Asian B-Boys: breakdancing to the top
There is another stereotype that Asians can’t dance. Well for those people who are that naive, read on.
This is another old news thing but was recently garnering more attention due to the movie Planet B-Boy which showed at this year’s Tribeca film festival (excellent movie that I would recommend). Some of the world’s top breakdancers actually hail from Asia, and in the documentary Planet B-Boy, a few crews from around the world including USA, France, Korea, and Japan are followed during the Battle of the Year 2005 competition. This is the premier international B-Boy competition.
Although B-Boying is much newer in the Asian countries than some other parts of the world, they have definitely risen to the top. In fact, in the 2005 competition, here were the results:
Best Show: Ichigeki (Japan)
Battles:
1. Last For One (Korea)
2. Ichigeki (Japan)
3. Gambler (Korea)
4. Phase T (France)
Wow! The Japanese and Korean crew dominated that year. Here’s one of the routines from Ichigeki:
Back in 2006, the Vagabonds from France won with Last for One from Korea taking second. The 2007 competition is coming up on October 20, 2007 out in Germany. Go check it out and see who comes out on top this year.
Back on the film, beyond the great dancing in Planet B-Boy are great stories of the different crew members. Also, after the whole competition is over, you can see the camaraderie among the different groups with their common love of breakdancing. Good stuff.
If you can’t get enough, here is a good article about how Korean breakdancers have risen in the world scene: http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSSEO2657720070424?src=042407_0831_ARTICLE_PROMO_also_on_reuters&pageNumber=1
Not that I don’t love sports and entertainment, but I’ll try to post some more thought provoking material next.
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