2009/07/18
EAST London’s Guild Theatre will be the battlefield as top breakdance crews in the province take on each other for the national championships.
About 10 B-Boy crews from East London B-Boy outfits like C4, Eternal B Boys, Venomous and the new kids on the block Lost Boys, including Verta Break from Butterworth, King William’s Town’s Breakers and last year’s winners, Breaktrix will be twisting and locking at this year’s Battle of the Year (BOTY) on Saturday evening.
The winners will represent the province at the African Hip-Hop Indaba in Cape Town in August, and the overall winners there will go to the championships in Germany later in the year.
For the first time ever in the competition, krumping, locking and popping crews will also compete.
Online encyclopedia Wikipedia describes krumping as an urban street dance form characterised by free, expressive, and highly energetic moves involving the arms, head, legs, chest and feet.
One of the organisers of the East London showdown, who goes by the name JD, said the genre was introduced to bring variety to the competition, and to attract practitioners of the genre who were usually sidelined from the competition.
“There’s a stereotype in breakdancing that B-Boying is a coloured thing, and that is not true. We have included krumping crews from Mdantsane and Southernwood to show that hip- hop has nothing to do with race, but the culture of dance and music. Their inclusion will also make the audience get value for their money,” said JD.
The event will be held in stages: the qualifying stage in the afternoon and the main event in the evening. The top five finalists from last year’s BOTY – Breaktrix, Venomous, Eternal B Boys, C4 and Stinging Scorpions – will automatically qualify for the main event.
Saturday’s show will also be used to spread the word against drugs and alcohol abuse and gangsterism, which are usually associated with hip-hop. “This is a family event and we want to keep it as such ,” said JD.
The event starts at 1pm on Saturday and the finals are at 7pm. Tickets are R30 at the Guild Theatre. For more information call 0782161548. - By LINDILE SIFILE
Entertainment Reporter
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