A Love Letter to Tyrone "The Bone" Proctor
It is with deep sorrow that we announce the death of Tyrone Proctor (Hyattsville, Maryland), iconic Soul Train Dancer and pionner of Waacking who passed away on January 30, 2020, at the age of 61, leaving to mourn family and friends. Below is a note from our director on Tyrone's brilliant impact on our company.
Tyrone “The Bone” Proctor or as my dad referred to him “Da Bone” first came into my life as a child when I would play my dad‘s recordings of his old shows. He had an entire collection of his group (The Whispers) performances on Soul Train including old videos from the Soul Train Tour which Tyrone famously danced for. I would inquire about the performers, and hear his name, but I never expected for him to make such an impact on my life.
Fast forward ahead to 2016, I had by then built a healthy obsession with a style of dance known to me then only as Waacking, which led me to reach out to Tyrone to request his mentorship. The result was more than I could have expected. He had an idea for a dance event which he would later dub “Soul Train Experience”. We went on to co produced this event in 2017 in the form of a three day dance festival in Fort Lauderdale Florida.
Needless to say we became close. I am one of the many lucky “children“ who get to call him one of their their gay fathers. I love him. He taught me so much, and had a dynamite spirit. I know I speak for my whole FL state when I say his presence here in 2017 catalyzed many in our underground dance community to explore Waacking further. We are so grateful to him for that. I will miss most the privilege of being able to speak with him, I will also miss taking him to get KFC, how hilarious it was when he cat called cute boys from the car window, and his requests for Diet Coke. Lol! My guy!
I thought you all might enjoy reading some quotes from him. The following are things he used to say to me that always “gave me life.”
“Keep your fucking head up!”
“If you don’t understand the music, you will never understand the dance”
“CHURRLLL”
“Oh, I’m just an old queen”
“I like that type of carrying on“
To name a few...
Love always, Christopher Scott Caldwell
