Celebreak

Little Breakdancing

Posted on January 7, 2009

There’s a clip of 2 midgets battling at an event in France where the guy on the left breaks and the other does capoeira. Is this exploitation? I’m still not sure how to feel about having this sort of set-up battle. Regardless, it’s still another example of b-boys overcoming obstacles:

Campaigning is Battling

Posted on October 11, 2008

Some months back, I came across this pro-Obama video spoof of Democrats battling Republicans. It has some obvious references to Breakin‘, a horribly awesome breakploitation flick which came out during the peak of breaking’s 80’s popularity, and uses a classic b-boy favorite, George Kranz’s “Din Daa Daa” (before Pit Bill and Yin Yang twins re-popularized it). This video is awesome:

And how appropriate to use a battle; political campaigns resemble them! The 2008 election has shown the Obama and McCain campaigns strategizing and capitalizing on each other’s weaknesses. Similarly, battles are often won using a combination of the same methods.

Crews strategize when to use certain moves based on who they foresee themselves going against and when they believe their moves will be most effective. This week, 4 weeks from the election, Obama released a documentary on McCain and the Keating 5 and McCain has been emphasizing Obama’s connection to anti-war radical Bill Ayers. Both believed their attacks would be most effective at this point in time. In a competition, crews will wait until final battles to do some of their most intricate routines and dopest moves to ensure their win. In both campaigns and competitions, timing is everything.   

Well-rounded b-boys know to do moves their opponents can’t counter. Their opponent’s non-sequitured response highlights their weakness like a politician changing the subject when asked questions to which they don’t know the answer. Sarah Palin has been repeatedly accused of doing this in the VP debate and just like a battle, it’s made made her opponent, Joe Biden, look like the winner.

Despite moves being thrown like attack ads, if you maintain your composure you can still mitigate the damage done in the judge’s eyes, just like the Keating 5 and Ayers attacks haven’t deterred all constituents from voting for McCain and Obama, respectively.