Notorious IBE 2008: B-boy Event
Two days ago, there was a b-boy jamming session in D'artiz Studio somewhere in town. Due to how I was sitting for my examinations, I couldn't dance. I thought if I couldn't attend this session, I wouldn't have dance for another 2 weeks! So on that day itself, I was in KL, rushed back home and went to the studio, despite I was an hour late.
How I Started
I remember how I started b-boying. It was the influence from a classmate 2 years ago, Timothy, which brought me into this dance. Before I started, I thought dance was just an activity as a substitute for exercise or as an eye candy to entertain almost anyone. But b-boying is all about expression and passion, is about what you want to do and how you want to do it. Every dance set is different and it is the way how b-boys portray their own way of dancing. B-boys dance almost anywhere, not because they want to attract attention or entertain others. It is because they want to dance and it is their passion.
Powermover
When I started, I was going directly into this. Powermoves, which are moves that use momentum and mostly upper body strength. Being able to variate powermoves and link them into other powermoves is actually very difficult. I was focusing on these purely when I started, without realizing that this is a DANCE, not some ACROBATIC SHOWOFF or GYMANSTICS.
Style
After nearly a year dancing, I then realised that power does not beat style. This dance is all about how you express and how you KILL the beats with your very own style. There's no point in linking a million powermoves, but they are all off beat. It defeats the purpose of a dance. It sure impresses the audiences, but it's just a display of skill, not dancing. I went more into style, and I knew if I want to hit the beats, I need to know the music. I searched high and low for all common breakbeats to know the music. However, due to my powermoves, my body is more stiff. When doing powermoves, your body must be stiff and locked, so you will not lose the momentum as well as balance.
The Jamming Session
I reached the studio at around 8.00pm and I saw my friends, Bboy C2, Max, and Soul Crew. I also saw the D'artiz members whom I battled and met last time, which brings memories. It started off with a cypher. Now what is a cypher? Cypher is a circle where any b-boy can come in one at a time to show off their own moves and jam together. Then there was 1-on-1 battles. In the end, there was a team/crew battle. Soul Crew were one team, and the rest of us were in the other. So here's the line up anyway.
Soul Crew + 1
Bboy Soulless
Bboy SoulEnd
Bboy Jien
Bboy Wind
Bboy Flying Star
Bboy Soft (From D'artiz, traitor!)
D'artiz + Crewless
Bboy Error
Bboy MAX 1
Bboy Move
Bboy C2
Max
Bboy Lemoney
We had lots of fun, especially when you get praised for doing a dope set, and get cheered when you do your thing! Battles are always the bomb, which gives all the hype and style because in a battle, most of it is freestyle. There is no way you can possibly follow a previously choreographed set so exact because you actually need to listen to the music and follow it and the timing is crucial. The cheering and how others point out your mistakes just makes you want to improve and dance to your best. Good luck b-boys and b-girls! Hope you all carry out your own style and flavour, present it to everyone and express your feelings! Don't stop dancing!
How Do I Learn?
If you have interests in these street dance genre, or in b-boying, you could always register for a class at any studio such as D1 Productions or D'artiz. Or you could learn like me, through Internet. Youtube has lots of tutorials. Search for Toprock and so on. Learn more about b-boying through the various sources in the Internet or even Wikipedia. Go to Bboy.org! Even Nico learned it before, so you could too.
Love,
Nicholas.
Nicholas.
