B-boys Style

Some time last year my cousin told me he had just seen a documentary about break dancing and in particular how the Koreans had dominated the recent ‘world championship’ of break dancing. He was telling me how impressed he was by their talent and it was mind blowing stuff.

So when I was flying to Seoul via SIA and came across ‘Planet B-boy’, I thought this had to be it and selected it for the next hour’s entertainment. Planet B-boy is like a documentary that follows several teams with a focus on particular members as they prepare for the big battle in Germany.

We gain some insight to their views on dance in particular break dancing and hip hop. Although the director tries to spread the attention, I couldn’t help but feel that the more interesting stories were with the French and Korean teams. The members that they focused the documentary on were from less well to do backgrounds. Some faced opposition from their family from pursuing their passion and some others received a lot of support.

As the story follows their preparation for their competition in Germany, you can already see subtle differences in the style of dancing and performance standards from team to team. The Koreans had won the year before which was a first as they had only picked up this Western style of dancing recently.

The world champions from the year before automatically qualified for this year so Korea was able to send a 2nd team. The Americans were all talk and only managed top 5 if I’ m not mistaken… which is a little ironic considering the art originated from them.

Its really worth watching these talented boys wow you with their skill, technique, choreograph and passion. So when I found out that they had a small theatre in Hongdae which had a B-boy show, I got my tickets asap.

The theatre is at the basement of Samjinpharm Building near the main gate of Hongik University. The theatre is small but cozy. The front area of the stage is kept empty for the dancers and seats are available around the dance floor. They get pretty up close and personal which is all part of the experience.

Now wanting to ruin the story and there IS a story, the show was riveting which also had some contemporary/modern dance involved. It was interesting seeing the two mix but I was definitely more impressed with the fast pace of the hip hop and break dance style. One of my favorites was the Robot dance moves. Here are some pictures I took of the dancers after the show.

You can find out more and buy tickets here: SJBboys

Taking pictures with the audience after the show.