B-boying czyli Breakdance po koreańsku. R16 Korea 2014 National Championships.

Some time ago I have read a very interesting interview with B-boy Darkness, a former leader of Gamblerz B-boy crew. Last Saturday  I had an opportunity to watch them performing on stage in Uijeongbu Art Center.

B-boying is a major thing in Korea and a reason for changing people perception of their abilities, a way to make live more colourful and less stressful. Korea has one of the highest suicide rates among teenagers in Asia. The main reason for this is the pressure of society on the youngsters who are constantly being challenged in almost every aspect of their live. An old Japanese proverb states that

We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance so the teenagers in Korea do.

Breakdance appeared in Korea in the late 80’s when people saw artists like Jackson or watched movies breakdance was a large part of. It took another 10 years for the B-boying style to appear on an international stage as a separate style, but Koreans made it, and did it with a big bang!

In 1992 two members of Korean group “Tae-Ji & children” did some simple B-boying moves in videos and on stage and the madness began. Shortly after, Korean Pop stars joined the trend. In 1997 writer Kim Su-young created a very popular cartoon about B-boying called “Hip-Hop”. This cartoon influenced many youngsters to try their way in b-boying. About the same time Moonlight club in Itaewon (located close to American military base) became a meeting spot for b-boys where they were free to practice and share their ideas, first event was organized in 1996 and B-boy groups started forming all around country and the stage began to grow.

As there were no national championships at that time, it was difficult to share ideas and to work on the unique Koran style which would become characteristic for performers from this country; it had also led to wide differences in performing abilities between teams.

There was an additional, a very negative fact about the stage at that time. The stage was divided in Pros and Amateurs.  This status quo continued roughly until 2001. To look for a source of this paradox one must reach out to Korean culture. There is a certain hierarchy in this society related to class, the age of people and respect they are to be paid. This also translates to b-boys world in a sense, that youngsters and new teams should pay respect to the ones with long term careers. This situation had changed during last few years, but the respect remains strong.

Korean b-boy stage became international in 1999 when the first World Hip Hop festival has been organized. Famous American dancers (e.g. Circle) came to Korea and started working with domestic teams. For the same festival but in 2001 few American b-boy groups came to battle with Koreans. 2001 was also the year when the first victory came. Korean B-boy team won the 4^th place in International Battle; it was the time for Korean B-boy teams to go strong ahead. Not long after Expression as the first Asian team won the Battle of the Year the world’s most famous breakdance competition. 

Koreans wouldn’t be Koreans if they would not create a non-verbal performance with B-boy dancers as they did in 2006. The Marionette show is still running to this day. 

B-boy teams keep influencing youngsters, changing their lives and create smile on our faces. Now, they do it not only in Korean stage but also internationally as they obtained a steady position on it.

Jakiś czas temu czytałam interesujący wywiad z B-boyem Darkness, jednym z najbardziej znanych tancerzy breakdance w Korei, byłego lidera grupy tanecznej Gamblerz. W zeszłą sobotę miałam przyjemność oglądać, jak grupa wygrywa w jednej z kategorii R16 Korea 2014 National Championships. 

Breakdance, w Korei zwany B-boying nierozerwalnie związany jest z kulturą K-pop, cieszy się  ogromną popularnością wśród młodzieży i nie bez powodu.

Korea ma jeden z najwyższych odsetek samobójstw wśród młodzieży w Azji. Głównym powodem jest presja wywierana przez społeczeństwo na młode osoby a związana z dążeniem do perfekcji w każdym niemal aspekcie życia.  Masz być szczupły, wysportowany a nade wszystko masz osiągać nieprzeciętne wyniki w nauce, toteż większość nastolatków w szkole średniej uczęszcza na zajęcia od godziny 8 rano do 11/12 w nocy.
 

Jeśli ktoś poświęca się tańcowi, robi to na profesjonalnym poziomie i podporządkowuje swoje życie pasji, w tej sytuacji na pozytywne efekty nie trzeba długo czekać, a sukcesy przychodzą szybko.

Breakdance pojawił się w Korei pod koniec lat 80-tych wraz z falą teledysków Michaela Jacksona. Po zaledwie 10 latach B-boying stal się stałym elementem tutejszej popkultury.

W rozpowszechnianiu breakdance pomógł Korei Internet (8 z 10 gospodarstw domowych ma stałe łącze, dzięki czemu instruktażowe filmiki mogły dotrzeć do wszystkich zainteresowanych błyskawicznie), wyprodukowany w 1997 roku komiks o breakdance, który święcił ogromną popularność oraz determinacja samych tancerzy, która doprowadziła do wygrania przez jedną z koreańskich grup w 2001 roku najbardziej prestiżowego konkursu breakdance „International Battle”.

Dziś, grupy B-boy staja w szranki z takimi potęgami jakUSA czy Holandia i często wygrywają.     
Korean National Championships wygrali w tym roku:                                                               
Popping Winner: Poppin DS
Locking Winner: Locking Khan
Bboy Crew Winner: Gamblerz Crew

4-6 czerwca staną oni w szranki z drużynami z 23 krajów w batalii o tytuł najlepszego.  

Na widowni z pewności nie zabraknie mojej skromnej osoby, a o rezultatach batalii skrzętnie doniosę wszystkim zainteresowanym.