How a Bboy is Judged?

What is up yall! N-dure here once again to share some of my thoughts regarding the dance. I thought today would be a good time to take a break from taking lessons from Alien Ness' book and talk about something else. Something has been bothering my mind recently about the way people perceive bboys. It is rather difficult to put into words, so bear with me with my horrible fobby english :P This is something I have pretty much confirmed after attending Breakin the Law 8: Elev8tion.

Now I urge you all to think from a perspective of an audience at a jam. No, you are not a complete stranger, you are just a regular bboy attending a jam and watching the battles as a spectator. Now a battle has just started. Two bboys came on the floor and faced off against each other. The DJ played a chill song for the bboys to dance to.One bboy came out hard, toprock -> transition -> ground work -> airflare -> power combo -> clean freeze. The other bboy, on the other hand, did some pretty simple stuff in comparison. Toprock -> transition ->footwork/groundwork->freeze. Who won? You guessed it! The second bboy ^_^

Now I am not saying how I judge a bboy is the absolute right one. Don't get me wrong. However, the example I just gave will support my upcoming thesis. So What is my thesis you may asked? It is simple: More and more bboys are losing the artistic/dancing aspect of of the dance.

Ya, many of you will probably call it bullshit. Well, chill out dudessss =.= Keep in mind that this is merely my opinion and I did state that how I perceive a bboy is NOT the right one. What I am about to say in this post is merely the projection of my perception of how a bboy should be judged. So don't take it too seriously. But since you already read this far, might as well keep hearing me out.

Now what would cause me to say such a thing? Do I hate power moves because I can't do them as well as many bboys so I am merely making an excuse to put down power moves? Bullshit. Don't get me wrong, I am definitely a fan of that aspect of the dance. Hell, I train hard for those too. However, from what I see in the jams that I have been to (small and big), many spectators often emphasizes on the "athletic aspect of the dance rather than artistic"..as bboy Prince from Ichigeki (Planet Bboy) stated in the documentary.

What I am putting out here is not merely based on a single experience that I had, but of the several. I attended Il Break 7, Breakin' the Law 8, and many other decent size jams. So if my hypothesis was wrong, then the trend should have been nonexistent...but sadly enough, it does exist. Whenever a bboy put out some hard or rare power moves, he is almost always are guaranteed to receive props. Whereas a style head that emphasizes on style work may or may not receive equal amount of respect and props if he or she brings out her own flavor while dancing to the music.

I understand that doing harder things definitely should receive good amount of props. However, that should NOT the only thing you judge a bboy on. After all, no matter how hype people put it out to be, it is ultimately, and undeniably, a dance. It is not what a bboy can do while the other can't separate the elite from the rest. It is how a bboy make use of what he has in his arsenal in such a way that it would go well with the music. If the music calls for a power move set, then that's great. But when the music doesn't fit at all, then the "musicality" factor needs to be considered before finalizing an opinion on a bboy's run. Bboying, as flashy as the it is, is not gymnastic, it's a dance. So let's perceive the participants as dancers rather than stunts men. That's just my two cents.

N-dure