Bboy Unit Regional Elimination Canada Pre-Olympic Qualifications
WHO WILL REPRESENT CANADA AT THE INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP?
TORONTO, March 5 /CNW/ - Back to the Underground's Bboy Unit R.E. Canada
is back for its second year, bringing Canada's far corners together again to
clash for the title of number one bboy (breakdance) crew in Canada. Top crews
from all over the nation will bring up to ten members on their squad to do
battle in this modern day dancing martial art known as bboying. Beating their
opponents with moves, not fists, as they battle for their chance at glory.
The battleground is Toronto's renowned venue The Guvernment Nightclub.
Each crew will go head to head in a bracket style elimination to be judged on
creativity, fundamentals, battle strategy, execution and dynamics. The winner
receives the title of Team Canada and ten free flights and accommodations to
Seoul, Korea AND Beijing, China for the Bboy Unit World Championship. The
finals are an official Pre-Olympic event and the world's biggest bboy
competition.
The some of the crews prepared to do battle include Toronto's own world
famous Supernaturalz Crew, Montreal's Fresh Format, Ill-Mask, Ottawa's
Canadian Floor Masters, Calgary's Original Roots, Central Canada's O-Mighty
and last years returning champions F.A.M.
DJ Starting From Scratch will be killing it on the wheels of steel and
hosting this historic night will the notorious Lenny D from Hip Hop dance crew
Do-Dat, with Starting From Scratch's on air partner in crime, Taboo.
The art of bboying in Canada has never been seen at this level, until
now. The clash of these seasoned dancers will be a night to remember.
Tickets for Bboy Unit R.E. Canada will be available at Play de Record
(Yonge and Elm). Doors on event day open @ 9pm. For further information
including event details, visit www.backtotheunderground.com
Back to the Underground has become known for their success carving an
industry from the grassroots culture of bboying. These pioneers are creating
educational programming in Toronto's high risk schools to invest in our youth
and organizing local and international events for the existing community. They
have been called "THE endemic site for bboying" in Toronto by J.D. Wheeler,
Field Marketing Director for Redbull Canada. They are quickly becoming known
for their innovations and accomplishments revolutionizing the urban dance
community in Toronto.
Xavier Moriarty
bboying???? BBOYING???? lol, jesus christ !!
now thats what im talking about. i strongly advise everybody to come and check this out !!!!!
one love !
Xavier Moriarty
one day we will rule the world !!!
one love !
Abercrombie
Now if I can only dig up some old pictures with me and my crew from 1983.
b2du
Hey guys,
Im so hyped that y'all have a passion for the art of Bboyin,
I posted the Bboy Unit info on here a few days ago (check events listing in T-dot), with an added link to a review I found on here about last years event!
Check this link, for footage of last years event (Mod Club):
Here's a clip of Canada's own legendary Bboy Dyzee from Supernaturalz, winner of Rock Steady 2003, reknowned for his original and unique foot work patterns, and leading expert on threads: http://youtube.com/watch?v=1WfK6i8jQHw
Come out to this years event... it's gonna be sooo DOPE!!
dEsidEL
quote:
Originally posted by Xavier Moriarty
lets get together sometime man, i think we're past due. lets get emz too. let me know when you get some free time, we'd like to see you, jelena says hi
man i don't think i've broke bones with all you guys since the Goldclub era
man i don't think i've broke bones with all you guys since the Goldclub era
ahhh Goldclub... I miss those days.... still hanging on to my Goldclub MarcoV CD
planet_bboy
Dear friends and family of Planet B-boy!
The film is beginning to reach places we never imagined, like Alaska, Hawaii, and Tennessee. We are excited to announce that Planet B-boy will be screening at this years Hot Docs Festival in Toronto. There will also be a very special event to honor the late great Frosty Freeze.
We are also excited to announce that the film has received Canadian distribution! This means that the film will be opening in select cities in May. Please stay tuned as we begin to announce the details shortly.
If you know of anyone who would like to receive updates about film screenings in Canada, the DVD release, and any other info relating to the film, please ask them to sign up for News updates: www.planetbboy.com/ml_test/pbb_mailing_list.swf
SCREENINGS
Thursday, April 24
9:30 pm
Inns Town Hall
2 Sussex Avenue
(one block south of St. George Street and Bloor Street West)
Saturday, April 26
11:55 pm
The Bloor Theare
506 Bloor Street West
(at Bathurst Avenue)
THE FREEZE TO PLEASE event
Friday, April 25
Doors open at 10 pm
Planet B-boy and Bboyizm presents:
The Freeze to Please (in dedication to Frosty Freeze)
Circa
126 John Street
Toronto, ON
Admission: $15
1 vs 1 b-boy / b-girl battle ($300 first place winner)
Battle registration: [email protected]
Poppin demo from Frank Boogie (boogie brats crew)
Silent auction of graffiti for Frosty's Family
DJ's: DJ Serious and DJ Fathom
We thank everybody for their continued support and enthusiasm. Hope to see you all in theaters soon. Please let all your friends and family know that Planet B-boy is coming to Canada. Peace and much respect.
NEW PLANET B-BOY TRAILER
LindsayPai
Planet B-Boy will hit theatres May 30th!! Visit www.mongrelmedia.com for more details about the movie and youtube.com/mongreltrailers or www.planetbboy.com for trailers and dance clips.
The movie will be playing from May 30th at The Royal in Toronto (on College St.) Check it out!!
Xavier Moriarty
quote:
Originally posted by LindsayPai
Planet B-Boy will hit theatres May 30th!! Visit www.mongrelmedia.com for more details about the movie and youtube.com/mongreltrailers or www.planetbboy.com for trailers and dance clips.
The movie will be playing from May 30th at The Royal in Toronto (on College St.) Check it out!!
thanks for the info. ill be there for sure
dEsidEL
quote:
Toronto, N.Y. in B-boy film showdown Two movies with one theme battle to become definitive documentary on breakdancing culture
May 25, 2008
Susan Walker
Entertainment Reporter
A battle of the b-boy documentaries is shaping up and it seems to call for a breakdance faceoff between Toronto and New York.
Toronto-born, New York-based filmmaker Benson Lee brought his Planet B-Boy documentary to Hot Docs last month and got up the nose of the Toronto crew Supernaturalz when the New Yorker, accompanied by a Manhattan b-boy, tried to co-opt them into a mini-battle at Circa nightclub.
It's only natural in the very competitive landscape of b-boying, graffiti drawing, emceeing and dj-ing that Lee's documentary Planet B-Boy, opening Friday, would spark rivalry from Toronto dancers supporting a local documentary All Out War, now in post-production.
Lee's doc is the first to chronicle the contemporary b-boy world with complete coverage of the supreme international competition, Battle of the Year. He profiles champion b-boys in Las Vegas, Korea, Japan and France to give a global view of the best b-boying and the socio/political/familial context for it.
Local filmmaker and media artist Rob Pilichowski has been working on All Out War since March 2003. His documentary traces the history of breakdancing and follows four dancers based in Toronto and New York. Alien Ness, a 44-year-old, original break-boy from the Bronx, provides some background. He is featured in the film alongside Dyzee, from the Toronto crew Supernaturalz; Casper, an up-and-coming b-boy, and Machine, both of whom sometimes "repp" Zulu Kingz, a Bronx crew.
The two films are quite different in style and substance, but share a common narrative.
As the story is frequently told, breakdancing began in the late '60s and early '70s in the Bronx, where the break-boys battled on the streets and in neighbourhood clubhouses. The form is linked to martial arts and resistance-type dances such as capoeira. The breaks are the rhythmic and percussive sections of songs – interludes in the main melody. DJs would strip out the breaks and put them in a loop for the dancers.
James Brown gets credit for inspiring the dance style. The music still preferred by hardcore breakers is funk, soul or hip hop with a more positive or older vibe.
B-boy history is oral and much contested. Some observers claim breakdancing grew out of the hip hop movement. The dancers themselves say hip hop tried to usurp them. When the music and the dance moves became commercialized in the 1980s, true b-boys went underground.
Benson Lee points out the effect of the 1983 movie Flashdance on bringing breakdancing into the public realm. His chroniclers insist that beat-boys (no relation to the Doobie Brothers' song) is the right derivation for b-boys.
Most Toronto dancers would say they are break-boys or girls.
Breakdancing became associated with inner city ghettos, says Lee. He's a Korean-American who was born in Toronto and lived here until he was 9. At the University of Hawaii, he got into film and earned his first producer credit on Miss Monday, a dramatic feature that opened at the Sundance Festival.
The overriding fantasy figures were gangs and pimps, Lee says of early b-boying. "They emulated the fighting and that's how this dance started out."
Breakdancing, he says, became a way "to promote peace, love and unity. They found ways to battle without hurting each other."
There's this fantasy world associated with hip hop, says a b-boy standing amid highrises in a housing project in All Out War (alloutwar.tv). It's about "that need to be somebody. You're backed up in a corner and your dreams are really shattered. You've got nothing to inspire you, then you find something that's really going to move you to the core: you're gonna dance.
"But it's really easy for some ghetto kid to come out and say `I got bodyguards; I got two big cars.' It's that desperation. It's that need to be somebody."
One of Lee's on-screen authorities is Ken Swift, a legendary b-boy from New York City. Lee calls him "the Baryshnikov of b-boys." He's in his early 40s now.
Planet B-Boy points out the Latino influence (mainly from Puerto Ricans) on the dance styles and then goes out into the world – using some fancy graffiti art graphics to shift scenes with a moving train image – to see the cream of the crop in France (B-boy Claude), Korea (top dancers Gamblerz), Japan (Ichigeki crew) and Las Vegas (Super Crew).
The movie hints at a certain resentment among American b-boys who have lately been eclipsed in the Battle of the Year competition by crews from Japan, Korea, Germany and France. But it's all friendly, Lee insists. "Hip hop has evolved to the point where it's uniting generations."
Rivalry between filmmakers is merely picking up on the competitive spirit of the breakdance genre, Pilichowski says. "You'll get different perspectives from different artists. Having more than one film on one genre is a good thing for the culture." He hopes to have All Out War entered in film festivals by the end of this year.
Planet B-Boy, opening on college campuses and in about 25 North American cities, is out to set the record straight with some thrilling footage that spreads the gospel according to break/beat boys.
