at the end of the year. If something runs into the end of the year, I sometimes go, “the end of ’76, beginning of ’77,” that kind of thing. But I’m pretty sure it was ’77 for me.

Part Three

Dance Mogul Magazine: As a young female dancer learning locking, punking, and popping, did you get any flack from the young men during that time?

Anna “Lollipop” Sanchez: It wasn’t so much about being a girl; it was about how young I was. And I was kicking their butt, and they weren’t liking that! So it wasn’t that I was a woman in the beginning; it was the fact that I was so young, sneaking in and winning. Campbellock Jr. would say, “If you’re going to leap off the stage, you should do it like this.” He didn’t look at me and say, “Anna, you’re a girl, you shouldn’t be doing that.” No, it wasn’t like that at all. It was like, “Girl, if you’re gonna do it, do it right. This is how you need to do it.” So they kind of put aside that I was a girl.

Dance Mogul Magazine: Street dancing has always been very competitive. In the early years, was the street dance community more unified, or was there always tension between groups?

Anna “Lollipop” Sanchez: It really was unified, for me. I was dancing with everybody. It wasn’t about, “Well, I don’t want to dance with that person because they’re in that group,” or, “I’m not sure about that group.” It wasn’t about that. We were all in the club dancing, freestyling, having fun. And then they’d go, “Hey, you wanna do this gig?” and I’d say, “Yeah, I’d love to do that!” It was just about working. It wasn’t about who had the better group or the better crew, none of that. This is so different now, the battling and all that.

Dance Mogul Magazine: All of this was going on during the time when Soul Train was on. Was that something you wanted to be involved in?

Anna “Lollipop” Sanchez: You know, because I grew up more with American Bandstand and The Real Don Steele Show and those other shows, there were like three shows out there before Soul Train. Those were my first influences because I got to see everything from partner dancing and touching, to all of a sudden separating and doing these other wild steps, and this freedom. So when Soul Train came out, I followed suit because it was part of what I had already grown up with. I went on there a couple of times, but I actually enjoyed watching and picking up and seeing new steps here and there that were being evolved.

Dance Mogul Magazine: Today, a lot of young dancers strive to be on TV, on shows like America’s Best Dance Crew or So You Think You Can Dance. What were some of the things you wanted to achieve when you were a young dancer?

Anna “Lollipop” Sanchez: In the beginning, it was just dance. I just really wanted to dance and perform and show people what I love to do. When I started doing shows and things like that, you have to understand, I was very young — 15, 16, 17 years old. I was just excited that I was somehow working and doing what I love. I really wanted to do TV, live performances, and commercials. And I was in so many groups at the time working and dancing. I even danced with Dancing Machine. I danced with Shabba-Doo for many years; I was his partner. So I partnered with him for many years. I worked with Toni Basil for many years. There was Deputy, Lionel… there are so many dancers that I worked with on so much stuff, but it was never captured on film because they didn’t have it.

Dance Mogul Magazine: With dance being so prevalent in movies and on social media today, what’s a key takeaway for young dancers?

Anna “Lollipop” Sanchez: They don’t realize the work behind all that stuff. Everybody works their butt off. So I don’t care if a movie is all that great or not; you have an opportunity, just do the best you can and know you’re not cheating it, and feel good about it. Don’t ever limit yourself, because you don’t know when something’s going to open up for you. It’s all about exposure and timing. Always give your best and your all because you just don’t know.

Dance Mogul Magazine: You’ve had such a long and successful career. How did you manage to stay so grounded and keep that passion for dance alive through all the ups and downs?

Anna “Lollipop” Sanchez: I grew up with that passion for it. And I was lucky to have parents and a brother and sister who were all involved in it in their own way, so it was never about getting cocky. It was always about, “I’m working, I’m happy, I’m doing what I’m doing, and I’m so lucky.” I still have to get regular jobs in between. Don’t think I was working with dance every day. There were moments I had to get part-time jobs to pay my rent. But you do what you have to do so you can still go out and do your thing dancing. Life is life. You have to pay your bills. But if you make it happen in another way, the other comes your way. You can’t say, “Oh, I’m not taking that job because they don’t know who I am.” Forget all that. Do it because you’re a dancer and you love it.

Dance Mogul Magazine: In closing, what would you like your legacy to be? When people talk about Anna “Lollipop” Sanchez, what do you want them to remember?

Anna “Lollipop” Sanchez: Honest. Anna was honest, Anna was happy, Anna loved her dance, and she was always true. The purity, the hard work, what I try to pass on, the remembrance of others that passed it to me, the truth of it, the hard work, and the love.

The Woman Who Was There When Street Dance Was Born

At fifteen years old, Anna “Lollipop” Sanchez used her older sister’s ID to sneak into an Orange County nightclub. What she found inside changed her life forever. The original Lockers — Don Campbell, Greg, Shabba-Doo, Slim the Robot, Fred “Penguin” Berry — were scattered across the dance floor, creating a movement that would reshape American culture. Sanchez didn’t just watch. She studied. She befriended them. And over the next several years, she would do the same with the original Waackers and the Electric Boogaloos, becoming one of the only dancers in history to learn three foundational street dance forms directly from the people who created them.

Born Into Movement

Sanchez didn’t grow up wanting to be a dancer. She grew up in a household where dancing was simply how the family lived. Her parents were salsa street dancers who guided her across the floor on their feet when she was barely old enough to walk. Her brother, who appeared on American Bandstand, introduced her to 1960s partner dancing — the swing, the two-step, the styles that defined an era. Her sister brought soul dancing into the mix, influenced by Soul Train and jazz. By the time Sanchez was old enough to find her own path, she already carried decades of movement vocabulary in her body. She gravitated toward the physical. Karate came first, inspired by Bruce Lee, and gave her balance and confidence. But the real turning point happened the moment she saw The Lockers perform on television. Toni Basil, in particular, stood out — a woman doing exactly what the men were doing, then stepping forward to add her own style. That image planted a seed that would grow into a lifelong commitment to street dance.

Learning From the Source

Sanchez’s professional dance career began at thirteen, performing paid gigs with a partner. By fourteen, she connected with a group called The Funky Bunch at Knott’s Berry Farm — a crew that dressed like The Lockers and wanted to lock. They became the bridge. At fifteen, The Funky Bunch snuck her into that Orange County nightclub where the original Lockers spent their nights. The experience was unlike anything she had seen on television. In the club, the dance was alive — evolving night after night. The Lockers weren’t running choreography; they were inventing in real time. Sanchez watched them add new elements each evening, change their approach, and push the form forward right in front of her eyes. She left The Funky Bunch, went solo, and devoted herself to learning directly from the originators.

Waacking Before It Had a Name

By late 1974, Sanchez encountered something new. A group of gay dancers were entering contests at straight clubs and winning — performing a style that didn’t yet have a fixed name. Some called it punking. Others described it through its movements: whack, pose, whack. Sanchez was immediately drawn in. Toni Basil took her to the gay clubs where the style was being created, and what she found there echoed her experience with The Lockers — a group of individuals, each with a unique voice, collectively building something that had never existed before. Tinker, Andrew, Arthur, Lonnie, Billy Goodson, and others were using music, emotion, and personal identity to forge a new dance form. Earning their trust wasn’t easy. As a straight woman entering their space, Sanchez had to prove that her interest went deeper than steps. The Waackers responded to that curiosity, and they began teaching her — sharing not just technique, but the emotional and cultural foundation behind the movement.

A Career Built on Truth

By 1977, Sanchez added popping to her arsenal after learning directly from Poppin’ Pete and the Electric Boogaloos. In the span of just a few years during the mid-1970s, she had been present at the birth of three of street dance’s most important forms. Her career extended well beyond the club scene into the iconic films Breakin’ and Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo, years of partnership with Shabba-Doo, extensive work with Toni Basil, and decades of teaching and performing around the world. She remained grounded through it all by a principle she learned early: dance was never about fame. It was about the work, the honesty, and the love.

Why This Story Matters Now

Street dance continues to gain mainstream visibility through social media, competition shows, and global events. But with that visibility comes the risk of disconnection from the roots. Sanchez’s story is a reminder that locking, Waacking, and popping didn’t emerge from studios or algorithms. They came from communities — from people expressing who they were in the only spaces that would let them. Understanding that origin isn’t optional for anyone who claims to love the culture. It’s the foundation.

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