7-year-old break dancer is on top of the whirl

He's danced at KeyArena and Safeco Field. Hobnobbed with NBA stars. Flown to L.A. and Chicago for TV appearances.

He's still got all of his baby teeth, but that hasn't stopped him from taking on b-boys three times his age.

Seven-year-old Jalen Testerman is a little kid with a big personality — and even bigger talent. The Des Moines second-grader is a break-dancing phenom, an adorable blur of arms and legs who picks up dance moves like some gifted kids pick up foreign languages or musical instruments.

Despite his natural ability and all the potential to be a great dancer in a worldwide genre that simmers just below the surface of the mainstream, Jalen remains a sweet, polite boy who is just as happy playing video games or running around the backyard with his little brother as he is spinning on his head on a hardwood floor.

Jalen's parents are as surprised as anyone that their eldest child is drawn to a dance form that evokes images of the 1980s, when boom boxes provided the beats for dancers who twisted and squirmed on pieces of cardboard. By nurturing their son's talent, though, Rick and Loann Testerman say they've discovered a dynamic subculture where young men — and a few young women — can express their creativity in a safe, healthy way while building confidence and muscle.

Jalen's parents started posting online videos of their son dancing to share with relatives living on the East Coast and in California and Australia. But plenty of other people logged on to see Jalen's YouTube clips, and, soon, the phone started ringing with interview requests: This year, Jalen has appeared on Ellen DeGeneres' television show — twice. Last week, Jalen and his dad flew to Chicago to tape a segment for "The Oprah Winfrey Show" that's scheduled to air Monday.

"Break dancing is so random," said Rick Testerman, 40, who never danced himself, though his wife was a member of an R&B dance group when she attended Seattle's Franklin High School. "I thought break dancing was dead — I didn't think anyone was doing it anymore."

"An amazing ear"

That all changed when Jalen was 4 ½. He was at a relative's house when his then-14-year-old cousin popped in a DVD of the 2004 movie "You Got Served." The movie was no blockbuster, but Jalen was fascinated — and he hit rewind so many times to study the dance moves that they never got to see the end. Exasperated, his cousin finally gave him the film to take home.

"The first move he did was a head spin," Rick Testerman said of his son. "I was like, 'Don't ever do that again! You're going to break your neck or paralyze yourself.'

"I thought it was just a flash in the pan. But Jalen never stopped, so I figured out where he could go [to learn from other dancers]. That's what he enjoyed to do, so I was just supporting him."

Father and son started hanging out at Jefferson Community Center on Beacon Hill, where members of Massive Monkees — an internationally-acclaimed crew of b-boys, or "break boys," who won the 2004 world break-dancing championship at London's Wembley Arena — regularly practiced and held workshops for kids.

Joe "Jorawk" Stolte is a member of the Massive Monkees' leadership team. He was also a founding member of the Boom Squad, a break-dancing group that performed half-time shows during home games for the now-defunct Seattle Sonics. Though not immediately blown away by a not-yet-5-year-old Jalen, Stolte remembers being impressed by how quickly the youngster picked up new moves and made them his own.

"You could see he had tremendous potential and ... as time went on, he became his own phenomenon," said Stolte, 26. "From the eye of a dancer, you could see straight away he had 'it.' As young as he is, he really gets the intricacies of the dance. His crazy physical abilities are one thing, but it's his ear for the music — he has an amazing ear."

Though break dancing may seem unruly and in-your-face to an outsider, it's actually quite structured, requiring physical strength, technical footwork and a feel for the music's beat, Stolte said.

"In my eyes, he can be one of the greats," Stolte said of Jalen. "Creating movements on the fly is a hallmark trait of an experienced dancer and a trait we see in Jalen consistently. He's extremely talented, as talented as I've ever seen — ever."

Feeding off audience

Jalen was invited to dance with the Boom Squad — and the first time he appeared at KeyArena at the end of the 2005-06 season, the fans went nuts when Jalen popped out of a duffle bag that was carried onto the floor by one of the dancers. His Web site — jalentesterman.com or bboyjalen.com — includes a gallery of photos featuring Jalen and the likes of basketball pros Rashard Lewis and Shaquille O'Neal.

"The crowd just went crazy for Jalen — they clapped louder for Jalen than any of the players," said Tan Vo, a local videographer who used to shoot footage of Sonics home games for the arena's JumboTron.

Vo has since become a family friend of the Testermans and says that regardless of Jalen's talent, his parents have taught him to be respectful and humble. On a recent afternoon, Vo, 30, and producer Simon Hamlin, 34, were at the Testerman home shooting an ad for Journeys Kidz, a national chain that sells children's shoes, that will begin airing in stores across the country next month.

For the segment that's being edited now, Jalen hung from the basketball hoop in his front yard and hammed it up for the camera with his b-boy poses, arms folded across his chest with all the attitude of a famous rapper.

He sat on his front stoop and, looking straight into the camera, said: "I like school because it's good for your brain. I like reading and doing math." The next minute, he was blowing kisses and saying things like, "Hey, thank you, Seattle!" and "Peace ... out."

Later, he demonstrated his dance moves on the living-room floor, kicking and spinning to James Brown's "Super Bad."

His 3-year-old brother Desmond, whom Jalen is teaching to dance, joined Jalen on the floor while their baby sister, Mya, who turns a year old this month, bounced to the music on their mother's lap.

"When he's practicing, I get worried," Jalen's mom, Loann Testerman, confessed. "At home, he does some lazy moves and he stops and I think, 'Oh, he's not ready.' "

But put Jalen in a battle — a b-boy dance-off where dancers compete to show off their skills — or in front of a live audience, and "he just turns it on," she said.

"He becomes a totally different kid. He's very competitive, and he feeds off the audience when they cheer him on."

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654 or sgreen@seattletimes.com