Creation vs Cleaning

What is up y'all~ bboy Ndure here once again to share some of my thoughts regarding bboying.

As IL Break 8 approaches closer and closer, many bboys who intend to participate are starting to get hyped up and start to train hardcore for the event. I can't blame them, as I am one of those bboys that intend to be part of the battle with my crew.

However, as of late, my thoughts are torn and split into two during sessions: Should I make new things/combo for IL Break or should I just practice what I have so far and clean it up as much as possible? Every damn time I go to session, I find myself try to create new things at first, but then immediately shifted to clean up my old combos because I suddenly experience a change of heart and feels that doing so is truly the right decision. This is legitimately a never ending cycle.

Originally, I didn't have so much thought about this topic. That is, until one of my crew mate, Justinian, talked to me briefly after I viewed his battle video at his school, Indiana University. He told me straight up that he just did an old set which Rox-it,one of the judges of the event, had seen a gajillion times already. Justinian stated that he just didn't feel comfortable doing new things after a long and exhausting Friday he had. This comment, although may not be perceived as significant, definitely caused me to think.

What would you do 2 months before participating in a bit event? I recalled two years ago before IL Break 7, one of my senpais, Josh Ong, told me that people usually have their "experimental period" in the beginning of the year, then about a month before people started to just practice the same sets over and over again until they can execute it flawlessly. However, not being a firm believer of sets, I find this suggestion to be inapplicable to me. So I started to think what I can do in order to prepare myself when it comes to utilizing the session time. And trust me, it is definitely not as easy as 1 + 1...

For me, because I realized that I have very limited arsenal of moves, I decided that each time I session I should dedicate a good 15-30 minutes to experimentation. By constantly experiment, I should be able to create new moves or combos that I can truly call my own. Then for the remaining time period, I should practice various combos that I want to work on and to be included in my getdowns when it's time to show the judges what my version of bboying is about. And since I am a firm believer of improvising according to the music, I would only practice combos and not sets. There's a huge difference, in case you don't know it yet :P

So the take home point of this post? Well, don't have one in mind XD Well..to be exact, I don't have a CLEAR one in mind, as the answer to each bboys will be different. If you feel like you have very limited arsenal like me, then it probably would be wise to dedicate at least a portion of your session time into the creation process. If you feel like you have enough arsenal but they are not to the point where they are presentable yet, then you should work on cleaning up those mess. If you are just unsure of where you stand in this spectrum, then just do whatever you want really. Afterall, what you do on the day of the battle can't be predicated by premade sets, but be modeled after your interpretation of the music.

Decisions Decisions and...More Decisions....o.O

Since I couldn't sleep late last night ( or rather, this morning ) around 4 am...my mind couldn't help but ponder into the world of bboying. Looking back, I remembered and realized that I went through several different phases of learning about the culture since I first started. Then I compared to my current goals as a bboy to the goals I had set for myself back then...oh boy...what a big difference.

Like many bboys that first started out, I was merely mesmerized by the pure physical capabilities that a bboy can reach. In other words, the field of power moves was, undoubtedly, my ultimate goal as a bboy years ago. Reasons? Well, to be honest, was probably to gain some additional brag rights :P DON'T LIE! IF YOU ARE READING THIS YOU KNOW THIS IS TRUE! But, that was back when I was a junior in high school. I was not exactly into the Hip Hop culture as much as I am now. Quite frankly, I am actually rather ashamed of myself back then. Why? Because I only focused on the physical aspect of the dance instead of the spiritual and musical aspect of the expression. No, it is more accurate to say that back then I viewed bboying not as a dance, but as a sport.

Enough of my shameful past. Now let me show you where I stand in my philosophy/perspective in terms of bboying. After almost 5 years since I was first exposed to the scene, I have learned quite a bit. Hats off to all my mentors and crew mates for illuminating the path which I followed as a bboy. See that picture on the right? His name is bboy Zeshen of the Havikoro crew. I wouldn't say he is my current favorite bboy, but he is definitely one of the bboys who I can watch over and over again and never grow tired of him. His styles is so original and inspiring that I can't help but keep watching him as he dances to the music in his own way. Few have strong enough will to continue to create and follow his or her own path while not conforming to the popular preference of the mainstream bboys/bgirls. Like the infamous Paranoid Android, who also emphasizes on his own personal style regardless of the popular opinion, Zeshen has created a whole new category of dance that is sure to be followed by many future bboys who share the same determination and passion for the dance. At this point of time, this is very important for me. Due to academic pressure, I am chained down to a desk and study my behind off instead of training to be a better bboy. However, with the limited time which I have to do so, I learned to session however the heck I want and disregard many other criticisms. Though I have felt that I may have "dropped down" in the "social hierarchy" of the scene here in Champaign, I do not feel one bit of regret in what I do and how I train as a bboy.

Getting Ready for IL Break 8!!!

After a long period of time this blog has been going MIA, I finally conjured up enough motivation to make another post. Let's hope that this keeps up in the long run :P But this time it was rather easy because I am very excited to announce the coming of another IL Break!

As the treasurer of Floor Lovers Illinois, it is not an exaggeration to say that the whole role of being a treasurer of FLI is to ensure that the club can afford such an extravagant jam. So one can actually say, this post is mainly my overview of the jam that will go over most of the costs and miscellaneous stuff like that :P But for those that are interested in hosting jams in the future...I hope this can be served as a good reference ^_^

Well then let me first put it out front my estimated price for IL Break 8...ready? YOU READY FOR THIS RIDICULOUS AMOUNT OF CASH THAT WILL MAKE MOST COLLEGE KIDS GO W-T-F LIKE THIS?!?!

The amount is roughly 6000 US dollars. Ya, That's right...this is quite a grand amount of money. Of course, let me put it out in front, this is NOT INCLUDING the price money for winning IL Break. The reward, according to traditions, are always roughly 1000 US dollars... but usually covered most of that amount by collecting entrance fee to non-university students.

At first glance, this just sounds plain retarded. You may be like "man you don't know what you are talking about"...well I am about to prove you wrong :P Let us start by the most basic part of the jam that features battles: Judges and DJ. As tradition state, IL Break always like to include 3 judges: One judge from a local background; one judge from an international background; and one judge from another part of the USA. Each Judge will be paid 400 dollars for their troubles. That is already 1200 Dollars. As for DJ, we are fortunate enough to have the legendary DJ Skeme Richard as our returning DJ. As signs of our appreciation and respect, we are paying this legend a grand total of 800 dollars. But he's not our only DJ. DJ Los Boogeys are also included on the roster, but the club is going to offer 350 dollars to him. That already put us up to 2350 dollars. Now, if we are to have an exhibition from the big names that are going to show up in the jam, we are going to offer each exhibitioner (going to have 2) 200 dollars...that make it 400 dollars in addition to that 2350...so 2750 dollars. Now each person (that would make it 7 people) need to stay at a nearby hotel in order to provide them courtesy. Hotel costs roughly 75 dollars a night and each person is going to stay 4 days and 3 nights. So that would be 75 dollars x 3 x 7 = 1575 Dollars. 2750 + 1575 = 4325. Now, we are also responsible for covering judge's travel expenses...and since we are going to have an international judge...depends on the flight ticket price..we are talking about roughly another one thousand dollars...the other two judges' gas are also on us...assuming the judge from somewhere in the USA is also within driving distance. So OPTIMISTICALLY SPEAKING...I am assuming roughly 1200 dollars to cover all 3 judges travel expenses. So just base on the roster alone, we are talking about 5525 dollars total. And this is only half the game.

A big event like IL Break definitely needs to be advertized across campus, therefore, it is essential to have fliers to be passed around. Now, one would ask me why we need to have the campus students to know about IL Break and spend another 50 to 100 Dollars on them. Well, the reason is rather simple yet at the same time complicated >.<. To make a long story short, college student organizations simply cannot afford such colossal amount of money on their own. Therefore, registered student organizations are eligible to apply for funding from school known as SORF funding. But to do so, the treasurer of the club (namely me) has to score 100% on a 35 question quiz on SORF funding in order to be eligible for the club to apply. In addition, the school's ability to fund is constantly decreasing over time. SORF was able to cover roughly 83% for IL Break 7. But my current guestimation is that even if SORF is applied, they can probably cover up to 80% at BEST. To apply for SORF funding, I have to also put up a "portfolio" that can convince the school to fund IL Break 8. And to be able to do that, I have to make some kind of bullsh!t like "spreading the hip hop culture to the student populus..and this is beneficial to the campus because...." something like that....all just to increase the chance of getting funded. The more the fund, the better because it is rather hard for the clubs on campus to make money. SORF usually covers approximately 80% of the total cost. However, due to the fact that SORF is getting poorer and poorer by the year, it is questionable if it can do the same as two years ago. In fact, it is relatively safe to assume that SORF will probably cover up to 75%-78% this year...optimistically speaking.

Putting those fliers aside, the vendor also costs money. Being a university student and returning customer does have its advantage :P We are able to reserve the Illini Ball Room ABC for roughly 250 dollars. In addition to that, we also need the union's kickass audio system that will probably cost around 50-75 dollars. All in All, we are talking about another 325 dollars. 5525 + 325 = 5850 Dollars. There we go! Quite a colossal amount no? XD

Well despite the seeming impossible amount of money required to make this jam happen, FLI will definitely try their bets to bring IL Break 8 into existence. Hope to cyall there!