Dance-offs have traditionally been a largely non-violent means to settle scores, test skills and separate the alpha males and females from the pack. Though now there is a plethora of urban dancing styles including krumping, popping, locking and studio hip hop, break-dancing, the progenitor of these contemporary dance forms, remains the purists choice.
Tonight, local B-boys, or break dancers, have the chance to strut their stuff at the qualifying round for Battle of the Year (BOTY), the world's biggest break-dancing competition. The winner of the heat, the second to be held in Taiwan, will go through to the world finals to be held in Germany on Oct. 21.
With it's visually exciting spins, freezes and windmills, groups like the Rock Steady Crew set break dancing on the road to global prominence in the early 1980s.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SARAH MCMASTER
Twenty-five years later, break dancing has its own mythology, heroes and music. B-boys, which have throughout the genre's history been predominantly male, gather to fight each other in either solo or group battles.
Until last year BOTY organizers felt that Taiwan's break-dancing scene wasn't big enough to warrant it's own Battle of the Year qualifying round. The first was held in Taichung on July 30, 2005.
In 1995 and 1996, the LA Boyz exploded onto Taiwan's music scene with their break-dancing and hip-hop moves, and inspired a generation of teenagers including Taiwan's most prominent B-boy, Choco (劉志強) to take up the pastime.
In 2004 TBC (The Best Crew) won the 2004 South East Asia Battle of the Year, which was held in Bangkok. A member of TBC at the time, Choco recalls the experience: “I was the first one to touch the Battle of the Year stage for Taiwan. It was great; a dream come true.”
International recognition for a Taiwanese crew raised break dancing's profile here.
“Everyone knows Battle of the Year, whether you are a Bboy or not,” Choco said. “So, when [I] came back from Germany and told my story to the kids, they got very excited about it and wanted to break dance because they wanted to go to Germany too.”
With the rise in popularity of hip hop and its many sub-genres, groups like Machi (麻吉), which includes former-LA Boyz member Jeffrey Huang (黃立成), and superstars such as Wang Lee-hom (王力宏), have become highly influential. And as adoration inspires emulation, the break-dance moves they pull off on stage are being copied in clubs and schoolyards.
“I think in a year or two, we'll be [competing on] an international [level],” Choco said. “We have more style than power. Maybe two years ago, we used to copy a lot of B-boys from [South] Korea. Good skills, good one-hand freezes, but no style because we had no toprock or footwork. But this year, B-boys started [drawing inspiration] from the American B-boys …. We're still copying, but we're picking the best [aspects] of every country and adding the Taiwanese style.”
At the heat, to be held at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall beginning at 5pm, challengers including HRC (Hyper Rush Crew) and BIT (B-boys in Taiwan) will be looking to unseat two-time BOTY qualifiers TBC.
What: Battle of the Year qualifying round
WHere: Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall (國父紀念館), 505 Renai Rd Sec 4, Taipei (仁愛路四段505號)
When: Tonight from 5pm to 9pm
Tickets: NT$300 in advance or NT$500 at the door
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