Celebreak

Alvin Lau’s “For the Breakdancers” Spoken Word piece

Posted on December 30, 2008

I’ve heard poems that talk about about hip-hop culture and rapping (which is poetry itself), but this is the first time I’ve seen one specifically on breaking. Alvin Lau, a Chicago native and professional performance poet, performed his piece For the Breakdancers at the 2007 National Poetry Slam in Austin. Not only did he do this piece in the high-pressure, final round, he also managed to do some funk styling while reciting it:

Breakdancing around the World: Canada

Posted on December 30, 2008

Though breaking started in the Bronx, NY, it has since grown from a U.S. fad to world-wide phenomenon. I‘ll periodically post a “Breaking around the World” blog to showcase b-boys and b-girls from all around the globe.

I’ve never understood why Americans poked fun at Canada so much but their b-boys are definitely no joke.  I wrote about the impact of Canadian b-boys Buddha and Lazy Legs but some others have also been very influential. Bag-o-Trix and Supernaturalz crews both helped popularize threading, an intricate footwork style (also known as origami style) that many b-boys do today.

Here’s a highlight clip of Dyzee of Supernaturalz Crew where he does a lot of threading:

Breaking on the Discovery Channel’s Time Warp

Posted on December 24, 2008

The Discovery Channel recently had b-boys Xcel and TBA from Problems Kru breaking on an episode of Time Warp. They recorded the dancing, slowed down the replay and then broke it all down (no pun intended) scientifically. How scientific? Well, they used the terms “gravitational potential energy”, “center of mass” and “dynamic stability” to describe how the b-boys did windmills:

Breakdance Project Uganda featured on Edun

Posted on December 24, 2008

The socially conscious clothing company Edun (started by U2’s Bono and his wife Ali Hewson) has recently featured Breakdance Project Uganda on their website. Bono and Ali have been raising money and awareness for sub-suharan Africa for a long time and are big on empowering through the arts. Abramz, the Founder of Breakdance Project Uganda, has been using the art of breaking to empower youth all over Uganda since 2006. It was only a matter of time before the 2 organizations met up.

Related Posts:

• Breaking all over the World: Uganda

Break on Through, a b-girl novel

Posted on December 21, 2008

This is my first time hearing about breaking literature and it looks promising! Author and b-girl Jill Murray has written a b-girl novel entitled Break on Through.  Here’s an excerpt from the book:

The DJ drops the needle and Treat ‘em Right by Chubb Rock bursts through the speakers. I leap into the circle. None of this waiting stuff for me. I have to be first. No way am I letting the judges think the other guy might be hungrier. I don’t care how much experience he has. I don’t want to hear about upper body strength.

This one is mine. His crew might be legendary, but I’ve trained for this. I have talent, I have energy and more importantly, I want it more.

The music rips through my body, pushing me to move. I’m not thinking. I’m not even in control of my limbs.

Within twenty counts, I’m down on the floor. My hands and feet twist and wind around each other with familiar flow, weaving my body through illusions of contortions. The crowd cheers louder the deeper I get. I feed off their energy.

When the timing feels right, I unwind from a windmill, track into a headstand, fake like I’m going to end my run right there but then pop up into a hollow back handstand, my shoulders stretching, back arching so far that I can feel my feet reaching for the ground. I freeze there for a gravity-defying lifetime of seconds. The crowd sucks in its breath, then lets out a cheer as I land back on my feet in a proud b-girl stance. I brush the imaginary dust off my shoulder and toss my hair at my opponents.

You can read more of the book on her website or cop the book on Amazon.

More breakploitation - The Break Board!

Posted on December 19, 2008

More awesomely bad 80’s breakploitation: The Break Board

“Still breaking the hard way? Well have I got something for you!…”

Blueprint for Life to receive a $400,000 Grant from the Government

Posted on December 19, 2008

A couple of months ago, I mentioned Arctic Hip Hop, a book about a community outreach program in Northern Canada’s Indigenous regions. The program, Blueprint for Life, has been so well-received by the the community and government that they recently received a a $400,000 grant from them to expand and continue their work. 

Founder and organizer Stephen Leafloor, also known as B-Boy Buddha from Canadian Floor Masters, is doing great things by mixing his passion for breaking and hip-hop with his desire to help people. I’m glad that the government is supporting his work!

Solving puzzles while breaking - Go Go Break Steady on Xbox Live

Posted on December 16, 2008

There’s a new game on Xbox Live called Go Go Break Steady where you solve puzzles while breaking. The game looks pretty interesting and as a promo, the makers of the game wanted to see if it could also be done in real life. They invited a bunch of breakers and poppers to come in and dance for 2 rounds. After a round of normal dancing, they were given various puzzles and prompted to try and dance while solving them. They came up with a lot of creative solutions. Check it out:

Crazy Breakdancing Audition - The funniest home videos are here

John Hopkins University to sponsor a breaking competition

Posted on December 15, 2008

John Hopkins University is sponsoring a battle! They recently awarded their campus breaking organization, John Hopkins Breakdancing, a grant to host a b-boy competition. The grant, which was awarded through their Arts Innovation Program, “offers funding to faculty to create new courses in the arts for undergraduates, with an emphasis on interdisciplinary and cross-divisional courses.” 

The group wants the competition to increase awareness and communication between the school’s different dance groups and the Baltimore dance scene at large. Plus, they plan to host the event during their school’s Family Weekend which should give it an even bigger audience.

Portrait of a B-Boy

Posted on December 14, 2008

I just came across a cool photojournalism project entitled “Portrait of B-Boy“. The author worked with b-boy Lancer17 to get depth on what it means to him to be a b-boy. The accompanying images are from a Berkeley practice spot and the Mighty 4 competition that went down back in October. All in all, its a powerful piece.