A Year to Remember: 2010

There is a Chinese proverb that goes like this:

"光陰似箭，歲月如梭"

To simply put, this is how you say "time flies like an arrow".

Indeed, this year has so much memories that are worth reminiscing. For one, this is the year that my crew is born! At the beginning of the year, on January 23, the seven of us decided to make a crew in order to participate in a annual battle which Floor Lovers Illinois hosts every year: Il Break. To be honest, we never would have thought that this crew would become as "legit" as it turned out to be. Not only did we continue to exist as a crew after the event, we try our best to represent the Chicago Suburbs at many bboy scenes. With the shirt which Ink-Motionz kindly designed for the crew,we continue to pursue success in both academics and dance floor. After all, knowledge is potential ;) Of course, given the handicap of being spread out to 7 different schools", we are rather lacking when it comes to routines/commandos that requires certain degree of teamwork. But that never stopped us and our passion to express ourselves. We still manage to hold our grounds in the bboy scenes.

We didn't go all out recruit all the dope bboys.Instead, we did the complete opposite. We decide to keep the crew small and solely among the seven of us for now. Of course, this is not saying that we are close to recruitment. We are definitely open to the thought of recruiting crew mates. However, we will see when the time is right ^_^

This past year we went to many bboy scenes and battled at six events! To us, this is quite an accomplishment! Although we do have our ups and downs, we grow up together and mature as a crew. Nearly every single on of the events that we went to were accompanied with some kind of accidents. I am going to quickly summarize and find footage of each event. Those ups and downs only further strengthens our bonds.

Of course, the first event entail our very first crew battle! On April 10th, the Suburbaknightz participated in its first battle as a crew in IL Break 7. To our dismay, we found ourselves on the dance floor as the first battle =.= But hey, what can you do right? We anxiously answered the summon from the MC and mentally prepared ourselves for our very first crew battle. And here it is!

WE WON WOOT!!!!!!!!! To be honest, we never expected to even pass the first round ^_^. However, the bliss is short lasted. The Suburbaknightz retired at the second round against The South Chicago crew.

On April 16th, shortly after Il Break 7, bboy Satori helped organize a bboy event that took place in NNHS.He made it quite far! Mad props to bboy Satori for being able to battle despite all the accumulated stress/exhaustion from the organization of this event. You did well bro!

Bboy Justinian took on a monstrous challenge for the crew! On July 25th, he participated in Smoking Permitted 2. Not only did he do well, his first two rounds were against the infamous Adverse and Al Grande o.O. Footages can be found here:

Round 1 Adverse not in the footage, unfortunately

Round 2 Justinian vs Al Grande

Against some big names! Probably because of this event that our crew name is slowly getting recognition. Go Justinian!

On August 28th, the beginning of the semester, Floor Lovers Illinois decided to bring back an old bboy event called Schoolyard Brawl. It is a competition that allows bboy from different universities to unite and gather. In this event, Justinian and Blu-Jay teamed up and went on to the quarter finals! Farthest competition that the Suburbaknightz par take in! I myself also joined but under the name "Pretty Boy Swag" but get disqualified in the second round due to the failing execution of a routine/commando/whatever we were doing :P Ah well lol! In any case, good job knightz!

SK vs Arch Enemies

SK vs Self X


With Halloween nearby, Chicago hostd the Hellaween IV battle on October 23rd. Justinian, Satori, Akimbo decided to enter the battle while Ink-Motionz took on the job of recording the whole battle. In a big battle like this, the chance of winning could be said to be next to none...BUT that's not the whole point! The whole point was to have fun! And that's exactly what they did!


Last but not least, the Suburbaknightz made a final appearance of the year at World of Dance Chicago that took place on November 27th. This is the one and only event which the entire crew was present. With this rare chance to really enjoy ourselves together, of course we would go all out to enjoy the cyphers. Bboy Benny Ben once told Blu-Jay and I that nowadays bboys have it all backward. They should see cyphering as the primary reason they go to these events, then battling come second. With his words in mind, the Suburbaknightz did exactly that.

You can definitely say that the Suburbaknightz ran out of luck when it comes to battling. In the 2v2 bboy battles, the Suburbaknightz decided to join in two squads. One squad was consisted of Justinian and Akimbo, while the other was composed of Satori and myself. Squad 1 had the luck of facing off against the Chicago Tribe in the prelims, while Satori and myself faced against the winner of the entire competition: Shortybrick of Brickheadz.

SK 1 vs Chicago Tribe


SK 2 vs Shortybrick


Of course, Ink-Motionz also repped and battled at the All-Style battles! Man! he brings forth that smoothness and the unique style of combining popping, locking, and bboying altogether. Fresh! Though it was rather sad that he didn't make it to the top. But he repped hard anyway! Good job bro!

Ink-Motionz in action:


Looking back, we did quite a bit! What a year it has been knightz! Of course, this is only the official events that we were present in. We also had several chill sessions just so that we could catch up with each other. After all, a crew is not a crew without that tight bonds among us. For one, we had an amazing time cyphering in downtown Naperville. Heck, I even wrote a whole post for it. Not only did we make good use of a wonderful day, we even made some money that allowed us to get some refreshments at McDonalds afterward! What a great time~ Definitely miss the weather that permitted us to do that :P

Enough babbling. Go do whatever you guys want to do in order to celebrate an end to a year that is worth remembering.The Suburbaknightz wishes everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR! UNTIL THEN~



Cheers!

N-dure

What is "Breakdancing"?

Many people often times are amazed by "breakdancing". With its many aerial and strength aspects, "breakdancing" captures the attention of almost anyone anywhere. When asked why, all the reasons that one may get can be simply summarized with three words: It is impressive. However, only people with sufficient background of the art form can truly see the beauty and uniqueness behind the flow of the each movement. Whether its the flow or the musicality that a "breakdancer" brings to the floor, it is all connected, in some way, to a dancer's "soul".

The problem at hand is the number of people that can actually appreciate such art form. Many who decides to be dedicated to this form of expression are often times motivated to search deep within the root of this dance and discover the history. However, many people who decides to pursue this hobby for materialistic/superficial reasons fail to perceive the importance of knowing what the art form actually is.

Growing up from a suburb area, it wasn't until recent years that I learned the true name of the dance which I used to call "breakdancing". The real name behind "breakdancing" is another term known as "bboying". The term "bboying" comes from the term "beat boy". The name is pretty self-explanatory. The term "beat boy" is named because a bboy dance to a specific beat. The pace of the beat can be exemplified through the majority of James Brown's music

I daresay that the majority of the general public are ignorant of the existence of a social movement known as "Hip Hop". Now, I am not an expert, nor do I know enough to really preach/teach about this social movement. However, I can differentiate between the fake and the real thing. An outsider would most likely say, "Of course I know what Hip Hop music is!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Can you tell me what it is then?"

"Well, duh, Hip Hop music! Artists like Jay-Z, Souljaboy, Usher, people like that!"


*facepalm*

So what is "Hip Hop"?

Well, I don't know the answer well enough to really say anything deep about it. Heck, I am still trying to figure out the answer myself. However, there are a few pointers that I learned by watching a documentary made by Benson Lee. Planet bboy, a wonderful documentary, pretty much summarized this profound term in a nutshell: It is a social movement that allows people to express themselves. Now if you are not cut out to be a dancer, you don't have to be one. The term "Hip Hop" covers four elements: Bboying, DJing, MCing, and Graffiti. You choose which path or paths you wish to take! Each of these elements have their roots and are somehow intertwined with each other. Each of these elements also have a social concept that makes each of these elements unique: The concept of battling.

As a bboy, I am still very green when it comes to battling. However, I can say that this concept makes this social movement so unique that no other forms of expression can rival the emotions that a battle can bring forth. The anticipation and the rush of energy a bboy will experience in battle is simply priceless. It's this feeling that makes a bboy want to further pursue the dance in order to perform better in battles.

When I first started out, I can honestly say that it was the pure energy and aerodynamic elements of power moves that drawn me toward this dance. However, as I grow older, I slowly came to realize that this dance has much more to offer. It is by far the best outlet of accumulate stress from every day life that I have ever come across. Now I am not hoping to be a professional bboy. I am not cut out to be that piece of log. However, I respect the art form and I respect the pioneers that used their time, effort, blood, and sweat to create a dance that is so profound and contains infinite possibility. Hopefully this post will brighten the shielded minds of those who thinks that the term "Hip Hop" is only a label to a type of music.

Cheers~

N-dure of Suburbaknightz

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Can you guys believe it? It is that time of the year again! After the end of a very tiring and difficult semester, I find myself at loss of what to do during break. Needless to say, bboying comes to mind. But my body is still recovering from my first day of insanity... (so out of shape GAHH!!!)

Unfortunately, being back to motherland (TAIWAN), I am the farthest away from the rest of my crew. As much as I wish to session/train/catch up with the rest of the crew, family comes first. Due to the huge possibility that I most likely won't be returning to Taiwan next summer, I decided to visit my family during winter break. Although time is shorter, this visit back to my roots has proved to be rather different than before. I don't know if its the difference in age and maturity, or just stuff that I have experienced in this past year, everything I see here gives a unique and different feeling. I can't begin to describe it because I simply don't know what it is. It is like a feeling of sad and remorse, yet satisfied at the same time. Rather difficult to explain why, but I guess that's what makes life so interesting!

In any case, I believe that I will begin to update this blog on a rather frequent basis in the new year. why? BECAUSE THIS IS ON MY NEW YEAR RESOLUTION!!!!! Speaking of new years resolution...



Well, I am hoping to keep my promise to myself to keep the new year resolutions real! This is like the first time that I decided to set on some goals that I want to accomplish as New Year Resolution (late to American culture I know...) And here's my list!

1) Be more efficient and successful in my academics
2) Be the best possible boyfriend I can be to my lovely girlfriend ^_^
3) Be dedicated to bboying and my crew
4) Be smart and not spend too much time/money on my new hobby: Tamiya
5) Exercise frequently
6) Occassionally glowstring
7) Be there for my brothers from other mothers!
8) Update the blog

I know this list may sound like a lot, but most of these things really doesn't take that much effort to accomplish. But I know that these things are the things that occupies my mind 90% of the time in this past year. Therefore, I want to continue to do what I do well and improve what I did not do well in this past year! Time to make some improvements YEAHHH!!!! I just have to say, it is getting harder and harder to keep at the bboying scene. Perhaps it is due to the overusage of my joints in the earlier years, every time after session I always feel some excruciating pain running to my joints. Perhaps its a sign from above saying I should stop. But fuck it, I love bboying :P But little do I know that FLI would entail so much drama within the club. I just hope that I won't be part of that anytime soon!

My other concern is regarding my other favorite dance form known as glowstringing. Even though I was confident in my glowstringing skills back in high school, it is clearly no longer the case. After neglecting my need to touch my strings every now and then, my skills have deteriorated beyond imagination. I know that both bboying and glowstringing takes a considerable amount of time to practice. Giving the time limit that I have per day, it is impossible to divide my dedication equally among the two hobbies. Therefore, in this past year, I have decided to put bboying before glowstringing. Nonetheless, I wish to glowstringing at least 3 hours a week to slowly regain my confidence and skills in this art form. After all, this art form provides the confidence I needed in high school. I will never let that go.

I know that I don't update the blogs often enough to make this a legitimate blog. However, that is because I am lost at thought of what to blog. I don't have enough things to blog about on my own. So on the flight back to motherland, I have been thinking: What direction should I take this blog to? I would love to make this a regular part of me because this is the best way for me to relate and share with my crew members other than chatting with them through chatting clients. After many thoughts, I have come to the conclusion. Since the crew is about bboying, so should the primary focus of this blog. So from now on, I am going to not only update news regarding the crew, but I am also going to post bboy news/bboy materials as well as my thoughts on the matter. Hopefully you guys will enjoy it! I may or may not have what it takes to make this a popular blog. But the original purpose of this blog was never meant for it to be big. It was meant for the crew and people that are interested in who we are.

After all that blabbing, I think it is a good time to end. I am hoping that my decision regarding this blog will turn out for the better. Oh I almost forgot! This crew is almost one year old!! Wah! So much have happened! Definitely gonna make a blog post about that when the time is right! Also, I am starting to work on a Suburbaknightz Crew 1 year trailer! Please look forward to it! For now, be safe and don't do anything stupid that you will regret. Merry Christmas everyone and Happy New Years!!

- N-dure