Interview with Dancer and Artist Lamonte Goode of Neosutras & CyberYoga

Lamonte Goode is the Artistic Director, Founder, and Creator of a type of movement that some would say defies gravity. Yoga binds everything together in this new age, futuristic, and spiritual practice based on the foundation of yoga and the transformation of future movement. 

Originally from Akron, Ohio, and dancing since high school, Goode now calls Los Angeles home and has appeared in films, commercials, TV shows and more as well as music videos for notorious artists such as Rihanna, Shakira, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, and Wyclef Jean. 

A champion of the belief that anyone can do anything they put their mind to, Goode creates to inspire. It’s what keeps him growing and hopefully an idea he can pass on to students of his practice.

A self-taught dancer with a love for atypical movement, Goode has been performing in live showcases and competitions since 1996. The internationally-recognized handstand and arm balancing expert holds workshops and clinics in L.A. as well as out of state and overseas. 

Goode is also one half of the performance art duo NeoSutras, who bring to MakersPlace the NEOFORMS exhibit, a showcase of performance art NFTs.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

MP: Can you tell me about your background as a dancer and artist?

LG: My name is Lamonte Goode, the founder and creator of Cyberyoga. I was born in Ohio and raised in Los Angeles, California. My background in dance is hip hop, acrobatics, and breakdancing. Then I got into contemporary modern and fused it with yoga, and that’s how Cyberyoga was born. 

Cyberyoga is a fusion-based practice based on all the different disciplines that I just stated. So each one has its own component of reinforcement. 

The acrobatics is self-explanatory; the hand balancing and all that kind of keeps me grounded and strong. Break dancing is more of a street style as far as dynamics and power moves. The contemporary modern gives me more of a dance approach to everything. And then yoga is the more spiritual and the more conscious way of moving. So everything’s integrated. 

So C.Y.B.E.R. goes by Calisthenics, Yoga, Breakdance, Evolution, Revolution. Yoga is the base that binds it all together. So it’s a new-age futuristic practice that I’ve created to inspire the world and myself. 

MP: When did you start dancing and what led to your being a professional dancer? 

LG: As a kid, I was heavily inspired by Michael Jackson. He was the person that I wanted to be like. Outside of that, I was watching a lot of martial arts films. So that inspired the breakdancing. 

At the time, my parents didn’t have money to put me into any kind of martial arts program, but breakdancing was the closest thing to martial arts. You’re not hurting anybody else, but you’re just dancing and doing these cool moves. So I was inspired by that. I was watching movies like Beat Street and Breaking that inspired me to actually get into breakdancing. 

Fast forward to finding dancers in Orange County that I wanted to learn from. That set the course of my journey with dancing. So breakdancing, acrobatics, and hip hop led to contemporary modern, which led to yoga. Then I created my own fusion style. I’m still a dancer to this day, and also I helped create a movement practice with my wife, NeoSutras, Pola Rubis.

MP: So when you were watching Beat Street and being inspired to breakdance, what was the next step? Did you just try to imitate what you saw on TV? 

LG: When I saw certain moves like the head spins and the windmills, I tried to emulate them myself but didn’t have the proper guidance. So: love, attraction, manifestation. I was focused on breakdancing, and magically, by chance, I ran into a bunch of breakdancers at the arcade in the mall. I asked them how to do a couple of moves, and they showed me some things. 

That led to me hanging out with them, and they told me about some b-boy practice that was happening at this church. I went there, and that’s how I learned to learn from the best breakdancers in the industry. 

At that point, because I just followed my instinct and followed my purpose and my passion, it allowed me to go to practice to learn how to breakdance and learn certain moves that set me on the course of my dancing career.

MP: When did modern dance come into play? 

LG: Modern dance came into play when I was established in the b-boy scene. I was hitting a rut in my dancing. I wanted to expand but through a different approach. So my good friend Jacob Jonas asked me to join his new dance company. He and I were doing street shows in Venice Beach and Santa Monica. At the time he was studying contemporary and modern dance. Being exposed to this different style of movement, I wanted to integrate it and develop a more relaxed, more fluid style of breaking.

That allowed me to experiment and evolved into my getting more into yoga. I developed this unique style of dancing and movement, which brought me full circle back to martial arts, the reason I wanted to get back into movement. Now my dancing style looks more like martial arts. It’s more Zen, more fluid, but strong. 

I’m curious about the impetus behind creating Cyberyoga. Other dancers might lean toward choreography. Can you tell me why you chose to go the more accessible, wellness-oriented route?

I wanted the Cyberyoga practice to be available for everyone. The Cyberyoga practice is a more futuristic approach to yoga and dance. This is how I designed the movement, so there could be very advanced movements or something very subtle and relaxing. The ultimate goal for me was it to be a practice that heals through movement. To learn this practice, I go from A to Z through all the different skill levels. I designed it for anybody with a body. 

The reason I got into dancing and movement was that I grew up in a very abrasive, abusive home. I needed to find an outlet. Movement and breakdancing was my only way to express and to get out of my own dramas at home. It was my freedom. I remained a student of the art because it’s what gave me peace and clarity and zen and happiness.

In my life, dancing was my go-to to get away from everything. So I dedicated myself. I said if I got out of my rut, I was going to inspire others through my practice. That’s Cyberyoga.

MP: I appreciate you saying that. You’re definitely not the first artist that I’ve spoken to who’s mentioned art as the escape vehicle for a rough upbringing. My hope is that art — as it becomes more accessible not just to experience but to create — will become a more common way for people to work through the things in their lives they might like to be different. 

LG: Absolutely. Dancing saved my life. In high school, most of my friends were gangsters, robbing people, killing people. It was really bad. I had dancing, and I stayed on the path. I’m so glad I did because it brought me here. Those friends from high school are either dead or locked up. I am so grateful that I followed my purpose and my passion.

MP: That’s really inspiring. We’ll shift gears a little bit into the digital realm. How do you see performance and movement fitting into where technology is today?

LG: It fits just like white on rice. I think it’s a no-brainer that the arts and dance should be integrated into the tech space. We are the most advanced technology. The human body is the most advanced tech. Why not interface that with the tech that we created? 

Dance has a unique energy behind it. There’s an energy and a frequency that people can feel. Movement is medicine. It’s needed. Dance inspires — or can inspire — people who aren’t movers to actually do something with their bodies.

MP: I’m curious to know what challenges or insights you’ve had when translating something that lives in a physical world to a digital medium.

Interesting question. My wife and I do a lot of social media. He have a strong presence on Instagram and Facebook. We get a lot of engagement on our dance content. During the pandemic, we wanted to translate that onto the blockchain. 

I believe that energy transfers on all mediums. Number one is the intention of what I’m doing. My intention is to heal you and give you a sense of peace. If I’m creating a piece, the energy that’s going into the work — with the music and the backdrop and everything — is conscious. 

The simple frequency of my um intention is going to translate. You’re going to feel it whether it’s a still image, a video, or whatever. I don’t have to force it because my intention and my integrity are already set in stone. 

MP: You mentioned Michael Jackson and martial arts and breakdancing movies as early influences. Who are some other artists who have had a huge impact on your work and how you see yourself as an artist?

LG: It sounds funny, but I’m really inspired by the cartoon Transformers. My style is heavily influenced by these machines. The concept that everything can transform and shapeshift. This is like my style. My biggest inspirations are very futuristic, so The Matrix, Transformers, Terminator. I don’t know why, but machines really inspire me. That’s why Cyberyoga was born.

MP: That’s funny because yoga seems — I don’t want to call it backward-looking, but it certainly leans into the fact that we are organic matter. Being deeply invested in yoga and robotics, not separately but at the same time, is such an interesting intersection. 

LG: I’m gonna piggyback on what you’re saying. I’ve had a huge spiritual awakening through plant medicine, and I understood through the message that time is not linear. Everything is happening at the same time. Past, present, or future is all happening at the same time. So yoga itself is futuristic and ancient at the same time. We ourselves are futuristic and ancient at the same time. Everything is interconnected. I

We’re always idolizing something outside of ourselves. The Cyberyoga practice is the human physical, spiritual, and mental upgrade. We are biological machines. We’re the latest technology. We have to receive it and know that we are. We have to be present with ourselves. We are gods.

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